Time waits for no man (or Tigger) and all that, so although we would have loved to have stayed longer on the beach, it's time to move north and on to Hoi An.  It's a long journey, and we decided to try the train, you need  to pre-book which is easily done online, and as it's so cheap we go for the luxury option of the overnight sleeper in a four berth cabin - the best your Dong (snigger) can buy!  Luxury may be stretching it a little, the "beds"  could have been a tad more comfortable, and it was best not to look too closely at the sheets and blanket.   (I'll say it's stretching it….more like a prison cell with hot and cold running insects and rodents! I particularly enjoyed the way the nylon sheet slid around on the 2” thick PVC mattress. Made for a whole night of entertaining bed acrobatics in order not to slip off the bunk)  I employed my standard ploy of fluid restriction to minimise the trips to the loo, Asian toilets and a moving train are not the best combination!  We shared the cabin with a Vietnamese couple plus a number of cockroaches and possibly a mouse, but we had somewhere to power our devices so all was well.

Hoi An is a popular destination on the tourist route and for good reason.  It is a delightful little town, famed for its architecture, food and tailor shops. You can't walk for more than a couple of minutes without seeing signs for "custom made clothes"  just show them a photo and they will make you what you want within a few days, our Airbnb even had its own tailor shop!   It's an ancient town,  made up of a mixture of Chinese,  Japanese and European architecture all rolled in with an appealing riverside setting.  The yellow coloured  buildings are draped with colourful bougainvillaea and meandering pedestrian only small streets  give the place a charming atmosphere and picture postcard feel.  Yes, it is touristy but it is charismatic touristy and an easy town to just wander around and soak up the ambience.

Street life in Hoi An - those baskets are really heavy but the little Vietnamese ladies make it look really easy

One of the best ways to see the town is by bike. We were lucky enough to have bikes thrown in as part of our accommodation package so we used these, day and night and get a lot of ground covered It is especially beautiful at night and there are thousands of different coloured lanterns on the shop fronts particularly along the riverfront. There is also a custom for placing  floating lanterns onto the river from the low ancient bridge. The vendors drop them in from long poles and fishing lines, a little like the reverse of “hook the duck” at the funfair.

Feeling at home with our bicycles

Sooo pretty at night

Cookery classes are the thing to do here so I booked myself into the Green Bamboo Cookery School http://www.greenbamboo-hoian.com  The day starts early, you are picked up from your hotel at 8am for a trip to market to buy the ingredients for the dish you have chosen to cook,  given your plastic shopping basket,  don your Vietnamese hat and off you go!  If the day had stopped there it would have been a great experience in itself,  the hustle and bustle of the market,  buying your ingredients when some of them were still alive and some things  you didn't have a clue what they were anyway!

Cheesy photo, but had to be done - when in Vietnam!

shopping at the market - the guys is removing the flesh from the coconuts, this was then used to make the coconut milk for our curry

This lady is over 90yrs old and has been working in the market all of her life - wonder what she makes of all us westerners?!

Back at Green Bamboo, Van the owner and Chef in residence set us off cooking - we have  each chosen two dishes,  my choice was Vietnamese spring rolls and a noodle dish, but we all get to help cook/prepare everything,  we had the most amazing spread of food to eat! It was totally scrumptious making my mouth water just thinking about it, those ugly squirming prawns turned out to be quite tasty after all, and the chicken curry was to die for, spicy but tasty in a thick creamy coconut sauce - made with fresh coconut soaked in its own water and then squeezed by hand, all so yummy.

The Chef at work - and look at those chopsticks!  

