Halong Bay…beautiful although cut short Halong Bay, Vietnam Halong Bay, Vietnam Just some photos for the moment. An expected typhoon resulted in our trip being cut short. Thus, now back in Hanoi 🙁 Halong Bay Saturday 11th July – Sunday 12th July. Our day started with an 8.30am pick up from our hotel for the… More

Quiet final day in Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Not much to report today. Got in early from Sapa. headed straight to the gym and to the pool. We lazed around resting and reading after breakfast and didn’t head out from the hotel until about noon. We tried to get ‘Water Puppet’ tickets but they… More

Our last day in Sapa Sapa, Vietnam Sapa, Vietnam Thursday 9th The guide books will advise you that there is no dominant Religion in Vietnam. That is not true. 95% of Vietnamese are Buddhist. It is just that theirs is a more private form of Buddhism compared to their neighbours; they visit Temple only twice… More

Trip up to Sapa in the mountains NE of Hanoi Sapa, Vietnam Sapa, Vietnam Wednesday 8th July Our overnight train from Hanoi arrived into Lao Cai station in drizzly weather at about 6.15am. Lao Cai is located at an elevation of 650m and the 1 hr trip up to Sapa, at 1650m, has to be… More

Last full day in Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Tuesday 7th July Our day began with another visit to the gym and the pool. Breakfast was followed by a trip to the local department store (three blocks from our hotel) to buy some socks for the three of us. Note to self: If I ever… More

Day 2 in Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Monday 6th July Our day started with a trip to the gym and a visit to the pool before heading to breakfast. We eventually wandered out of the hotel and picked up two cycles to take us to the northern section of the Old Quarter. Our plan… More

First full day in Vietnam…Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Sunday 5th July We started our day with a swim in the hotel pool before heading to breakfast in the Lounge. Saturday had been spent sitting all day as we travelled so we decided to get out walking today by doing the Lonely Planet ‘Walking Tour’… More

We arrived safely by plane…the car trip though! Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday 4th July We arrived into Hanoi at about 7pm on Saturday 4th July. We were told by our Tonkin Travel guide to look for a driver holding a card that stated our name. Sure enough, a Tonkin guide holding a card with… More

Early 4am start to the holiday Sydney, Australia Sydney, Australia Hi guys, I’m writing this from the Lounge at Sydney Airport. On arrival we were advised that our flight was delayed by an hour. Pity. We could have woken at 5am instead of 4am! Anyway, we are most grateful to have the comfort of the… More