February 14, 2017
We were half way through our trip when we decided we wanted to add India into the itinerary. We thought we could get the e-visa online, but it only lasts up to 30 days and we wanted to stay longer. That’s ok we thought, we’ll just get it in Bangkok. You can get everything in Bangkok. Nope, we discovered that…
February 13, 2017
Sapa is a town in the mountains of North Vietnam, originally a hill station for the French in 1922, now a base for trekking in the surrounding countryside through cascading rice terraces and small hill-tribe villages.
February 10, 2017
In May 2014 we set off on our first long-term adventure, 7 months travelling through South East Asia and on to New Zealand. We started that trip by flying straight into Hanoi and it was a hot, crazy, noisy, intense sensory overload, where our love affair with Vietnamese food began. Returning two and a half years later we were intrigued…
October 24, 2015
Vietnam we found was best value for money in terms of hotels and food and drink. We just couldn’t spend money there! We stayed in nice hotels with private bathrooms, ate what we wanted, drank what we wanted and did quite a few tours. I imagine if you stayed in hostel dorms you could probably even halve the cost.
May 30, 2014
We’ve been slightly off the grid of late, staying in a couple of remote homestays in the Mekong Delta and it really lived up to our expectations.
May 20, 2014
We went to Hoi An with two things in mind, the full moon lantern festival and Banh Mi, a French baguette style sandwich packed full of meats, fresh veg and sauces.
May 14, 2014
We decided the only way to travel from Hue to Hoi An was on the back of a motorbike! We travelled with Hieu and his son Tam from Hue riders and had a fantastic day.
May 13, 2014
Last week we ventured out into the countryside and the relatively unseen paddy fields of Ninh Binh. We were staying at Nguyen Shack Homestay, a great little place in the middle of nowhere on a fish farm. We stayed in lovely little shacks, complete with hammock on the edge of the water…paradise!
May 5, 2014
Last night we decided to go on a street food tour round Hanoi’s old quarter. We were picked up in a cyclo and dropped off at a random restaurant where our guide for the evening, Johnny Walker, was waiting.
May 4, 2014
We stumbled across this street kitchen today, mainly packed out with locals but the guy was so friendly to tourists as well. Only one thing on the menu, so ordering wasn’t a problem!
May 3, 2014
…7th place! We’d heard good things about Minh Thuy’s family restaurant so decided to give it a go. There were Vietnamese and Western dishes on the menu but we came here for one thing only, Pho (or fur) a beef noodle broth dish normally eaten for breakfast.
May 3, 2014
Sour cream and chive pretzels to be exact, washed down with a Halida beer at the start of our journey with Vietnam Airlines. We’d read a lot of bad reviews about this airline but were pleasantly surprised. We had fish for lunch and beef noodles for breakfast – pretty good as far as aeroplane food goes!