Sunny Rugby Station

First to drop our bags - we arrived at 2.54 and check-in opened at 2.55 🎉

Lounge life 🤩

The view from our hotel room is pretty cool

Ted is already over being photographed 😬

The women ride in incredible outfits!

One of my favourite dishes - beef and papaya salad 😋

Ricky teaching us about how the Vietnamese get their children to eat vegetables 🤣

The 24 hour flower market

Vietnamese rice paper pizza

No smelly fruit allowed 🤣

Waiting to check-in

Our ‘driveway’ 🤣

A beautiful bathroom decoration in our room

Ted enjoying the swing

Pre-dinner drinks

No more photos - and I mean it 🙄

Except the ones I t take 🙄

Sea snail fisherman on the beach

Starfish from the fisherman’s net. He let us release them back into the ocean

The sea snail fisherman hard at work

Zoom out and Mui Ne has an unfortunate reality. We’ll stick to the pool

Vietnamese flotsam!

Seafood bbq at the hotel

😍

Living our best life

View from the breakfast table

Ted made a friend! Victor is 11 today so they’re having fun in the pool

The walk back up was not nearly as much fun

A chilled morning ☺️

Got some SATs revision in 😇

Went for a walk down the Fairy Stream. Didn’t see any fairies but did spot a lizard and a man with a very large snake

Ted getting all independent buying his own ice cream

Man & big snake. Ted was not keen 🤣

Fishing village with the lovely coconut boats

A very lazy gecko waving us off

Beautiful decorations everyegere

At least the puppy kept us entertained while we waited 😍

Finally on the main bus (no. 2 of 3) You know it’s going to be a longer journey if they give a bed! 🤣

Night lights on the bus

Beautiful scenery for Ted

At least this time round I could follow the GPS and track our progress! Although this was occasionally depressing when we were driving round in circles 🤣

Room for me feet, usb chargers and a tv 🎉

Finally in Nha Trang with Pho Bo making everything better

At 140000 dong for both of us (about £4.50) this meal was a delicious bargain!

Just had to finish it off by sharing a crepe - 40000 dong (about £1.20) well spent!

The cable car to Hon Tre to visit VinWonders - Asian tourism at its best.

This really confused us - although they do celebrate Tet (New Year) in February/March so maybe Christmas is in April? 🤣

Ted is still not a fan of being photographed 🙄

These cute little huts right off the beach seemed to be rented by families to eat under in the shade

A beautiful bust expensive restaurant that we walked by

We discovered a gorgeous bakery 2 mins from our hotel

The sleeping buddha

The entrance to the temple

Ted said I looked very ‘Bougie’ today 😆

The sitting Buddha

Inside the temple base

Urn where Buddhists light incense and say a prayer

Ted is STILL not a fan of pics 😩🙏🏻🤞🏻

The entrance to the Hot Springs

Beautiful calm surroundings after the crazy city

Ted in the mineral pool that’s warmer than a bath 🛁

Chilling in the shade of the palm trees

Ted made a new ‘friend’ who pushed him round 🤣

Lunch in the shade

The coconut coffee was immense

The mud bath turned out to be one of our highlights! Ted was very unsure but soon relaxed 😎

It’s not soup!

My very best ever tan!!

Hopefully it won’t be four hours late like the last bus 😇

A lot of buildings and lanterns are yellow as it’s seen as a sign of good luck

The streets are just beautiful

The Japanese covered bridge links the Chinese and Japanese areas of the town. It has only just reopened after undergoing major renovations.

On every corner you can watch people making the beautiful lanterns and tomorrow we’ve booked a class!

I could literally have bought the whole store!

I didn’t buy them all - but I definitely wanted to!

This lucky lady sold me a few to bring home - it was my first serious bargaining attempt and I’m not sure how I did but we both seemed happy with the price. At 32000Dong to the pound sometimes it feels weird bartering over what is essentially a few quid but they seem to enjoy it!

Eventually we had to retreat to a roof top

Ted happy - before the temperature hit 42degrees 🥵🥵🥵

In front of the temples are bomb craters from 1969

The original 16th century sculpture of Shiva is protected inside now.

Many of the heads on the statues are recent additions as they were found headless like the one on the left \240- nobody knows why.

Ted happy under the shade of the jackfruit tree 🥰

The electric car ride back down the hill was fun too!