Just a selection of the yummyness

All this cost $40 which I thought was exceptional value.  It is possible to get cheaper cookery classes, but they are usually bigger and not so intimate,  at the time of writing it was the number on trip advisor and in the lonely planet Picture

I decided not to do the cookery course as I had found a photography walking tour which interested me and luckily it was available the same time as the cooking course.I thoroughly enjoyed this informal course and as there was only one other person we had a good amount of 1-1 time. I was keen to learn a bit about portrait photos as I have always been shy about snapping at strangers and got a little bit of my phobia sorted although it has come back again since then. Pieter has been doing this course for a while now so has quite a lot of ‘tame and willing’ subjects along the back streets who are happy to pose for a small fee and we met two amazing women. One with astonishing long hair and a really lovely older lady with an infectious smile. I can recommend this as a great way to walk the back streets with your own guide and pro photographer. A complete package and at a reasonable cost too. Have a look at the website Www.hoianphotowalks.com  my review is posted as jsnowybear, don’t ask why!!!!

Bet that takes forever to dry!

Lovely lady

Captured this young couple having a washing fight - well they seemed to be enjoying themselves :)

Phong Nha

A fellow traveller had told us not to miss Phong Nha, this is not so much on the tourist trail, but these guys had raved about it so much we thought it would be worth a visit.  What we hadn't banked on was the cold!  We so did this tour the wrong way round, going north it is getting progressively colder, so cold in fact there is a cosy fire to welcome us in the Phong Nha Farmstay and it was warranted!  The farm stay is run by an Australian guy, Ben and his Vietnamese wife - it offers dormitory or private rooms and is set in the beautiful lush countryside, surrounded by paddy fields.  It has a restaurant with good food, including some lovely comfort food like bangers and mash, for when you just can't face yet another plate of noodles or rice -oh and they have wine!  http://phong-nha-cave.com/farmstay/

For me, one of the lasting memories will be a feeling of home. Difficult to explain considering the polar difference between a Vietnamese paddy field and the East Anglian fens in winter, but there was something about it. I went for a run out into the farmlands and found a tremendous calm and a powerful nostalgic feeling I couldn’t account for. Perfect running weather. Cold and grey. It would have been great to have my camera but a couple of phone snaps will suffice to remember it by.

cold wet and muddy, make it like the fens - have to ignore the mountains in the background!

Phong Nha  is famous for its caves and one of  the biggest caves in the world was recently discovered here in  2009.  If you want to hike through it, it will take you 7 days as it is 126km long and will cost you the best part of  $3000pp! needless to say, we didn't hike through it but it is supposed to be spectacular.  However this isn't the only cave in the area, Phong Nha-K? Bàng national park is a UNESCO world heritage site and is riddled with beautiful caves and grottos.

We cycle  from the homestay to the national park, and take a boat trip to visit our first cave, you motor along the river until you get the cave mouth and then the engine is turned off and this tiny little Vientmenese lady paddles the boat, full of big Westerners  inside and around the cave, it does look extremely hard work and I really feel John should be giving her a hand!  ( I think this is a bit degrading but I put my hands together and give her a big round of applause! Not really! ) It is spectacular, the stalactites and stalagmites are huge and all beautifully illuminated - there are  strange rock formations which if you squint and look sideways they might look like the name they have been given -" man-eating fish" or whatever!  This cave is just the warm up for the bigger and better cave we are going to see in a couple of days time so everyone kept telling us, supporting act, or not we were impressed with this one.

Top tip  -You buy the tickets for the boat trip at the entrance to the park, you pay per boat so expensive for just a couple of you,hang around the ticket office, others will come along and you can share the boat and the cost.

Action man John thinks it's a good idea to go jungle trekking the following day, heralded as the "Top Trip" to take it involves a 7hour hike through dense jungle, requiring a "good fitness level"  After sitting on my butt  for the last  8 months I have a good level of extra padding, and not much fitness, hmm wonder why this isn't really appealing to me, plus as an added extra you get to go into the "Dark Cave" Whoopdy do! I hate dark caves, surely if it's dark you shouldn't go in there! (What are you talking about woman! Dark cave says ‘ come explore my hidden secrets and be adventurous. What's the worse that can happen? ‘ Hmmm, when you disappear into the pitch black and you can't see the mouth of the cave anymore you start to imagine what might be in there with you. Spiders! Blasted things get everywhere. What do they live on in here? There's nothing!! or is there?)

