Southern Vietnam and Bangkok
This entry might seem to be a little broad, but as we didn't do that much in southern Vietnam we figured we could combine the two.
So, starting briefly with southern Vietnam. An extremely tedious and hunger filled 24 hour train journey from Hanoi saw us arrive in the beach resort of Nha Trang. Within an hour of boarding the train, our cabin kindly provided us with our first sighting of cockroaches, which, needless to say didn't make for easy sleeping.
Nha Trang itself gave us a couple of days (much needed) relaxation on the beach and the best meal we've had so far in Asia, which was a delightful tuna stew prepared in a clay pot. It was nice to spend a few days relaxing although the numerous sightings of rats made us pleased to once again move on.
To get to Saigon we boarded the overnight sleeper bus which, unfortunately, wasn't designed with 6 ft 2 in people in mind. Saigon itself was interesting and slightly less chaotic than Hanoi (though only slightly).
From there we flew to Bangkok and found a city which was more laid back than we expected. Dressed appropriately in long sleeves, trousers and covered shoes we headed up the river to the Royal Palace and the Emerald Buddha which was surprisingly small for such a decorated and ornate sight. In contrast, we then headed to Wat Pho and the famous giant reclining Buddha which was just huge. I also discovered that David's tolerance level for temples and Buddhas is even less than that for museums… (David note: at least I don't have to wear long trousers in museums!)
That evening we joined in the city's favourite past time, shopping and headed to one of the giant malls where we took in a film - it made a nice change for an evenings activity and was by far the most comfortable cinema with the most legroom we've been to. We were also treated to the Thai national anthem and a photo montage of the king and queen which is something you don't get at the multiplexes at home. Everyone stood to impeccable attention.

Our second evening was spent at the local night market where we took in some street food and the sights and sounds of the organised chaos around us. We managed to resist the temptation to buy anything, though we both thought it would have been a good place to head to as our last stop when we won't have to worry about carrying our bags much further!
Next stop is southern Thailand and the island of Koh Tao…
P.S. The eagle eyed among you may have spotted a change to our planned itinerary in that we decided not go to Cambodia. This was for a number of reasons, one being that we'd had our fill of long overland journeys for a while. We're enjoying being able to be flexible and change our mind as and when we feel like it!