Vietnam

Good Morning Vietnam!! Never actually thought I would ever utter those words as a truthful statement rather than in jest of a film, but here we are.

After a very long 4 days in Shanghai, we were so tired, and travelling through the night only added to the way we were feeling. With forethought I had booked us into a basic airport hotel so that we could arrive and crash. Day one was given to sleep, with Day 2 a day of planning the how where and what in Vietnam. Not a country we have researched at length, but it was always on our list of must see places. There are far too many nice places here in Vietnam, all of which we would like to see, but with a 3 week time scale, not practical. For a first time visit I decided that we would stick to the main tourist hotspots, for their ease of travel options. Starting with the utterly enigmatic and totally chaotic Ha Noi.

Ha Noi

A city of two words, Ha Noi, not Hanoi, but for ease I shall roll the two words into one, and continue. For the next 3 months or so the three bunnies will be travelling as 2 plus one. Whilst it has worked very well for us sharing accommodations, it was mostly driven by monetary considerations, rather than suitability. Here in Vietnam, rooms are exceptionally low cost, and we can now each have our our bunny burrows. Mr and Mrs Bunny chose a rather nice Boutique Hotel. Sounds Posh? Well it was, but it was also the same width as our room. Our room had a slightly shorter bed, a just about wide enough path at the base of the bed to walk easily to the bathroom, and that was the total width of room and hotel. Called tube buildings, these are very much the norm of the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Our building was not just the hotel. The entrance was ancient pharmacy? Boxes of whatever that I would swear had a 1970s sell by date. The next little bit was entrance to private apartment through a closed door and staircase, then another doorway and we came to our hotel reception. We had a room on the 6th floor and a view over the rooftops of Old Hanoi. A maze like no other. An absolute mishmash of building and rooftops, with one that we called The Up house, as in Disney`s film Up. One little house with a pitched roof and balcony stood higher than anything else. All it needed was balloons to complete the picture.

We spent 4 days in Hanoi wandering its myriad of tiny streets, dodging everything from scooters to cars to hand carts, men on bicycles wearing non la, (conical hats) and women carrying the fruits on two baskets suspended from a long bamboo cane carried on the shoulder. It was a crazy chaotic city, and it went on all around you. We learned to cross the streets with confidence, wait for a gap and you would wait until Christmas, just walk out with purpose and everything drives around you. Little B had done the research as always, and pinned it all onto google maps. Managing to see everything pinned at a slightly less frantic pace than weeks gone by, Mr and Mrs B still managed to rack up fairly impressive 20k step days. First stop was the Cafe Giang and the home of the original Egg Coffee. This is a drink steeped in history and started here in Hanoi. Egg yolks beaten to a froth with Condensed Milk poured over coffee, served with a spoon. It looks yummy, and the froth is, but you have to be a die hard coffee fan to appreciate the ultra strong black coffee flavour of the liquid. (of which there is not much) Neither bunny was in raptures, but the froth itself is rather good. A hot chocolate found in a later cafe served with the same egg/condensed milk concoction was ever so much more palatable. For breakfast we shared the 4 lava cakes. Little cakes with a filling of runny egg yolk. Tastes better than it sounds I promise. After a long walk around the city getting a feel for its history, we stopped for lunch at another must do. Bahn Mi, a sandwich that comes served on crusty bread from a cafe with 3 venues on the same street and a rather large queue. Mr Bunny enjoyed his sandwich immensely, but as usual Mrs B struggled with slimy textured chicken, no matter what the flavour. Actually it was in this cafe that I am going to mention the rudest woman met so far. I do hope you read my blog and recognise yourself you miserable bint!! Sat on a table for 4, but alone, in the busiest cafe in Ha Noi according to google, I asked if we could share the table, and you begrudgingly and silently moved your bag. I offered no conversation, just politely asked what coffee you had chosen as it was placed in front of you. Did I ask you for an oration or presentation, I think not, your reply was `Not now, I`m too busy`, waving your hand at me in a dismissive fashion whilst continuing scrolling pages on Facebook. You managed to be exceptionally rude to the next people who dared share your table as well, I note they also moved. Lady, you deserve to sit alone. It costs nothing to smile, and even less to be polite.

