2 Comments Four months across Bangkok, Cambodia and Vietnam. Chaos, smiles, mountain roads, cockroaches, friendships and memories we’ll never forget. This is living our retirement dream!
Yearly archives: 2026
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2 Comments Hanoi’s final gift was reminding us that travel is not always glamorous. Sometimes it’s just trying to find dry socks and a decent curry.
Hanoi Old Quarter Revisited: Train Street, Night Markets and a ...
3 Comments Cat Ba Island delivered chaotic hotels, a £2 local ferry through Ha Long Bay, cracked helmets held together with tape, and one of the best coastal motorbike rides in Vietnam.
Cat Ba Island: From Seaside Faulty Towers to Ha Long ...
1 Comment Well… our “free transfer” from Hanoi to Cat Ba didn’t exist 😄
The bus left without us, we accidentally joined someone else’s cruise, ended up on a speedboat, and finally arrived at a hotel where Craig immediately refused the room (which tells you everything).
Four nights later we were by the pool debating the true purpose of hotel kettles and quietly preparing for home.
Travel is strange like that. Chaos first, calm later.
From Hanoi Horns to Karst Calm: Our Slightly Improvised Journey ...
Hanoi gave us six days of wandering, humidity, cathedral calm, police raids on plastic stools and possibly the strangest restaurant experience we’ve ever had.
We didn’t quite click with it… although that may have had something to do with arriving straight after Ha Giang and realising we’d completely lost our mojo.
Hanoi: Old Quarter Wandering, Lost Mojo and the World’s Emptiest ...
3 Comments Three days sick in Ha Giang, deckchairs trapped me, Craig battled a geyser tap, and the IDP denied our loop dreams. Comedy, mountains, despair.
Ha Giang Loop: The Adventure That Never Happened
1 Comment Craig yakking, driver high, me sliding round a sleeper cabin like a frantic seal — that was our Sapa to Ha Giang journey. Hairpins, banana‑tree safety barriers, squat loos, and eight hours of scenic terror. We arrived sweaty, shaken, and absurdly grateful for clean sheets.
Sapa to Ha Giang Sleeper Bus: Hairpin Bends, Mountain Roads ...
We left Sapa with flu, optimism, and a motorbike flinging mud at anything within a five‑metre radius. Craig was yakking like he’d been hired as the official spokesperson for mucus, and I was hanging on like an underpaid stunt double. The roads twisted, the views exploded, and the whole thing felt like a low‑budget action film starring two wheezy tourists who should probably be in bed.
Motorbike Madness: Sapa to Hekeo, Stunning Valleys & Flu-Fueled Grouchiness
1 Comment Cold, flu, mist, and one man snorting like a yak — that was our Sapa morning. Then the mountains appeared, the valleys opened, we got stuck in mud, rescued by a stranger, and blown sideways by wind. By the end we were filthy, freezing, and weirdly euphoric. One of our best days.
Sapa: Riding the Roof of Indochina with One Human Yak
2 Comments Ten hours on a sleeper bus, Craig stood on the cabin boy, my pillow tried to power the national grid, and Sapa greeted us with mist, misery and a shuttle held together by hope. The mountain tribes were gorgeous though — apple cheeks, embroidered jackets, and sales techniques that could charm the Queen.
Tam Coc to Sapa: Sleeper Buses, Apple Cheeks, and Mountain ...
1 Comment Cuc Phuong promised ancient jungle magic. Instead we got tired buildings, a sprint‑tour and monkeys who looked more bored than endangered. The jungle drive was beautiful but oddly wildlife‑free, unless you count a lone duck and a rogue swan‑shaped pedal boat.
Cuc Phuong National Park: Monkeys, Mould, and Managed Expectations
1 Comment What should’ve been a gentle outing became thirteen hours of boats, bread, pilgrims and pain. A mystic smoking something questionable blessed us, my knees filed a complaint, and Craig somehow became the star attraction of an entire boat. By dinner he was shouting at strangers and still had room for spicy chicken. Perfume Pagoda: wet, wild, unforgettable.
Perfume Pagoda: A Pilgrimage of Boats, Bread, Boulders and Bad ...
2 Comments Ninh Binh gave us cement‑coloured skies, slow ATMs, heroic grandmothers, and a chicken with legs like a mythical beast. We drifted through caves, dodged mosquitoes, crossed questionable bridges, and watched Craig descend into full wounded‑yak cold mode. After thirty years of dreaming, it was messy, wet, and unforgettable.
Tam Coc and Ninh Binh: Thirty Years of Dreaming, Five ...
5 Comments We rode from Dong Hoi to Phong Nha along the Ho Chi Minh Road. Five hours of jungle, misty mountains, questionable motorbikes and one cave full of steps. Slightly terrifying, completely worth it.
Phong Nha Motorbike Ride: Ho Chi Minh Road, Jungle Views ...
1 Comment A three-hour train from Hue to Dong Hoi turns into a surprise locust attack, a travelling cockerel, and someone else’s foot under my arm. Vietnam travel at its finest.
Hue to Dong Hoi: A Train with a Cockerel, a ...
3 Comments Two weeks of relentless rain, a disastrous birthday, and soggy penguin walks in Huế. From imperial tombs and mass graves to the Perfume River and full-volume karaoke democracy, join us on a journey of wet misery, beauty, and humour in central Vietnam.
Hue: Rain, Royalty, and Karaoke Democracy
2 Comments Motorbiking from Da Nang over the Hai Van Pass should have been simple. Instead we found mist, construction sites, a monk eating bread, a useless fuel gauge and the spectacular Mui Trau Pass.
Riding the Hai Van Pass and Discovering Mui Trau: Da ...
5 Comments Five days in Da Nang and it rained so hard our shoes developed personalities. The dragon wouldn’t breathe fire, the pool turned the colour of mushy peas, and my haircut nearly took flight. Thank heavens for curry, a yappy puppy, and the kind of rain that forces you to slow down whether you want to or not.
Da Nang: Rain, Curry Obsession, and a Dragon That Wouldn’t ...
2 Comments A £4.30 motorbike, a surprise M&S bra, polished cows, rocket‑fuel coffee and a postman who nearly wiped us out with friendliness — that was our loop to My Son. Temples in the jungle, weddings in full gong mode, and villages that greet you like long‑lost cousins. Vietnam at its warm, weird, wonderful best.
Hoi An to My Son Ruins: A Motorbike Loop of ...
3 Comments Hoi An is beautiful, chaotic and faintly ridiculous. Within 24 hours I’d acquired a black eye, a bruised knee and mango juice down my arms, but somewhere between the lanterns and Noodle Island it still felt like relief.
Hoi An: Relief, Black Eyes, and Lantern Light
9 Comments Eight hours on a Vietnamese train from Nha Trang to Quảng Ngãi: coastal scenery, ten kilos of apples, and a hotel stay that turned into an indoor waterfall.
Nha Trang to Quảng Ngãi by Train: Eight Hours, Ten ...
6 Comments A foggy bus ride, neon vodka aisles, baby buffalo in luminous rice fields, and Craig becoming an unlikely celebrity among Vietnamese schoolkids. Nha Trang was not what we expected.
Nha Trang: Fog, Film Sets, and the Best Ride Yet
2 Comments A motorbike ride from Da Lat to Yang Mao through Vietnam’s Central Highlands — mountain switchbacks, jungle descents and endless rice paddies.
Da Lat to Yang Mao by Motorbike – Vietnam’s Highland ...
8 Comments Discover Dalat during Tết: misty mountains, bustling markets, quirky architecture, and secret sanctuaries.