We had a lazy start today and headed to the airport. A wee mix up nearly had us missing the flight but we made it :) Jet Star this time Ryan Air style but a short, bumpy flight later and we were in Saigon getting another safety brief. Not quite as bad this time though. We walked round to the main points of the city, the best being a large post office designed by Mr Eiffel. We had a meal out and a few drinks on a street corner again. This time in a bar. A few ga...

On the way to Hoi An we managed to find an empty, white sandy beach with clear blue water. Fantastic to have a swim but the sand was crazy hot to get there. The only other family on the beach were very confused by our sun cream and wanted to try putting some on. They probably thought it was what made our skin white. There are loads of beauty products out here that include skin whitening properties. A lot of people also wear masks to stay whiter (as well as ...

We arrived a bit sleepy in Hue in the morning and spent a packed day learning about Vietnamese royalty: the Kings, Queens, mandarins, eunuchs and many many concubines. We heard about hiding the body of the King to prevent the French digging it up and how the Perfume River got it's name. We visited the citadel, the huge palace grounds and the mausoleum (no bodies in a case this time), took a boat trip down the Perfume River and visited a pagoda. We had lunch ...

Today we headed out to see Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. We stood in line for a long time, luckily in the shade and we went in to a grey cool building where lots of men in white uniforms told us to take hats and glasses off and to be quiet as they pushed us into a procession past the body of a man in a glass case. Interesting. After that we went round his house and the museum which didn't help a whole lot with working out the history but interesting to see how a dif...

We left Hanoi the next day to drive out to Ha Long Bay. An overnight boat like a floating hotel all to ourselves out between the peaks of a world heritage sight :) Brilliant! We visited a cave (not as good as blue mountains though), ate some lovely seafood, went kayaking and swam in the clear water and drank, danced and lay under the stars at night. Lots of fun :D By the time we got up in the morning we were almost back to shore. Breakfast on the boat and ...