Saigon, Vietnam

After two weeks in Vietnam during which time we'd travelled the length of the country from Hanoi in the north through Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and the Mekong Delta in the South, our last day had finally arrived.

We left the homestead in the Mekong Delta early that morning and, after visiting the floating markets that sold just about anything you could possibly need and seeing how rice paper and rice cakes are made, we said goodbye to our guide Nam and our trusty riverboat and caught the bus back to Saigon.

Our free afternoon was spent seeing the remaining sights of the city that our packed itinerary had so far not allowed us to see. We headed to the Reunification Palace, a time warp of a place stuck in the 1970s and the War Remnants Museum where tanks and planes and heavy artillery were packed into the museum forecourt.

That night we were meeting five new people who would be joining the tour as we travelled into Cambodia. After two weeks together, the group had definitely bonded and friendships had begun to develop. The group had found its groove and we were interested to see how the new people would fit in. Very well as it turned out. Some Aussies, a Canadian and another Brit were added to the mix and that night at dinner we chatted and got to know each other.

Vietnam had been an amazing experience. I was genuinely sad to be leaving but excited to be going to another country. Vietnam surprised me. It was more beautiful and more diverse than I expected and while the natural character of the Vietnamese strikes you as being somewhat aloof, sometimes to the point of arrogance, away from the big cities I found Vietnamese people to be really rather friendly.

Halong Bay, Hoi An and the Mekong Delta were all highlights for me, though to be honest pretty much all of Vietnam was a joy. Hanoi was in your face and crazy but after a while it grew on me. I didn't feel like I spent enough time in either Hue or Saigon, but then Vietnam is bigger than you think and we had a lot of ground to cover. Sleeper trains and sleeper buses were certainly an experience and not something I'd want to repeat in a hurry but it was a part of the fun of travelling in Vietnam. As were the boats, the junk in Halong Bay and the riverboat on the Mekong. And you can't come to Vietnam without mentioning the motorbikes. The ubiquitous form of transport in Vietnam, they are as much a part of the Vietnamese identity as conical hats.

Food was another highlight and another surprise as we sampled different cooking styles in the different regions we visited. Simple claypot cooking that I sampled in Hoi An and Nha Trang was delicious and probably some of the best food I ate while in Vietnam. Soup, noodles and spring rolls became our staples and I got used to having fried rice and stir fries for breakfast.

Next stop was the Kingdom of Cambodia. Having heard so many things about the country I was keen to see it for myself. Angkor Wat was one of the things I was particularly keen to see. And tomorrow, we'd be on our way. I was nervously excited.

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Our penultimate day in Vietnam was also one of the most memorable and definitely one of those experiences you don't forget in a hurry.

We left early in the morning to travel the 3.5 or so hours by private bus to Vinh Long to meet Nam our guide for the tour and join our riverboat for our tour on the Mekong. Arriving at our destination we encountered the first thunderstorm of the rainy season, and while the rain bounced off the pavements, we donned white, plastic ponchos and staggered out to board the boat via a precarious rain soaked gangplank trying not to fall in.

The rain was heavy but within about an hour it was over. We sailed up the Mekong stopping off at various villages and homestays along the way to learn about traditional ways of Vietnamese life. We stopped off at a rice merchants and found out how they polish the rice; at a coffin makers; a metal-workers and a traditional bamboo roof weaving place.

Lunch was a delicious home-cooked meal at a traditional homestay: noodle soup, baked elephant fish, spring rolls and for me and my veggie room-mate, tofu and mushroom stew, each course being served with hand carved vegetables in the shape of Vietnamese figures rowing or fishing. It was simple, elegant and delicious like so much Vietnamese food this trip. The homestay also backed onto a crocodile farm so we watched as young crocodiles were enticed with pieces of meat while other crocodiles basked in the sun.

After a brief hammock stop, we rejoined the boat and continued down the Mekong. Next stop was a plant nursery where we were given a tour of the plants and given samples of jackfruits, guava, pomelo, pineapple and plum apples washed down with jasmine tea.

Once tea had been drunk and fruit had been eaten we sailed down river to another homestay where we had a couple of snake encounters. One in the form of a python that we each took turns draping round our necks. He was pretty heavy and when it was my turn to hold him I had to get help from one of the guys as I thought I was going to drop him. He was smooth and incredibly strong but it was quite a pleasant experience. Python dispatched back in his cage, we were then taken into the living room of the homestay and told about traditional Vietnamese life, how families honour their deceased relatives by building shrines to them and learning about offerings that are made at a small altar you'll see in a lot of Vietnamese homes. We were also served shot glasses of what I thought was rice wine or whiskey. It turned out to be snake wine but I had already downed it by then!