Lunch over, we headed towards the `Maison Centrale` or Hanoi Hilton, or Hoa Lo Prison. Quite a sobering building, but one in which I lost interest as the prisoners from the American war started talking about their kind treatment and easy stay. I don`t particularly enjoy anything prison or torture related, and the early days of the prison with the imprisonment of local Vietnamese political or even non political rebels was quite harrowing. Seeing the relics of old cells, tunnels in which they tried to escape or the trees from which they tried to make things to save their sanity was humbling. Unlike too many other people, I chose not to take photos of the once working guillotine, most especially when photos of real heads in baskets where displayed on the wall.

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, and museum, unfortunately we missed the museum part, and without the museum the huge imposing Mausoleum, was just a structure in a very large space. We opted to give the Pagoda of Who What Ever a miss, as we feel quite pagoda'd and templed up. What we did instead was much more fun. Hanoi Train Street.

Train Street, we knew it was a fairly short walk away from our hotel, and deciding to walk there following maps so that we didn`t get lost. Chance would be a fine thing! This Street is a whole in your face look at me, I`m here, street of lights and glitz. A short length of street with bars on either side of the train tracks is devoted entirely to sitting, drinking and waiting for the nightly trains. The atmosphere was incredible. The bars on both side are bright gaudy affairs, tiny stools and tables almost touching the tracks. You have no choice but to traverse the rails as you choose your seat in any cafe. Getting there at 6pm for a 7.30pm train, that actually arrives at 7.40pm, was definitely not too early. So many people. How many photos on Instagram? We choose a bar with slightly higher seats than most, (have you any idea how small Vietnamese stools are?) And we waited. The atmosphere got more and more electric as the time for the train came closer. At 7.25 the whistles started and the cafe owners made no bones about making people SIT DOWN NOW. Moving stools and tables behind the very obvious bright yellow lines, and continually monitoring people so that absolutely no one was under any illusion other that breaking the rules meant death by train. With everyone sat, we waited in eager anticipation of the train. Now don`t ask me why I thought it was going to be a small train (seriously doh, small train?) but I did. Your hear the long extended horn blasts long before you see the train, and the excitement is palpable. Oh my golly gosh, watching that huge train drive by not overly slowly, but definitely within arms reach was pretty thrilling. We could see the feet of the people opposite as the train wheels passed us by. The moment the train passed us by to loud cheers, the hunt was on for the squished steamrollered bottle tops that just about everyone had placed, us included, on the rails. We had such a good evening, we went back the following night and did it all again.

From Hanoi it was my intention to visit both Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh. Mr Bunny took matters into his own hands and booked us onto a 3 day trip covering both. Poor Mr Bunny, he only went onto the website to enquire about bookings and prices, and got back a full itinerary and confirmation of booking. To say it was a tiny bit expensive would be an understatement, but after completing said trip, I can say that we really did cram a lot in. We travelled for quite some miles south to Ninh Binh in a rather comfortable 7 seater luxury mini van and landed at stop one. Toilets, coffee and the usual large jewellery and souvenir outlet, after all every tourist wants to buy expensive overpriced jewellery or pictures away from the town in which they were so recently staying and surrounded by! Not. Still it was a pleasant break in which to stretch your legs. Stop 2, was a Temple. This was the Temple of What Another One. Beautiful like all the rest. but still a temple, are you sensing my lack of enthusiasm? "We will get to see the Vietnamese Unicorn", the guide declared on the bus. I was mildly intrigued. A strange horse, perhaps a mule or donkey with an interesting shaped head, maybe it would be white. I wasn`t so daft as to expect a horn, but a stone statue of a dragonish like horsey thing? That lump said the guide, is where his horn used to be. Whoopy piggin do! I love history, I love old, stunning architecture or clever stonework, but I do apologise for my lack of enthusiasm for long winded stories about a stone dragon or unicorn, or that mountain over there shaped like a saddle because `they` why is it always `they`? used to believe its where a person rode his horse and declared some long forgotten words yadda yadda yadda. Its a mountain, with a dip. Its pretty. Move on. There was also a red roped off area around a mildly once engraved flat stone, like a gravestone, that also required a long winded explanation, and a stick to point out where the mouth of the dragon was and its tail and legs etc. Think 200 year gravestones, overgrown, mossy and with a few gouge marks that once meant something. What I did not need was a 15 minute standing lecture in broken English of what this represented.

