All good things… the last full day in Hanoi, but at least it was to be a good one. Starting with lunch in Pepperoni’s, which now has several branches in the city. I stuck to the old favourite near the hostel, though. Then off to the Temple of Literature. A biker outside the hostel had [...]

continue reading.....

I have been updating the blog the last few days. Please scroll down and you’ll see a fair bit added since things went wayward. I just posted the July 11th item with pictures and everything! As of this moment, I’m sat in Hanoi and we fly out for Bangkok again tomorrow afternoon. For more details [...]

continue reading.....

Our main destination this day was to be the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, the charity I raised the cash for when I did my Walk. We picked up a taxi to get there, though it turned out not to be so far out and closer to the old building than I’d thought. The new premises [...]

continue reading.....

Next day we walked the streets with Kat and Hanno. Nothing new, just checking the shops and seeing what’s changed. And believe me, Hanoi has changed since my last visit. Prices are higher, housing is making way for businesses and there are four or five KFCs including one at the top of Hoan Kiem Lake [...]

continue reading.....

We walked down the road to have breakfast in a boulangerie which supports a local charity. The pastries were excellent and just right for a starting meal. We panicked a little as it got close to the time when our bus was meant to pick us up, so flagged down a taxi to take us [...]

continue reading.....

Quite a bit of walking in extreme heat today. Leah did well considering her inbuilt inability to handle it. I think she only actually collapsed once. We left the hotel and walked over the Trang Tien Bridge onto the side of the Perfume River which hosts the Citadel. Hué is essentially divided in two, with [...]

continue reading.....

Yet another early rise to finish packing and grab some breakfast before our bus pulled up at 7:30. It was a fairly hefty not-quite-double-decker from the Sinh Cafe company who have a good reputation in Vietnam. Instead of seats, each passenger gets a berth, either on the floor or up small ladders. There’s very little [...]

continue reading.....

Our last full day in Hoi An and we decided to do something a little different. I’d been to the Marble Mountains before, and they’re a site worth seeing. But rather than take a trip or get a xe om we opted to hire a couple of mopeds and make the 15km journey ourselves. Now, [...]

continue reading.....

Up early for that trip, which proved to be quite interesting. The bus was comfy and the tour guide (“Spider”) was a very energetic and knowledgeable chap with decent English, but the weirdest accent ever. Amazingly, the bus was stopped by the police (twice in a week!) and the driver fined for something or other. [...]

continue reading.....

Today we popped out to My Son and this afternoon we’ll do the Lonely Planet walk around town. More snaps, this time in daylight. Tomorrow’s plan is to hire two mopeds and head up to China Beach and the Marble Mountains. Time and weather allowing, also possibly Da Nang. Day after, early train to Hue [...]

continue reading.....