Richard and Huong decided to join us on our trip to Can Tho, the next leg of our journey, before we travel on to Chau Doc and Cambodia. This morning we were up before dawn to visit the floating markets of Can Tho. By 5.15 am we were on the boat and motoring up the Mekong with the stars still sparkling in the sky and a nice warm breeze across the water. Our boat was just big enough for the four of us, our guide 'Quing' and the lady 'captain' who was steering. I...

Here we are in Vung Tau staying with Richard and Huong for a few days before we travel to Can Tho and the floating market. Vung Tau is a pretty island a couple of hours east of Saigon. We flew down to Saigon Monday morning and then travelled across to the island by minibus. We have been taken around the island, which has lovely beaches, and sampled the wonderful seafood sold in the local market just down the road, cooked by Huong and her friends. This morning...

New Year's Eve Our final week in Hanoi has been a lazy one. On Christmas Day we had lunch with Tom at a local hotel. They had lots of lovely food , but no roast potatoes! Something which I miss a lot. They don't use ovens here just hobs and microwaves so everything is pan fried or boiled. We have a small kitchen in our apartment but it is just as cheap to eat out. Tom insisted the flat needed a few Christmas decorations so, being in Hanoi, we went to 'Chr...

Tomorrow is Christmas day and the forecast is 27° and sunny, so I can safely say we won't be having a white Christmas. Happily we are spending the day with Tom and having our Christmas lunch at a local hotel in Hanoi. We have been travelling now for nearly eight months and during that time we have been privileged to meet some wonderful people. So, as we know many of you are following our blog along with our family and friends at home, Chris and I would like to...

Last Wednesday we moved to a rented apartment near Tom on a small island on Truc Bach Lake, which is the southern part of Westlake. We were planning on having a couple of weeks 'holiday' over the Christmas period with Tom. However we have been asked to teach English to the new group we have been interviewing over the last couple of weeks as they were short of teachers. So for the last few days we have been popping over to the homestay for evening lessons. Whi...