• quick interlude here. The most fascinating mountain range was back in Peru. From Machu Picchu the mountain range in front of you absolutely made the shape of a face. Every mass produced ..I mean ` unique hand painted picture` (that just happened to look like the previous 1000 we had been shown) did show how Machu Picchu was surrounded by a mountain range that 100% made a face. Now that`s interesting and unique!

I continue, after my brief deviation. Every tour bus in the vicinity had landed at this Temple, and I would assume everyone had the same brief. No sunglasses in the temple and no photos. Unless of course you are taking Instagram pictures so the rules don`t apply to you, You guys feel free to disrespect the rules of the Temple. It makes me so bloody mad. Excuse me everyone, don`t mind me, I think my super short shorts are real cute and my tits hanging out of my crop top are the perfect attire to take posing pictures in a temple of worship, so if you don`t mind walking around the tripod we have set up slap bang in the middle of the path, so kind... and it didn`t happen once either.

Part 3 of the trip, and this was the scary but fun part. We each climbed into a small boat, 3 or 4 bunnies to a boat, "Firs` years over `ere" as Hagrid shouts in Harry Potter. We all boarded the boats, rowed mostly by women, not sexist here, but it was a rowing boat, 4 people, and a heck of a long way. Kudos to those ladies, I raise my hats to you. We set off and our guide had told me, just one cave, not too long and then a fabulous view. Try and enjoy the cave he said, I promise its worth it. I hate caves. I avoid caves at all costs. 100 or so little boats all set off together, a sea of orange life vests, rowed by these beautiful ladies in fine make up and not a hint of sweat upon their brow. The lagoon was stunning, we were surrounded by green hills, the weather was unkind due to being monsoon season, no rain but a lot of cloud. It made for a spooky grey ride, but still so stunning. One by one the little boats fell into a single file formation. This was the cave. Caves. Rain. Asia. my heart was in my mouth. Our wonderful rower propelled us through the cave system, very low in places, until finally we saw daylight again. The caves had been lit, and we had been prewarned that the caves were a means to an end, not a thing of beauty. Phew, this bunny could breath again. Wait one sec, another cave? another enclosed cove? and another cave, I was ready to have some serious words with our guide! Then encountering daylight once more, there it was. Another Temple !! The Temple of Why The Heck Did They Build It Here. This beautiful large wooden open sided structure stood in the middle of the lagoon. Was it worth being rowed through 5 cave systems to see said temple? hmm

In order to prepare the hot, sweaty and tired bunnies for the next adventure, we paused for lunch. Not a bad buffet selection, shame it included goat meat, but at least there were safe rice and egg options and good ole chips.

