We jumped on a bus for 3 hours from our hostel to Halong Bay. When there we boarded our 6 man boat; Baitulong Junk with 3 guys from the hostel, Pete, Gary and Ben who were top blokes and headed to the bay. Now I thought Angkor Wat was a sight but Halong Bay is like stepping into another world or Jurassic Park. They say if you visit Vietnam and don't see Halong Bay you haven't visited Vietnam and it is true. Words and photographs do not do the place justice. I ...

Our last sleeper was definetly the most uncomfortable. We arrived into Hanoi early morning and booked into The Drift Hostel, which is the best we've stayed in so far. The rooms and beds were nice and big, the bathroom was excellent and it also had a cinema room and a rooftop bar. The owner has also said I can have a free drink for the advertising. Hanoi although similar in many ways to Saigon is quite different. It seemed a lot more relaxed, probably due the f...

Again I was really surprised at how good I felt after the journey. We arrived in Hue at about midday after leaving Nha Trang at 6pm the previous day. The journey, the scourching heat and the lack of things to do in Hue meant our stay there was relaxed and uneventful. The first day we visited the Forbidden Purple City and nothing much more. The next day we did even less. We stayed out of the sun for as long as possioble which meant sitting in bars and shooting p...

We arrived at about 6am feeling alot better than we had anticipated. This feeling was increased as we walked down the beach front to our hostel. The sun had just rose from the horizon and presented us with the wonders of the South China Sea and a scatter of Vietnamese islands. This was a welcome sight after the busy city of Saigon. After dropping off our bags and having some breakfast we went for an early swin in the sea. After this we wandered round the town and...

We started out early again (6am) and got on our bus with the locals for our 5 hour trip to Ho Chi Minh City. Within 10 minutes, under the hum of Cambodian gossip I was asleep. When we arrived in Saigon, which is how it is still known by the South Vietnamese, the first thing I noticed was just how busy the place is. Thousands of scooters tussle for free space on every road you see. If there is no room on the road, no problem, they just pavement. With most of the...