Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), or Saigon as it was until 1976, is the second largest city in Vietnam and nearly every one of the over nine million citizens seem to be on the move twenty four hours a day. Most of them seem to be on a motorcycle and all of them are driving wheel to wheel, handlebar to handlebar and where the road is a little too busy then they will make use of a pavement to gain a slight advantage. Watching the people move about, crisscrossing, cutting t...

Phnom Penh is a busy, busy city although I am guessing that Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are going to eclipse this when we get to Vietnam later in this trip. Compared to Bangkok it seems more shabby, more dirty, less organised and much more chaotic. Traffic rules seem to be flaunted (if indeed there are any) and again the people just live with this type of unorganised chaos without looking nervous, getting agitated or even really slowing down as they whiz about on ...

Our journey from Vientiane in Laos to Siem Reap in Cambodia saw us travel by taxi, an international rail service, an overnight sleeper train, a flight and a tuk tuk. Laos has around three kilometres of railway from the station at Thanaleng, around 13km from the centre of Vientiane to the mid-point of the Friendship Bridge that links Laos with Thailand across the Mekong River. Flags and signs proudly mark the border as the train trundles across what is, except for...

Laos has the stigma of being the most bombed country, per capita, in the world. I was expecting to learn about the impact of the Vietnam War later in our trip - in Vietnam actually - but it was not until arriving in Vientiane that I discovered the scale of the problem that still haunts this small country. My limited knowledge of the 1964 to 1973 period of war, which saw the Americans undertake 580,000 bombing missions on Laos alone, is shockingly bad and somethin...

I know very few people that have been to Laos and having spent a few days in the second city, Luang Prabang, I am thinking that I should make it my mission to promote this place as a great, slightly off the beaten track, safe, good value and relaxed city to visit. It is well geared up for the tourist and travellers alike. With a rather relaxed French ambience, a plethora of very good restaurants and views over the mighty Mekong River this is a good place to spe...