Last port of call, ladies and gentlemen we are now driving to our beautiful mountain where you can climb 500 uneven steps to see a wonderful view. Any bunnies not wishing to hop to the top to see yet another view, may retire to a nearby bunny bar for drinks and refreshments. Too right. Obviously little B with her FOMO joined the others and took her little bunny butt up that mountain. Mr and Mrs Bunny walked through the fields taking in the views of the very traditional and clearly not staged men and women in their conical hats tending the fields of what I assume was rice. If you ever have a vision of life in Vietnam, from photos or films, this is the view we had. Silent and stunning. Two minutes away from this mountain was our Eco Lodge stay. Most other people were on a one day tour, whilst we were on a 2 night 3 day. Our stay was lovely, a quiet little bungalow set amongst trees. There was a pool that little B investigated, but yet another truly obnoxious family had clearly decided it was `their pool` and declined to share, swimming far too close, hounding her, limiting her space, and generally making life uncomfortable. Mummy bunny would have defended, but the family was large, and clearly of that nature. We had the unfortunate luck to encounter them again for the evening meal. It pains me how some people can act so badly. Given that another family at the side of us allowed their child to drink from a glass on the floor using a handmade long straw and suck gravy from his plate making awful noises, we ate rapidly and retired to peace and sanity. We are tolerant of people acting however they so wish in their own country, but I do think tourists and visitors should act with a little humility and decorum.

Ha Long Bay. We were picked up at 7.30am and driven 4 hours north to the very spectacular Ha Long Bay, and to our cruise boat, the Aspira. We had no idea what to expect at Ha Long Bay, and held our breath. Every picture you see is an expansive array of beautiful green islands jutting up from the sea. A few boats here and there. Picture post card blue water and perfect skies. Whilst not wanting to paint a less than perfect picture, our trip is very much out of season, it is April, monsoon season, cloudy skies, colourless islands. Moody, stunning and quite eerie.

We arrived at the dockside after passing what seemed like hundreds of small boats, cruisers, rowing boats, fishing boats and more. There it was, the most stunning boat you have ever seen, a luxury yacht moored with multiple decks, helipad, handsome sailors dressed in white, and not ours.

"Everyone on the tender please" came a voice over the Tannoy, "boarding now please". Tender? Boarding? You mean that beautiful luxury yacht was not our home for the night, instead you want me to climb on the rust bucket of a tender, don a life jacket and traverse the ocean for xx mins heading to goodness knows where? Yep.

Clutching a life vest like my life depended on it, and judging by the rust probably did, we headed out towards the islands. When you don`t know where or for how long the journey is, everything seems to take so much longer. After what felt like an eternity, we came to our boat, The Aspira moored far out amongst the islands. Whilst it looked very much like every other boat in the vicinity from the moment we boarded we were treated like Royalty. An ice cold welcoming drink and cooling towel, escorted to our own table for a pre sailing itinerary, then shown to our rooms. We had a large bunny hutch with 3 beds of hay and blissfully soft pillows and duvets. A full length window with our own balcony with tables and chairs, and a wonderful bathroom with a full size bath along side its huge water side window. We were on the lower deck of 2 sleeping decks, so although it felt a little third class, being lower, it didn`t really matter as these ships, boats are only designed for minimal passengers. We think there were 40 or so passengers. Whilst the Itinerary was busy, Mr and Mrs Bunny had only one. To meet Fanny Adams, if you catch my drift. Whilst the rest of passengers boarded the tender again for a transfer to smaller canoes or bamboo boats, Mr Bunny and myself had a lovely chat with Mrs Adams. She plied us with drinks and was most accommodating. Little B, decided that if it was on the itinerary, then she was going to do it. Everything from rowing a canoe, taking part in the cooking class, Thai Chi at 6am, luxury bath, she did it all. Very proud of her. The food on the boat was wonderful, we got fed on arrival, fed again in the evening, breakfast at 7.30 and brunch at 11.30 prior to disembarking. Mrs B requested vegetarian options, not to be awkward, but far too much salad contains seafood items, and meat is invariably not my kind of thing. oh my goodness, I thought Mr Bunny could cook, but If Mr Boat Chef ever needs a person to sample his food, I`m there with bells on. After 11 months of travelling and food very much of a less not more, to be suddenly presented with a luxury 4 or what is 5 course? We were quite full to bursting. I think the word here is `replete` though stuffed

works just fine for me.

