Tales of Monkey Island There isn‘t too much to do in Ninh Binh but it is a good place to base yourself for a few days as it is fairly central to a few really nice locations. The area of Tam Coc is like a miniature version of Ha Long Bay, where you are rowed along past huge limestone cliffs and through caves that you explore with a headtorch. This was impressive but we didn‘t see all the caves we should as we paid a local to take us in her boat and s...

Heading North As we thought VND 5000 (£0.15 = PLN0.70) was a cheap price for a beer, we were blown away when in Hoi An we found beer for VND 3000 (£0.09 = PLN0.45). Any cheaper and they will be paying US to drink it. Hoi An is most famous for 2 things: the very well preserved ancient colonial village with buildings dating back to the 18th century in which people still live but they have opened their homes to the public for tours. The second famous thing is han...