To end the afternoon we took a boat ride back to Hoi An just as the sun was starting to set

Our new Aussie friends played cards with us over a mega Vietnamese lunch

Crab fishing off the basket boat

Coconut pods 🥥🌴

I managed to get Ted in a couple of pics willingly 🤣

Relaxing with a coconut coffee on the beach

Ted & Ben built a race car circuit

Our evening meal overlooked the river where you can go in a boat and release a tea light in memory of a loved one

The crazy night market

These beautiful paper decorations just didn’t look like they’d make it home in one piece

Our resident bathroom frog

Our beautifullyl rustic (but ac and en suite!) beach hut

Such a peaceful float through the coconut palm groves

Yep. We did this. Ted was reluctant at first but with a bit of cajoling from our new Aussie friends he tried it - and loved it!

I was a bit dizzy getting off though!

Why not just make the crash barrier a bit more exciting

The beginning of a long and hair-raising cable car journey through the clouds to our hotel

The cable car travelled over incredible scenery

The rose ice cream - at £1.45 it was very expensive for Vietnam!

Yes it’s purely built for tourism purposes but it’s still beautiful.

They even brew their own beer at the top of the mountain! You can drink for free before 5pm 😯

Our castle for the night

Right next door to Notre Dame

The wax museum was so bad it was good 🤣

David’s ok but in what world does this look like Victoria Beckham 🤣🤣

The dodgems were a big hit for Ted

Alpine Coaster!

Ted was lucky to get his favoured teal cart.

You’re not allowed to take photos but…

This just says it all.

Our journey through the clouds ⛅️

The making of the rose ice cream

The brewery pub with free beer

Dodgems!

Ted’s Alpine Coaster video

The 5 minute cable car journey was spectacular

The view of ‘Le Louvre Station’

Our first views of the Golden Bridge from the escalator.

Our first steps onto the bridge felt magical

Tired Ted even posed for a picture 🥰😴

We were so lucky that it was quiet and it felt extremely peaceful

View of Linh Ung Pagoda from the bridge

The mountains are just breathtaking

Stepping out onto the bridge

We said goodbye to the Ba Na Hills (this shot shows the mountain top brewery)

The very talented nail technician at Forest Nails!

Rooftop pool with a view of DaNang bay

Lady Buddha on the peninsula in the distance

Ted watching the sun set over the beach from our room

The incredible Dragon Bridge in Danang.

Our wonderful view. It’s been a long day so beer/fruit juice with some tasty homemade spring rolls and salads was very welcome indeed!

The bridge breathed actual Fire and Water!

Such a beautiful restaurant in the middle of town

The food was amazing and cost less than £10 for the two of us including drinks.

Ted is mastering chopsticks now 😇

Ted has enjoyed the odd traditional coffee and as it is so hot we opted for an indoor activity instead of hitting Danang’s beautiful beachfront.

I hope they have a question about measures on the maths reasoning paper as Ted reckons this counts as revision 🤣

The custard base for the egg coffee

Lighting the flame to poach the custard

We came straight from the pool to the coffee workshop.

Condensed milk seems to be the essential ingredient in all Vietnamese coffees.

Salt coffee

Coconut coffee

Runaway coffee 🤣

A beautiful lotus flower decoration taken as we drove past the banks of the Han river

Dragon Bridge again (without the Fire and Water)

Son Tra night market

Even outside Hoi An the lanterns are beautiful

Food stalls

BBQ beef wrapped in leaves and a spicy chicken skewer

The seafood looked incredible

Lobsters were barbecued fresh at 600,000d (£17) a kilo - no idea if that’s a good price or not but they were served with an array of fresh herbs and sauces and looked delicious.

This beer literally translates as ‘hug’. I was really enjoying it until I saw a huge rat run out from under the fridge where it had been stored and scurry under our table and away!

The entrance/exit to the market

Beautiful lotus flowers in the pools around the marble mountains

This was my favourite cave - I’m sure there is some significance to the sculpture scene but I was dripping hot so didn’t hang around

Every surface is so ornately carved

Ted settling in for the day

Almost at the top of the pass!

So this was odd - a random group of Korean tourists asked to photograph me and they kept coming and giving me big hugs 🥴I’m not sure who they thought I was or maybe they just liked my plaits 🤣

The Hai Van gate

At the top of the mountain pass

More steps but another beautiful view

Our luggage 🤣

Cruising!