Ha Long Bay. A destination on just about every Vietnam bucket list. Yes, it is truly beautiful. Whilst we were not blessed with clear skies, blue seas and pristine green landscapes, we were certainly able to appreciate the beauty of the landscape around us. The 1000 plus islands rising from the sea shrouded in mist was eerie but stunning. Is it everything we hoped? Yes, but equally no. As per every other must see tourist attraction, over tourism is taking its toll. We boarded a boat that was moored in a bay, but we motored past 50 or more boats to get there. We drifted silently along, but in a direct line of sight I could count 17 boats behind us, 14 in front, and 18 to the side. I would imagine that left port side of the boat would have seen an equal amount of boats from their windows as well, Not quite the `unique` experience you are hoping for. People create waste, and far too much of was in the water. Quite shameful really when you consider just how many people are out on the water at any one time. If every boat caught just one piece of plastic, how much cleaner it would be. You stand on the balcony to admire the fabulous views, but you cannot help saying, bottle, bag, crisp packet, styrene box, flip flop...as they drift silently by. At what point is the world going to stand up take notice and say enough is enough?

We returned to the chaos of Hanoi later that day, and boarded yet another plane, this time to Hue.

Hue,

This was the ancient capital from 1802 to 1945. A destination that with hindsight, I should have researched. People come to Hue for one reason, to visit the Imperial City. And? And what? Whilst both sets of bunnies had quite nice accommodations, we rather wish that we had chosen a much shorter stay. 5 days here was at least three too many. But at least we got to see the Imperial City, seeing as it is the main attraction...No. No we didn`t. Mr and Mrs Bunny just did not get the urge to wander yet another most probably beautiful temple, castle palace doofer. It is exceptionally hot, and the drive to visit this ancient site just failed to muster itself. Our drive remained firmly parked in the garage of abject lethargy. The town itself was a hive of activity, we had landed on the eve on the 50th anniversary of the Reunification of Vietnam and the people were in party mood. There were massive military parades taking place in Ho Chi Minh City, and a large food festival was being held in Hue. Incidentally Vietnam is supposed to be a culinary delight for any foody. I still feel however that it takes a certain strong stomach and a cast iron belly to feel confident eating such an array of weird and wonderful foods. A foodie I am most certainly not. If we stayed put in one place long enough to not worry about a bathroom should the need arise, I may have tried one or two of the safer looking offerings but bathrooms on buses and planes? Risking it not am I.

Getting bored of the city, we contacted Little B, who had also intimated that she was finding it difficult to get enthusiastic in Hue, and we decided to meet up and have a day at the nearby beach. This beach was pinpointed using our Lonely Planet must see map. We got a taxi at 11am to said beach resort, towels, suntan lotion, kindles and swim kit ready, and found.....nobody. Not a single soul was on that beach! There was a long sandy strip of very basic concrete pad eating places. So simple they consisted of long plastic tables, too small chairs and stools (what is it with child size chairs!) and large grubby fish tanks no doubt holding whatever fish was destined for the plate later that day but no families with kids with bucket and spades, no skinny bints in too small bikinis (that would be for once in the right place), no guys doing the hunky chunk strut, nada, no one, nobody. There were enough people in the different `restaurants` using the term loosely eating , but a huge stretch of sandy beach did not contain a single sun bed, chair, towel, or person. With no town, maybe a local village or so, there was certainly nothing to invite us to spend very long there, so we walked the length of the beach in both directions and high tailed our bunny butts back to Hue.

It had been my intention to visit Bana Hills, Vietnams answer to Disneyland, from Hue, but with all the festivities, coupled with a national holiday, it was decided to postpone that jaunt to our stay in Hoi An. We actually spent a further two days in the nearby outer edges of the city in a small eco lodge hostel with pool. Bed. Pool. Breakfast. Little B took herself off on a walk to the old abandoned Water Park, but Mrs Adams had followed us there so we engaged with her once more.