John went a bit feral in the Jungle!

The Dark Cave entrance 

 We were the only tourists on the hike but had our own, guide, cook and  park ranger  - the upside of it not being hot meant it was good hiking weather,  I don't think I would have enjoyed it in the searing heat.  The Dark Cave, was, well dark, and involved a fair amount of scrambling over sharp rocks to get past the cave mouth.  I ventured in but didn't want to go where we couldn't see the entrance, John and the guide strode off with head torches to the dark bits! I can't add anything to this. It was too dark to make any observations!!!! Advertised as the highlight of the tour is a swim in a cave lake, quite a bit of it is outside which makes me happy - now on a stinking hot day I imagine you would be running in eager to cool down, not so much on a chilly day in December, however having come this far we felt we had to do the thing, and the water did look a very inviting turquoise blue. Yes. Flippin cold which was only kept at bay by vigorous swimming and a fake merry Christmas shout at the video camera held by the wise guide who offered to stay dry and record this event for us. Of course he did, he knew how cold it was!

Brrrr!

Lunch jungle style

So we made it back to civilisation at the end of the day - don't think Mr Park Ranger was very impressed though!

The last trip we went on was probably the most  touristy but super fun.  You get to visit Paradise caves which are massive caves recently found in 2005 by a local man,  the stalagmites and stalactites are truly impressive, and make you feel quite insignificant as you gaze up at these giant  formations- it is well set up for tourists with boardwalks and sensitive lighting , you are able to walk around 1km into the cave but they extend to 31km all told. The entrance to the cave is a tiny 2x2 m opening which reveals the cavernous interior. Quite stunning!

We have literally hundreds of photos of this cave, not one of which shows off its magnificence - so here are a few just to give you an idea

Then the fun really begins - an exhilarating  Zip-line to the mouth of the cave, a short swim across the lake before checking head torches and heading off into the cave and the mud!  Winding through narrow passage we slip and slide  our way to a cavern which is one big mud bath, here you are literally knee deep in the slippery stuff  and can lie down and sort of float in your mud bath - torches were turned off for a short while and the very odd feeling of being completely in the dark  while lying in mud!  Not sure I really liked that bit!  We finish off with another swim to try and wash away mud - which it turns out we will be finding for days afterwards We had a great time in Phong Nha and if you heading to Vietnam definitely pay a visit.

View from the top of the zip wire - no photos of inside the cave, so you will just have to imagine the muddy fun!

Our trip to Vietnam is almost over just a couple more stops and Christmas to enjoy - coming soon (ish)

Wow, wow and wow! What an introduction to Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is like an over excited child on a sugar rush, wearing bright vivid colours, shouting, dancing and dragging you by the hand to come and explore, and absolutely not taking no for an answer! Possibly the most vibrant and alive city we have been to so far. It's hot, crowded, noisy, and yes, fun!

Formally  Saigon until 1976, it was re-named  after the  North Vietnamese troops captured the city,  most of the locals however still refer to it as the more sentimental  Saigon. The population is 8.224 million and the most recent count I could find for January 2016, stated they have  7.4 million motorbikes!!   Due to an extensive number of fatalities caused by motorbike accidents it was made law in 2007 for helmets to be worn on all roads, by drivers and passengers , however there seems to be a loophole for children - so everyone seems to wear helmets  except the little kids , which to us was a bit odd - surely they are the ones you want to protect most of all!

