Saigon - Quang Binh Dong Hoi

... Unge far 30 min senare kom vi fram till grottorna, da var lokandet slut och den jakligt lang vandring uppfor en laaang trappa kunde borja. Langst med hela trappan sa fanns det kvinnor som hade sma kiosker, helt sjukt, hur orkar de ta sig upp for alla trappsteg varje morgon?<br> Men val inne i grottan var trappfarden helt klart vard. Fantastiska stenformationer upplysta i olika farger. Haftigt.<br><br> Efter en betydligt lattare ...

... We were sat outside and were shocked to see another couple of tourists walk past. They stopped to say hello and they ended up joining us. A few beers, lots of lovely local food (well, the fish was nice but the sea snails were a bit yucky) and four hours later, we said our goodbyes! Our new friends, Christophe (a very French Frenchman) and Netta (Christophe's Finnish wife) were very nice and it turns out we're heading the same way so stay tuned to see whether we bump into them again!<br>

... laughing. I am still having a good giggle now that I write about it all these days later. I laugh about it at least once a day. One of the funniest things I have seen. The other little gem Luke came up with for my laughing pleasure was when he rang reception just after we arrived to ask for toilet paper. She politely offered "you want motorbike". He then decided to go down to reception to ask in person. I am thinking he has taken down the ...

... 00 we arrived in Dong Hoi, and we were very relieved. Our pickup was waiting, but the thought of riding shotgun on a bike with our 20kg rucksacks strapped to our backs didn't sound appealing. So we declined and jumped into a taxi much to their dissapointment. We had made it, and guess what, the hotel was completely empty. How we were grateful that they held a room for us :). The morning came and so did the first challenge, breakfast ...

... We finally crossed the border at 8.30 am - with an extra $1 for the pleasure which went straight into the guard's trouser pocket. The border region was really mountainous and slow which was followed by more paddy fields then we've ever seen.....mile after mile after mile. We finally arrived in Hanoi at 7pm. Not a journey I'd be doing again in a hurry! We did however save $200 and get 20 or so Vietnamese footprints imprinted onto our bags.

... more night or head to Vinh. 530 came and we got up and started to search the town. We had a few things on our agenda: 1. get to the cave and back. 2. figure out how to get to Vinh 3. decide if we were going tonight or tomorrow to Vinh We were constantly being told outrageous prices and not too many people wanted to rent a motorbike to a foreigner...they can drive the 2 of us for 2-3 times the ...

... has happened in Vietnam. We found the town's local beach, there was also a lagoon by the beach - the water in the lagoon was much warmer than the water than the sea which was quite chilly . We enjoyed swimmming and sunbathing for a good few hours in the afternoon, then headed back to the train station to catch the night train.

... forming a bit of an island/ peninsula effect on the ocean side of the river. We decided to check out the Sun Spa Resort as a spot to walk to (over a big river bridge) and to get lunch. The resort was having a lot of work done, including two bulldozers re-alligning the sand in front of the hotel. Lunch as nice, but pricey for Vietnam of course, being a 4* resort, but still very cheap by Aussie standards. We were the only lunch guests in this massive complex. After ...

... et me dit que si je le veux, il me le donne, parce que j'ai de l'argent pour l'elever et pas eux. Et puis il insiste lourdement, en disant en rigolant qu'il peut pas s'en occuper etc... Et la, le pauvre petit bonhomme se met a pleurer et il quitte la maison en courant ! Le pere se marre alors je lui dis : mais c'est mechant ce que tu dis, tu as fait pleure ton fils, tu vas pas le chercher ?! Et la il se poile en me repondant : "C'est pas grave, c ...

... Hindu in origin, with images of Shiva and elephants carved into the stone facades. Was it hot? Yes it was. Quan was the best guide yet. He was genuinely friendy and peppered his information with personal anecdotes. The best was how he would giggle every time he took our picture. He was so delighted with everything, making the experience all the more adventurous for us. He even taught Troy a few words of Vietnamese. On we went to ...