From Hue, we continued our journey through Vietnam, and made our way to Hoi An. Getting to Hoi An was an adventure in itself. This was the first time we had made a long bus journey in quite a while. We had thought it was going to take 4 hours, but our ridiculously impatient bus driver honked and beeped his way through the traffic the entire journey and we made it in 3 hours flat. I wonder if that`s why every website suggests trains are better/safer than buses? The bus itself was a sleeper, and our first encounter with such. Very comfortable I have to say, 3 rows of bunks, 2 high. Each bunk space was its own personal little cabin space with a reclining seat, a tv (which may or may not work as nobody seemed to put it on) a small shelf, bag storage, air con and curtains. The bottom bunk was floor level, but with a full window to look out of was no hardship.

Hoi An

What a beautiful little town, such a contract to Hue, and quite the opposite of Hanoi. With a pretty little river running through the town, picture perfect little shops decorated with lanterns. Small bridges and a myriad of narrow winding streets, we have enjoyed Hoi An immensely. Here we had our first exceptionally nice hotel, a real hotel with real hotel rooms, the type that come with a booklet of instructions, fridge, kettle, mini bar, balcony, netflix an overpriced list of massage treatments a restaurant, bar and a swimming pool to spoil us . Such Luxury. With a hefty price tag of £29 per night including breakfast we are quite pushing the boat out. By day we have walked around the little streets, Mr B got himself a haircut and came out looking like a new man, haircut, beard and moustache trim for a whole £4. Whilst walking you do get continually hassled by guys driving multi seated golf buggies. They offer to give you a city tour for a small price. Originally we said no many times, but as the temperatures started to soar we finally gave in. Our first stop of what turned out to be just a whistle stop, zero commentary tour of the town, we landed at the Old House. Clearly a very nice old traditional house, still lived in judging by the large tv in an open room marked Private. We were there no longer than 10 mins, and that included an invitation to view the rather expensive home made silver jewellery that was on offer. I took a shine to the little bangle with the traditional conical hat, but when she tried to convince us that the price offered converted to £24, when it fact it converted to £49, we bade her farewell and left. Our waiting driver then asked if we wanted taking to the Coconut Village. Knowing this was a bit of boating fun, we accepted. Looking back this was a spontaneous and somewhat expensive little jaunt. With hindsight, we should have declined the buggy, without commentary we were no wiser anyhow, and booked a trip including transport and entry fee to the boats. Tut tut, proving even experienced travellers can be hassled into making daft choices when you are hot and bothered. The coconut boats, round deep boats a cross between a bucket, a boat, canoe and paddled with one oar, were dotted everywhere. There were probably 300 of these little boats and their oarsmen and oarswomen waiting to paddle you along the river. They clearly had a well organised system of ensuring every `driver` had a ride for the day, with an exceptionally well detailed book of names and boat numbers being consulted prior to us boarding. He paddled us for ages, along the river, between the bamboo reeds, and then asked us if we wanted `gangnam style`, having seen many videos of these crazy spinning tricks, we firmly declined. My Boatman was clearly disappointed, obviously wanting to show us his tricks. As we watched other boats spinning in faster and faster crazy circles, with the passengers (just 2) getting closer and closer to the waters edge, and I must say, getting greener and greener, we were very glad to have said no. We had the chance to paddle the boat ourselves, and this proved to be so much harder than it looked. A most enjoyable afternoon.

We spent the rest of our time in Hoi An doing not very much. All four evenings of our stay we chose to eat at our hotel rather than in the town. Our chef was excellent, and the restaurant airconditioned, peaceful and empty. We knew we wanted to see the lantern boats that Hoi An is famous for, and set off one evening to see them for ourselves. By night, Hoi An, which if I haven`t mentioned before is a registered UNESCCO town, is truly beautiful. Lit with a multitude of lanterns both near and on the river, it is really special. It is also exceedingly busy. Hoards of bus tours arrive into the town in the early evening, and the little town is just swamped. We took our photos, and once more retreated to the peace and comfort of our wonderful and peaceful, hotel restaurant. By the time we had left, we had eaten 4 meals in the restaurant, had numerous daytime drinks by the pool and racked up a staggering £55 doing so. For perspective, Mr Bunny had a very nice steak meal in the hotel, whilst the same meal in town would have cost four times the price. We are still very mindful of our budget, and even more so that whilst we are in holiday mood, we are not with holiday budget.