There are whole internet forums dedicated to  how to cross the road in HCMC, with over 7 million motorbikes,  plus cars, trucks and bicycles it feels like you are taking your life in your hands when you cross the road,  the traffic doesn't really stop so you just have to take a deep breath, and walk  - slowly and steadily, look straight ahead and NOT at the traffic that is heading straight for you, don't hesitate, don't run, just walk  it will flow around you - honestly!  (or in Suzanne’s case, dragged by the arm whilst I do the walking) The Vietnamese are an impatient lot so if there is a traffic light or reason to stop the motorbikes often  take the path of least resistance and drive around the obstacle which usually means on the pavement!    Click here to see a bit of traffic light avoidance!

 Whole new meaning to taking the dog out!

This is the first time we are travelling without Tigger, although after seeing the manic traffic, maybe it's not such a bad thing.  (pah! I would have enjoyed the adrenalin rush. Not sure if I would have enjoyed the tongue lashing I would have undoubtedly received from the navigator) We feel a bit vulnerable, no trusty Tigger to fall back on if we can't find anywhere to sleep, or whisk us off us off to our chosen destination at our bidding,  we are tourists here, not overlanders, and this requires planning!   Tigger-less we  decide to try using Air B&B, instead of a hotel, this will be our first venture into the Air B&B world and  we don't really know what to expect, but we strike lucky.  “Christina's”, an Air B&B in HCMC, has a great central location, is beautifully furnished and goes the extra mile on attention to detail.  This was 5-star accommodation for us after our rather basic guesthouse in Laos, we almost want to spend our whole time in our room!  

Get up - we have sight- seeing to do!!

We only have a visa for a month so we are on a tight schedule to see everything we want in Vietnam, so when Christina's told us they organised motorbike tours to see the Cu Chi tunnels we take it up. The tunnels are around a 1.5hrs from HCMC and we are going by motorbike, after seeing the roads  I am a little unnerved  by the prospect but have faith that the guys driving the bikes don't want to meet their maker either and go for it! 

You can't see just how tightly I'm holding on to this poor chap!  

 It's pretty exciting whizzing along the streets of HCMC with the 7 million other bikes and mopeds, weaving in and out of traffic, as I hang on to my lovely guide for dear life!   (not me – I’m having a great time and only wish I was riding my own bike. I miss my Harley back home) Junctions and roundabouts are interesting, traffic going in every direction all at the same time, I mostly shut my eyes at this point but we didn't collide with anything so it must work.  

Who is that?

On route to Cu Chi tunnels, we make a couple of sightseeing stops and much needed "Butt Rest" breaks - big respect to all of our overland friends who ride motorbikes around the world you guys must have Buns of steel!

 To make rice noodles, mix rice with water to make a paste, put into the sun to dry on wooden racks as above then cut  into noodle shapes - easy!

A quick look at a rubber plantation and how they Collect rubber from the tree

The Cu Chi tunnels are part of a large underground network that was used during the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong. The tunnels were more than hiding spots during combat, they were several storeys deep and included living quarters, supply routes and field hospitals. They were accessed by hidden trap doors and allowed the VC to control a large area, at its peak, the tunnels stretched more than 250km

As a tourist, you get the opportunity to crawl through the tunnels, if you can get through the tiny trap door - which apparently have been made bigger to accommodate the larger western frame!

One of the" must see sights" according to the most guide books is the Saigon Central Post Office, designed by Gustav Eiffel. As it's early December and we have some Christmas gifts to send we think it would be a novel idea to send our gifts from this famous landmark. We spend the best part of two hours individually wrapping each present - and there are a few of them! We then pack them carefully in two boxes, lovingly wrapping these as well. Very pleased with our efforts we arrive at the post office boxes in hand, only to be told at the counter that we have to unwrap everything!!!! All of our lovely presents so beautifully wrapped have to be unwrapped and shown to Mr Post Office man, documented what they are and then re-wrapped - so top tip if sending a parcel from Vietnam, don't bother with the gift wrap until you get to the post office and declare what you are sending.

The French built Post Office

 Parcels all ready to go - or so we thought!

