After a great night dive we had a quick shower on the boat and got changed before heading off to an uninhabited island where we were to spend the night. Being very remote, getting off the boat was not easy. The Captain picked his way through rocks and coral to get us as close to shore as possible. We were all given a torch and a walking stick and we fumbled our way in the dark off the boat into knee-high water and made our way over the precarious rocks onto the s...

Today we headed out on the dive boat to what is supposedly the best diving in Vietnam. The voyage to the dive site wasn't very long and I was practically salivating at the prospect of warm water, good visibility and lots of marine life. However, once we descended and swam across sand for 11 minutes, seeing nothing but the fellow divers beside us, all my hopes and dreams disappeared in the silty sea floor. We did eventually hit a reef and managed to see lots of sm...

We awoke to the sounds of the big city hustle and bustle. HCMC is the financial centre of Vietnam and with a population of around 10 million there are a lot of people trying to get coffee before they start work. For our final breakfast with the group we went to a coffee shop close by and ordered baguettes with jam. We were given toast with honey. We ate our "baguettes" and said our goodbyes to the group and after finishing our packing we headed to the airport. U...

Thankfully this is our last long bus journey of the whole trip, though after today we lose our guide Bank and we're on our own! The day begins with packing (again) and a quick breakfast before a 2 hour trip to the ferry. We pass numerous small Vietnamese villages with waving children, unruly traffic and colourful markets and drive over many small bridges over parts of the Mekong delta (often not looking likely to support the bus's weight). Then we all pile out at...

A long travel day today to cross the border into Vietnam. After four hours through small villages and lots of countryside we reach the border. Luckily its quiet and there aren't any queues. We have to carry all our stuff about 300m to get stamped out of Cambodia then into Vietnam, paying one dollar for the privelege on the Vietnamese side. Then its off to Chau Doc, about an hour from the border. This city is right on the Mekong Delta and most of the local people...