************************************************************************************** Reports will be very short from here on - if I write something at all. I will update it with pictures from home. So everyone who will not have the pleaure going through millions of picture with me personally can reads his/her way through my trip. I will just u...

Arriving in any city is usually the most stressful part of the stay in that city.  My arrival in Hanoi was at 6 AM on a misty morning after barely sleeping in a train compartment with 5 Vietnamese people didn't make it any better.  Especially when I knew that a taxi to my hotel (thank god I mooched someone else's reserva...

Halong Bay (one day boat trip) Just imagine limestone caves, thousands of tropial empty islands. Any-one who has ever been to the Whitsundays will know what i mean. Absolute paradise. Our guide was quite wacky. Really Beautiful. Sapa This has been my favourite place so far on my travels. Sapa is Northern Vietnam. It's all mountainour tribal vill...

Hanoi Like - the markets, walking around the Mausoleums and Temple of Library area Dislike - the crazy motor scooters, but they are kind of fun too! Do differently - not much, just a start of town, go for a longer time in Halong Bay Stayed - Hanoi Backpackers, really nice place, social, nice rooms, great information, central located, it was a go...

in vietnam and its really cool! cheap everything! its so much better than being in china with no english at all! Scenery is wkd! weve spent around 6/7 days here with a 3 day boat trip to ha long bay. Ha Long Bay was full of tall cliff like boulders and green water, so warm as well. On the trip we went swimming, kayaking, visited some caves which...

Hanoi - this city is madness! It's the Vietnamese New Year celebration so therefore a holiday. That means almost half the population are out of the city visiting family etc...but the half that are left are all visiting the same places as us!   We start with the Temple of Literature, very entertaining because there is a big celebration going...

The evening we got back from the Perfume Pagoda, Dane started feeling a little under the weather. By the next day, it was obvious he was quite ill with something like the flu. It took about a week for him to recover. We had been very eager to finish up with Hanoi and get the heck out, but we knew it was better for us to stay there and get him we...

Salut a Tous, Fin de mission dans la fraicheur nordique (bah, une vingtaine de degres tout de meme, on va pas pleurer). M'enfin faut pas trop se leurrer, l'ensemble du voyage a ete super rapide et c'est tout juste si j'ai eu le temps de me rendre compte que le pays etait aussi magnifique que je l'avais connu il y a 7 ans. Eh oui, je n'ai pour ce...

I'm an Aunt again!!!!!!! Conor (my brother) and Sinead had a baby girl today called Aoife Ann! Goodbye China! The border crossing was no bother at all. We got the bus around the corner from the hotel this morning and drove to the border arriving at 11am. The crossing points are known as Youji Guan (China) and Huu Nahi (Vietnam). Took our bags of...

Arriving in Hanoi still tired, but this time with having a better sleep on the bus, we watched as the touts surrounded the bus. The bus company hearded us into their office (they took our luggage in so we had no choice). Still, they offered a free taxi into town, as we were a few kilometres out of the old city, but of course it is to a hotel of ...