Lunch at Lang Co bay was a veritable feast

Ted definitely found his groove

Final stop at the fishing village at the mouth of the 3 rivers

Our beautiful hotel in Hue

Posh dinner at Les Jardins de la Carambole

Every mouthful was delicious

Every dish looked insane - this was my mango pork and chilli salad

Ted’s shrimp

Give the boy beef in leaves and you’ll get a smile!

When we got back the hotel was all lit up

Outside the ancient city walls in Hue

The pho in Hue is some of the best we’ve had - it’s served with meat dumplings and a huge plateful of bean sprouts and herbs. This dish cost 45000d each - about £1.15

The beautiful rice paddies outside Hue

This is an old tunnel entrance built by the viet cong to hide from the Americans in 1969

These ornate temples are not religious; they are family temples where each family goes to remember their ancestors

Turtles, lions, dragons and cockerels are the main animals depicted on them

Loving the lion!

This bridge was built in 1776 and is still used as a shelter for locals during the hottest part of the day.

In 1995 the river flooded to over three metres but the bridge still survived

We learned about farming and the local way of life

Ted acted the part of water buffalo 🤣

View of the 200 year old bridge

Ted and our guide tried their hand at turning the water mill

The incense village was a beautiful sight

We saw them duping the incense sticks which then need 2 hours in the sun to dry

We watched as they added glue to the bamboo sticks and then rolled it in the scent

They let Ted have a go!

Ted enjoying the incense making

A beautiful pagoda in the countryside

Ted found some respite from the 36degree heat

Ted the water buffalo

Feeding the koi at the pagoda

I visited the Vinh Moc tunnels 25 years ago so it was great to revisit them with Ted and remind myself of why they call Quang Tri the ‘heroic state’. The bravery and determination of the people to keep their community safe is incredible.

A ventilation well

A beautiful bronze display depicting the American War.

The network of tunnels built by hand only at night or during torrential rain is a remarkable feat. If I’d also surrounded by many more kilometres of shallow trenches

Ted bravely led the way!

I did go in! It only got narrow a couple of times and luckily we had some giggling schoolgirls to follow who were keen to chat to Ted. He was very embarrassed.

We walked from entrance 3 to entrance 5 which is the family area of the tunnels - this space is where families would typically have cooked and eaten. In order to avoid detection from above ground the Vietnamese invented a special stove which dissipated the smoke and cooked more efficiently.

Shells made into a monument

The road from Vinh Moc to Phong Nha Ke Bang was stunning when the lorries weren’t around.

Arriving at Phong Nha Farmstay was not only beautiful but one of those places you immediately feel like you can breathe out and relax.

Ted went for a late night swim in between ordering and eating dinner

Our gorgeous entranceway at the Phong Nha Farmstay

A pool and a view unrivalled!

This was our breakfast spot this morning

Our room has its own private patio and entrance

Everything is so beautifully done

Even the shower has gold painted touches

The boats at Xuan Son (Soo-ann shun) boat station, Phong Nha

Messing about on the river

The stunning limestone rock back drop to Quang Tri province

Phong Nha Cave

Inside the limestone caves

Despite the story his face is telling, Ted had a great time exploring the caves

We were happy to be much cooler in the caves with the bats

Th \240Ed vs entrance to the cave

Water buffalo on the banks of the river

We had to duck heading in to the caves

Out of the Farmstay adventuring!

On the road next to the paddy fields

The scenic rice paddies

Met a cow ☺️

Stopped at a local farm to visit the ducks

The family enjoyed helping Ted into the hammock to relax after the long cycle

View from the farm

Green tea trees

We tried a spot of fishing but we’re pretty unsuccessful!

The duck massage was the best! Ted could not get enough

Full body massage!

I was less keen but managed a minute or two

They served us fresh pineapple which they grow there

Mary the water buffalo - not sure she liked me very much but I thought she was stunning

Off for a walk…

Ted wasn’t as enthusiastic

Then we rode up a huge hill and across the bridge to find ‘the pub with cold beer’

Found it!

We ate a beautiful lunch of barbecued chicken and local vegetables

Ted being rocked in the hammock - again 🤣

The video of the duck massage is the funniest thing I’ve seen n ages!

The man was twisting the top off the baby pineapple plant to make them grow bigger.

My water buffalo adventure - I genuinely thought she going to take me for a swim at one point.