We have come to realise that this part of the world holds some very sad memories. The War Remnants Museum documents the atrocities of the Vietnam War, from a Vietnamese perspective. Before you enter the museum in the courtyard is an impressive collection of American military planes, helicopters, and tanks, emphasising how much military power the Americans had and yet, they still lost.

Mostly this is a photographic documentation, with some of the most disturbing and graphic photos of war we have ever seen, and not appropriate to share here.  It is criticised for being one-sided with an emphasis on the victim, not the victor, but many of the distressing photographs illustrating the US violence are actually from US sources.

Included is the iconic photo of the girl running, screaming after suffering napalm burns - you can read the wonderful story of how she not only survived but recently had laser treatment to help heal her wounds click here

Despite the grim content we would still put this on the list of top places to visit, but make sure you take plenty of tissues.

No visit to HCMC would be complete without a mention of food. We booked a street food tour with XO tours, and of course, the only way to get around is on the back of a moped! XO tours USP is that is the only "all-female motorbike tour company". (the”lovely gels” as Father Ted would have described them, give us specific instructions on how and how not to hold on to them although I think that was directed at the chaps, not the ladies!)

 The" Lovely Gels" 

We were taken to a number of districts around HCMC and given a little bit of history and information about each place as well as stopping for some street food. You can eat and drink as much as you want and the food was pretty good but the highlight of the tour was being on the bike a night. Whizzing through the busy streets was really exhilarating! Our only criticism would be they don't let you take photos while on the back of the bike, probably because they want to sell you their video (they have an accompanying backup crew with them, taking photos) They do email you some pictures afterwards but we never got round to downloading them.

This is Hot Vit Lon or Balut, a developing bird embryo which is boiled after 19-21 days incubation. You get to eat duck and egg at the same time, well John did, I didn't!

 Yummy food to BBQ, well some of it anyway - not so keen on amphibian on my grill!

We were in Saigon for 4 days, 3 nights and this was just about the right amount of time. Would recommend a visit if you happen to be passing. Mekong Delta next stop

From the chaos of Ho Chi Min City, we travel south to the Mekong Delta.  Known as the "rice bowl" of Vietnam, it provides more than half of the rice for the country, in addition to the vast assortment of fruit and vegetables produced. It is a maze of waterways, Islands and swamps, surrounded by paddy fields, and the main form of transport is by Vietnamese long boat. It all sounds so romantic, exotic and yet calming we can't wait to get there, we are still reeling from Saigon!  

We are especially excited about visiting the renowned floating markets, where you can watch the daily life of the Delta folk trading their wares on the river.  We  have booked an Air B&B in Cai Be,  which proudly boasts it  is a 5-minute walk from the floating market, great we only have two days so this will be perfect - won't it?!

The Air B&B provides transfers from HCMC , so a pleasant couple of hours are spent watching the world go by in an air conditioned car - (a bit of a novelty for us) We get dropped off at the water’s edge and are greeted by our hostess who ushers us onto the small rickety ferry along with several mandatory mopeds, ducks and chickens, and across to the waiting mopeds who will take us and our bags (one big bag each) down the narrow dirt tracks that wind between the waterways and ditches to our accommodation

 Our first ferry across the Mekong

We are free for the afternoon and there are bicycles available, so we borrow a small photocopy map of the immediate area and cycle out around the waterways and the palm-shaded houses exploring the neighbourhood. It's a really enjoyable ride, you don't go more that 50mtrs without someone waving and shouting out "hello, where you from Meester"  

Our Air B&B was called Durian Lodge - fortunately, it didn't require the eating of them- although I think this might be a Jackfruit?

 It’s a lot further than it looked on the map so we are out for a couple of hours and ready for a delicious freshly pressed ‘sugar cane over ice’ drink before we get home. - Well, John is, it is teeth-jarringly sweet - which I suppose it would be as it is basically just a cup of sugar, can't see how anyone would find this refreshing - I'll opt for a glass of Prosecco back at the ranch!

