South of Bangkok is a resort town called Hua Hin, like Plett in South Africa or similar to Lyme Regis. Here was a place that was once a small fishing village with long white sandy beaches stretching off in each direction. In the early 20th century, the reigning monarch decided that here was a very nice little place to have his holiday palace. And since then, it has grown in size to what it is now. The old town on the waterfront is cosy and in amongst the shops an...

What is nice about Hanoi, and Vietnam in general, is that nobody tries to sell you anything. There are no touts at street corners, train stations or similar. You will get taxi drivers clamouring for your attention and your business, but that is life. You might get the odd beach vendor as well, but nobody else. And it is a pleasure. You have to work a little harder to get what you want, but you know what you are getting. We decided that the best way to see Halong...

The best way, we reckon, to get from Hoi An is to take the train. Ok, first you have to get from Hoi An to Danang to get to the start of the line. Taxi is easy, but local bus is better! The Americans left many things behind after the war, but I never thought that I would see a local bus so similar to the American school buses. Bright yellow with a hooter to match! One of the nicest aspects of Vietnam that we experienced, besides the warmth of the people and thei...

Apparently during the war between the Americans and Vietnamese, a tacit agreement was reached in that Hoi An town would be spared the ravages of bombardment. This is why it is reputed to be the only large town that exists the way it does. Where other places have a very functional and modernistic edge to them because they were flatten during the war, Hoi An retains its ambience of a sleeping little fishing village complete with old style architecture. In the old ...

Citadels and pagodas Sitting on the banks of the Perfume River is the old imperial city of Hué. It is here that the last of Vietnamese emperors met their end and it is here that you find reminders of Vietnam' recent imperial past. The walled citadel and its Forbidden City was the home to dynasties that had ruled Vietnam for a few centuries only. Since time immemorial, this part of the Asia has been converted for its resources. When local kingdoms were not batt...