An early morning flight brings me to the emerging economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City... also known as Saigon! The city runs a continuous soundtrack loop of mobile phones tweeting, horns honking, screeching metal doors signalling the beginning of another business day. Even in the wee hours the chaotic traffic only ebbs slightly, and soup steams from streetside cauldrons all day and all night. HCMC is nonstop, a city of pilgrims seeking fortune and open 24 hours ...

Arriving from Hue, the 4 hour bus journey went south through the rural countryside and the picturesque fishing village of Lang Co before ascending the the dramatic Hai Van Pass. Like a living museum Piece, Hoi An was the enchanting and beautiful historic town I had been expecting to see from Hanoi & Hue. Set on the Bon River, Hoi An - or Faifo, as early wetern traders knew it - was an international trading port as far back as the 17th century. Now, the Chine...

The Renufication Express bound for Hue.... overnight train with a difference! Certainly not to the usual standards i'd been used to in Thailand...just about 10 times worse with a few HUGE rats scuttering about from carriage to carriage! Bumpy, cold, noisey & dirty.... but hey, it was all part of my 'Nam experience. After all what can you expect from a 60 year old rickety train that runs every day and clearly hasn't been cleaned since 1947... Arriving in Hue....

Well hello peeps....long time no speak! My fault, I know. I've been somewhat lost in a world of no technology for the past 3 weeks so there's def a little backlog on my blogs. Anyway, back in the land of living so here's my story of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam....enjoy... (about 22 days ago..) So after a pretty crappy time in Hanoi, woke up looking forward to heading for the magnificent Halong Bay, with more than 3000 islands rising from the clear, emerald waters of th...

Hanoi... the new Capitol city of Vietnam! What I had read of Hanoi and what I actually witnessed of Hanoi where 2 very different things! The expectations I had of a city full of style and diginty, sophistication & modern French colonial flair turned out to be a rat race of motorbikes, dirty & dusty streets and absolutely no sign of a tourist ever stepping foot in the place! After a pretty bumpy flight from Bangkok I arrived in Hanoi late Saturday afte...