Vietnam

No-one there spoke english and there appeared to be no village on the border, but one of the immigration officials took pity on us and phoned a woman who turned up on a scooter. She not only spoke english, but also arranged a car and driver to pick us up and drive us to Vinh. It all took a lot of time and was quite expensive, but worked out very well for us; we were dropped off outside the railway station in Vinh, from where we could wander around and find a hotel not too far away.

We were only in Vinh for a short while before catching the train to Hue. It did, however, introduce us to Highlands, a chain of western-style coffee shops that became our go-to breakfast place in Vietnam for latte and a croissant.

We had booked a place in Hue, but arrived late at night. Mr Google struck again - we were led past the short street which we eventually found terminated at our accommodation, and around in a huge circle through a complex of buildings full of barking dogs and irate owners until someone finally called out to tell us to go back the way we had come!

Hue was a lovely place to walk around. Situated on the Perfume River, it has the historic Imperial City to explore, and a very pleasant river-side area close to where we were staying. The Imperial City was fantastic - a very large area of highly decorated buildings and some lovely gardens. The french influence was apparent in some of the building facades and in their internal decoration and furniture. We spent most of the day there, and stopped off for a quick drink at a cafe just outside the citadel walls. It turned out that we stayed a lot longer than we expected - this was one of the best cafes we've ever had the pleasure of being in - it had atmosphere to burn! The best of the gardens inside the Imperial City was outshone by the beautiful garden inside this restaurant. We were happy to just sit and enjoy being there.

From Hue it was another train trip, this time to Da Nang. The city is known for its beaches, but the area we were in had a beach that was fairly uninspiring. Indeed, Da Nang did little for us - just another large city. We were happy to get a bus down to Hoi An, leaving a day earlier than we had planned. The bus was a bit of a surprise; it was a sleeper bus (not shown on the ticket), and proved to be less than comfortable for old bodies - we resolved to avoid those busses in future, but it was not too bad for a short trip.

Hoi An was great. It was full of tourists but without the large numbers of scooters and other vehicles which filled up the streets in the other Vietnamese cities we had visited so far. We had a very good apartment, a bit far (three kilometres) from the centre of the old town, but still walkable, and a fantastic cafe called The Old Rice Field just down the way. We stayed six nights in Hoi An, taking the opportunity to visit My Son and Marble Mountain on day trips. Our last night there was timed to coincide with the full moon, and the lantern festival, which was as spectacular as the descriptions suggest.

We hired a car to take us back to Da Nang and took the train overnight to Ho Chi Minh City - but the railway station is still called Saigon. We had booked a hotel described as "chic" but it was over-the-top Asia meets Louis Fourteenth style. We had a room with an adjoining door into the next room. Luckily it had a bolt on our side - the people next door tried to get into our room on two nights - crashing against the door. But that was the least of their annoying us. For the three nights we were there they came back to the hotel at about ten o'clock and then yelled, sang, grunted, laughed and carried on until six o'clock in the morning. We concluded they were making porn movies. We never saw them.

For us Ho Chi Minh City did not have the charm of Hanoi. There were some interesting temples, but the river we walked along near our hotel was no match for the lake which was a feature of central Hanoi.

Exhausted, we set off for the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, which proved to be a very laid-back place - wide streets, less traffic and a large riverside market. In the past this town was famous for its floating market, but these days it does not really exist anymore. Nevertheless we took a pre-dawn boat up the river to where the remnants of the market are. To compensate for the missing market our boatman took us up little side canals, which were more interesting for us, and to a cocao farm where we managed to drink a sample of their wares.

Then it was back to Saigon (but staying in a different hotel!) and a bus the next day to Cambodia. The border crossing was easy - it was all handled by a bus company employee who earned their modest fee for the service - the Vietnamese officials wanted to see our entry visas (in to Vietnam - why? we were leaving the country!) and Geoff could not find his but in the end it did not seem to cause a problem.