Waiting to check in was ok with our welcome drink and Ted got a fresh pastry from the onsite patisserie

Our beautiful reception area

Even though it’s turned cloudy, the weather is still 27degrees so we took a trip to the roof

Ted in his happy place

It’s a long way down from the 14th floor!

A lovely view of the unification flags lining the streets

Ted checking out the Koi pond at the entrance to the hotel spa

Birdseye view of the fish

Roof top chillin’

View of the pagoda on Hoan Kiem lake from our rooftop

Enjoying the view of the city at night

Mocktail time 😍

Couldn’t say no to an espresso martini

Unification celebrations have begun in anticipation of April 30th

Take a photo of us in front of the sign please & they cropped the sign out 🤣

The buildings in the Old Quarter are beautiful

The traffic less so! It is pedestrianised after 7pm but that doesn’t mean no scooters!

The narrow streets are packed with shops and cafes

Another day another pho!

This is one of the oldest pho cafes in Hanoi & it was delicious

Crab spring rolls - known as bun cha you wrap the spring roll and noodles in fresh herbs (basil, mint & coriander) then cover it with a rice paper and dip it in fish sauce. Yum. Cost: 100,000 for both of us including our drinks (less than £3!)

Hoan Kiem at night

Riding in the back of the jeep

Photobombed by kids on scooters 🤣

The famous mural in Hanoi is a street project that took art students 10 months to complete. Each section celebrates a different era of Hanoi’s heritage and culture. As you will see I was mesmerised by it. It stretches for 4km and is made out of tiny ceramic mosaic pieces. I could’ve stayed all day here!

The outer streets of Hanoi are just as crazy!

Long Bien bridge. The oldest railway bridge in the city leading to Haiphong city.

The traffic goes the opposite way (you drive on the left) either side of the bridge because when they were building it they carried many heavy materials across it on the right and when it was completed it was listing heavily so they switched the traffic round and now the heavy loads go out on the left to rectify the problem 🤣

A non-religious temple at the station. They have these at every station in Vietnam so people can pray for safe travel and make offerings to ‘the gods’

The old entrance to the station

Ted spotted a nice BMW!

More mural…

A cat (kitten) in a bag !

More mural…

Lotus fountain in one of Hanoi’s many parks.

The presidential palace- flying Japanese flags in honour of the visiting Japanese president. Ho Chi Minh was Vietnams first president and he refused to live in the palace as his people were poor and fighting against the Americans so he built a steel house next door on the site of what is now his mausoleum. I feel like he’d have gotten on well with OBama 🤣

The mausoleum park was heaving on a Sunday night. Lots of Vietnamese girls wearing the traditional white dress for photographs in the mausoleum park.

When he died in 1969 Ho Chi Minh requested to be cremated and his ashes spread across Vietnam but he was so beloved to the people that they kept him in Hanoi as a place of pilgrimage and renamed Saigon in his honour.

The B52 museum

Ted spotted a very rare Lamborghini

President Nixon said he would use B52s to ‘return Hanoi to the stone age’ in order to eradicate communism in Asia. The Vietnamese said ‘screw you and your B52!’ They shot down 23 B52s during the war- one of which can still be seen today in one of Hanoi’s many lakes. They made the rest into cooking pots as the metal was too precious to waste 🤣

These gunners were fired by local people after a brief explanation from the military

Unification decorations

In a residential neighbourhood we saw some guys playing ‘kick shuttlecock’ which is exactly as it sounds - they have amazing core strength to keep the shuttlecock off the ground!

The infamous Train Street. This definitely wasn’t here 25 years ago. It’s like party central until 5 minutes before the train arrives and then everyone clears the deck. I’m not sure I’d describe it as ‘thrilling’ but it’s an experience not to be missed.

Standing on the tracks (briefly!) Ted was hungry by this point so opted not to join me for the photo.

After the train went by the guide gave us a flattened bottle top to remind us of the adventure

Beautiful fates to enter the parks of Hanoi are everywhere.

The Opera House

Hidden Gem cafe with its recycled everything - this was the chandelier in the entrance

Rainbow noodles

A delicious platter awaited us of Banh Mi, fresh and fried spring rolls, rainbow noodles and a glass of lemon juice.

TRAIN!!!!!!!