Nah Trang

With so many wonderful places to see in Vietnam, we can only do a few. We need to be progressive in our travel, and Nha Trang appeared to be a very nice destination, and quite the contrast to Hoi An. We knew it was going to be a large hotel beach side destination, and I had booked the bunnies into two very nice but separate beach side hutches. We flew to Nha Trang, a swift 40 min flight, rather than take the the 10 hour bus. Leaving the airport we immediately passed one fabulous hotel complex after another. If you can name any high end hotel brand, we passed their hotel. We had high hopes. Hmm....Arriving into Nha Trang itself, I can describe it in three words. Blackpool meets Benidorm. As we had arrived by night, the bunnies both grabbed snacks from the respective local supermarket, and retired for the evening. The morning however revealed a very different side to Nha Trang. It is the haunt of Russian tourists, and possibly only Russian tourists. Everywhere boasted only two languages, Vietnamese and Russian. All the bunnies endured this stay with particular contempt. I refuse to be drawn by politics, but I deign to give anyone from this country any of my interest. We were glad to leave. I shall leave it there.

Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon. At no point in our travel to this city was it described as H.C.M.C. Every bus driver, and bus rep referred to it as Saigon. This is their country, their prerogative, and if that is their preference, who am I to comment or question? Our sleeper bus was awesome. Brand new, and clearly so,

as it had that brand new smell about it, we were three of only seven passengers on the bus. All I can say, is that if only long haul flights were as comfortable, travel more by plane would I.

With respect to the endless signage around this city, I too shall call it Saigon. It is a huge sprawling city, some new, some old, high rise modern buildings rubbing shoulders, or rather knee caps with little buildings of old. It had been my intention for these two bunnies to investigate the famous, infamous? Chu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam resistance. `Not suitable for persons with knee or back problems` it declared, and that ruled us out. We could have sailed on the Mekong Delta, but truthfully these two bunnies have quite run out of stream and the thought of spending yet more hours on a bus failed to induce any enthusiasm. Instead, we had more pressing needs. After twelve months of travel, our tech has started to have a hissy fit. The Go Pro on which I have documented our journey decided enough was enough and refused to switch on anymore. With precious little time to get it mended, we had to make a quick decision and purchased a new one. Mrs B phone, fit to bursting with photos and just about every important document and email required for the trip, also decided, nope, not working anymore. Rapid trip to the Samsung store, a whole lot of head shaking and a promise to order new parts immediately, resulted in a bus journey to Cambodia delayed, and a case of fingers crossed and a whole of lot praying to anyone I can think of hoping to goodness that my phone can be repaired and information salvaged. MP3 player? Also bored of working. My only pair of reading glasses, now doing their best Harry Potter impression with their sellotaped bits. Mr Bs razor? Needs a new razor head. It would appear that our belongings are begging for a holiday of their own.

We managed one small trip within this city, and took ourselves off to the War Remnants Museum. It made you cry. It would be a lie for me to say that I understand the Vietnam War. Especially the Why. It is far more complicated than it appears, and I decline to be drawn. Is this museum biased, I cannot say. I don`t want to say. The photos taken from every aspect of life during the war, before and after paint a sobering and damning story. How any country can do such things to another is shameful. Target the men with weapons if you must, but taking your wrath out purposefully, not accidentally within the confines of war on children is cowardly.

Vietnam is a wonderful, special, beautiful, proud and defiant country. the hospitality of the people is quite beyond compare.

We love you Vietnam, and would like to thank you for your kind and welcoming hospitality.