 Sugarcane Press

Note the interesting child seat on the motorbike!

Driving and steering the ferry is a pretty relaxed affair!

 During our cycle ride, we also happened upon some maintenance work on the overhead power lines. We think this video clip could be used in a health and safety video in Europe see what you think!  

Click to see  

 It’s very peaceful here. No cars, only mopeds and bicycles and the drone of the cargo boats chugging along in the background. That is until. Stone the crows!!! Sounds like there is a festival kicking off somewhere nearby. Our host's husband, who is an interesting character from Austria, informs us that this noise is a local tradition of “who has the biggest and badest home karaoke system” and can last quite a while. Neighbours have even come to blows over this with serious outcomes apparently. We just have to weather the storm. Another local custom we learn about is fishing with electricity. One car battery, one boat, one set of electrodes and one dumb ass fisherman…zap. Dead fish rise up around the boat. One heavily intoxicated local, goaded by his wife to provide food, sets down his bottle, yanks a power line down from the pole at the end of his garden on the banks of the river and, with his feet in the water, plunged the cable into the shallows and joins the “choir invisible!” 

 I am very keen to find out what time the floating market starts, by all accounts you need to be an early bird, but this is the highlight of the trip so it will be worth it, so what time does it all kick off I eagerly ask?  Hostess looks confused and tells us that the floating market in this area has ceased to be for about 15yrs!!!!!  I am so disappointed, not to mention angry!  I really want to know why the **** does it say on your listing that you are a 5 min walk away????  We never really get a satisfactory answer to this but she promises to arrange a river trip for us the following day -- GRRRR

We hire a local lady and her working boat to take us out and show us the sights . The boat lady didn't speak a word of English and our tour took in her delivering  a boat full of watermelons to a motorcyclist.  She was super lovely and didn't stop smiling the whole trip as well as providing John with one of his favourite portrait photos. 

Our lovely boat lady

The bags are full of watermelons, after a balancing act, the one on the floor was put In the front between his legs!

She took us in and around the few cargo boats that are the only thing left of the river trade on this part of the delta.  We stopped at a floating fruit and veg store and sat a while drinking coconut and mango drinks and trying not to gag on the pong of the freshly cut durian that the Vietnamese (and all Asians by the sound of it) love. Phew! It’s a tall order but just have to hold it down until we pay for our drinks and high-tail it out of there!

 Laundry day!

Ensuite facilities onboard all boats

 Riverside properties are also available

Although we didn't get to see "The floating market" with its colourful boats selling everything and anything (sigh) we did get to see some real local river life and it which wasn't full of tourists, we were the only westerners wandering around the land market, and our river trip was pretty unique, so in hindsight maybe it was a blessing in disguise.  Still wanted to see the floating markets though!  Grumble,mumble, moan!

Leaving the delta by private transfer we go back to HCMC to catch a bus to M?i Né. It's unbelievably cheap at about £5.00 per person for a 4-hour journey. Lay down on the seat/bed and wrap up in the blanket provided and drink the free bottle of water. Stop off half way at a street food service station sort of place for rice  and chilli and a piece of unknown meat. It's ok when you are hungry, really. The bus journey ends about 10Km from our destination but there is a taxi laid on for the final leg so, which took us directly to the hotel.

Taking the bus - and yes there are two levels!

Had a seat next to this dodgy character

Pretty good service for 5 quid! This is our first beach since Turkey which seems a long time ago now, so we treat ourselves to a beachfront hotel.  White Sands, is quiet as it is at the end of the Mui Ne beach, and is almost deserted as it is on the outskirts of the town, 

 Excellent. The sea is clean and warm and just what we needed for a few days. There is little exciting to do here so it’s just a sunny beach (and pool) stop and a chance to chill. A little bit of running on the quiet roads and on the empty beach will do nicely thank you!

 Pretty much as busy as it got!

Next stop Hoi- An,  where we go back to school :)