TRAFFIC! The Vietnamese have saying when driving that you must ‘fill the plate’. It essentially means that you fill any gap on any side of the road (or the pavement) at any time 🤣

Crowds outside Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum

Traffic’s going the wrong (right to us!) way on Long Bien bridge.

Mural ♥️

St Joseph’s from the balcony of La Place coffee shop.

Ted tried the egg coffee. Neither of us were a fan - funnily enough it tastes like eggs and coffee lol

My coconut ice coffee on the other hand was divine!

Just a family of four out on a scooter - I wonder what they do when the kids get bigger? Probably the same judging by some of the loads we’ve seen scooters carry!

The famous Note Cafe where travellers can write a note for those who follow. There was a big queue of tourists for this so we felt it robably wasn’t going to be worth the wait as the outside was cute enough.

Street vendor in Hanoi Old Quarter

“Roads”

We were recommended this place by some Aussie friends we met in Hoi An (Jess, Scott and Ben). It was fabulous food - 45k for the two of us! (£1.30!)

Our cheap feast

Joseph’s cathedral.

The road was long & saw our first raindrops of the trip

First glimpse of Halong

Colourful buildings by the bay

When we arrived they were loading up our boat with plenty of supplies for the next two days

Our home for now

Ted at the port

On board Ted was not a fan of having a schedule to stick to on board the boat but the room soon won him round…

Ted on a (gigantic) bed!

Our lounge area

View from the terrace as we left the port

Ted waiting to board

My amazing bed - Ted had his own separate room off this but as soon as he saw it there was no chance I was going to get it to myself 🤣

It was an excellent bed!

Titop Island - one of the 1969 islands in Halong Bay

Ted enjoyed the beach

Obviously the cars came out!

The weather really did do us a favour ❤️

Life was very relaxing

Just before the sun set we went kayaking

I always think of Jen when I have a paddle in my hand!

The monkeys were none too friendly!

Can you see the face in the rocks?

Beautiful sunset 🌅

Dinner on the sun deck

Breakfast pho

The caves were lovely but I have to say it was very touristy- we had to queue most of the way through and we both enjoyed the experience in Phong Nha a little more

Cave cats!

Pool time!

Another gigantic bed!

We went for a walk and found an amazing Indian restaurant. We had poppadoms, starters, main courses, sides and 2 rounds of drinks for £17.50

Fancied a little rest in the air on so finally got my toenails re-done as I lost a gel nail on the Hai Van Pass! It cost me £5.80 and she was so lovely and friendly.

The beautiful limestone karsts surround you for the entire boat ride. We did route 2 which tours 3/4 temples and 3/4 caves

Captain Ted

Many of caves were extremely low!

Ted said he was missing Leo so we found an enormous replica 🤣

This is the famous Chùa Trình

Temple. The tourists are holding umbrellas to get some shade not because it is raining

Some of the caves are lit beautifully - this was one of Ted’s favourites

The ceiling was very low at some points but luckily my messy bun provided a good early warning system!

♥️

Loving another lotus pond

Boats as far as the eye can see!

As we came back and docked there were hundreds of Koi carp waiting to be fed.

Beautiful artwork at the dock

Celebratory flags on the bridge

Tam Coc boat marina

The lotus waterways

Dinner Date!

Ted tried the local speciality - goat! He was not convinced

He did make another friend though

Cards and coffee

Tam Coc boat marina

Turtle watch - no luck today though

It must’ve been very tiring have someone row you down river for an hour lol

We did look great in our ponchos

A beautiful salad to accompany lunch

The hotel had such lovely grounds

The city was a mass of re do and yellow.

Ted wanted to visit train street one more time!

The coconut coffee at Nam Vy 222 Le Duan St was divine!

Ted had a peanut butter one!

Getting to train street we’d had a nightmare with taxis so we decided to walk the 40 minutes back to old quarter and it was lovely

Final Banh Mi

Cyclo ride up to the ancient gate of the Old Quarter

O Quan Chuong - the gateway to the Old Quarter

We passed by the Note Coffee shop and it had no queues so we ordered some drinks and spent a while reading and writing

Our little photobomber was quite cute 🙂

Street sellers

My final beer by the lake

Tam Vi - Michelin star service as well as delicious food

If you ever visit Hà Nội you should go here!

Tam biet Vietnam 🇻🇳

Our final shot en route to Noi Bai Airport - kind of love it!

Now to start planning the next trip…