Returning briefly to the boat, our next stop was to transfer into traditional sampan rowing boats and, donning the distinctive conical hat, we rowed to our final stop for the night, our homestay.

We were all sleeping in one dorm with simple wooden beds, sheets and mosquito nets. We had been warned that as we were in the country and in a more tropical climate than Saigon, mosquitos would be out in force. The energetic amongst the group went out on bikes, then it was back to showers, cold beers, hammocks and mozzie spray, and to look back over photos and reminisce about the incredible day we had just spent together.

Then there was the small matter of killing and eating a snake. WARNING: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH DETAILS THE SNAKE KILLING. Please don't read if you think it will upset you or if you're squeamish.

One of our group, Jamie, had asked whether it would be possible for him to kill a snake. A rainbow snake was duly caught, kept in a bucket then laid out on a stone slab. Effectively the process consisted of the snake's head being sliced off and its blood drained into a bowl. The decapitated head and body were still moving independently of each other at this stage. The body was placed in a bowl of boiling hot water and descaled while the blood was mixed with rice wine and drunk by whoever was brave enough to try it. I opted out. The descaled body was then laid out and sliced from end to end. The snake's heart was still beating at this stage. Jamie and our guide Nam removed the heart and Jamie then ate it. Apparently, it tasted like chicken liver. The snake was then cooked up and served after dinner in a broth with papaya. Those who tried it said it was very bony.

SAFE TO READ FROM HERE

Pre-dinner entertainment was in the form of some amateur local musicians who played traditional Vietnamese instruments for us, plus singing and story-telling from local performers. Invited to reciprocate with either a song or other entertainment, the guys in our group got up and performed a haka with our resident Kiwi, Jamie, leading proceedings. It was the perfect choice and the Vietnamese joined in with gusto!

Dinner was more of the same simple but delicious food we had become so accustomed to - soup, spring rolls, tofu or chicken dishes with rice - washed down with a bottle of Vietnamese white wine that was surprisingly tasty. Our night at the homestay coincided with two people's birthdays, Jamie and Catherine, so once dinner was over, the lights were dimmed and the birthday cake came out. Both were pleasantly surprised. There can't be any better way to spend your birthday than the day we had just had. I'm not sure how either of them will top it next year, if indeed they will.

The final entertainment of the evening was a pub quiz where three teams answered questions on the trip so far, the US, Australia and the UK. I'm pleased to say my team, Brits Abroad, were the winners. We even had our own little dance!

After a long, eventful but extremely memorable day we settled down under our mosquito nets and enjoyed our penultimate night in Vietnam. It had been an amazing day. We had seen and done so much and now we had only one more day left in Vietnam. It would involve museums, sightseeing and welcoming some new faces.

Ho Chi Minh City and the Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam

Travelling by public transport in Vietnam is certainly an experience. For the last leg of our Vietnam trip we took the overnight sleeper bus from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it's still known. Sleeper buses in Vietnam have bunk beds, a fact that excited quite a few of us. Bags stored underneath the bus, we took off our shoes and were handed plastic bags to store them in then climbed on board and settled down for the night.

Sleep, like the driving, was a little erratic. Next morning as we were getting off the bus, we discovered that during the journey the driver had been texting while driving and had also fallen asleep at the wheel. One of our group had shouted to him wake up and had spent the remainder of the journey sitting bolt upright, watching him like a hawk. About an hour outside Saigon the bus was involved with a minor collision with a truck. Thankfully no-one was injured.

We arrived in Saigon tired and dishevelled. After checking into our hotel, taking a much needed shower and having a couple of hours rest we took off on our excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a couple of hours outside Saigon.

The Cu Chi tunnels are a series of underground tunnels built by the Vietnamese and used during the War to mount a counter-attack against the Americans. Thousands of men and women hid out in these tunnels and fought a ground war against the US. We learned what everyday life was like for these people, how roles and responsibilities were divided up by gender and saw the elaborate and quite ingenious ways the Vietnamese built traps to ensnare any unsuspecting US ground forces.

We also got to go into the tunnels, that got progressively narrowerer and more claustrophic and marvel at how people were actually able to live underground in such cramped conditions for months, sometimes years on end and remain undetected for so long.

One of our group is a former soldier in the Australian army who, as a nineteen year old, took part in the War in Vietnam. He tells the story of how it was his platoon that first discovered the tunnels and how the tunnels were subsequently carpet-bombed by the Americans. He is also something of a conspiracy theorist who questions the authenticity of some of the accounts about the War and the tunnels, but we'll leave that for another day.

One of the optional extras at Cu Chi is to have a go at firing either an M60 or AK47 gun. I opted for the AK47. I'm not a big fan of guns but did enjoy the experience of firing a real weapon. To be honest it wasn't so much different to the firing range at the fair except it was much louder and had more kickback. Plus there was no goldfish in a bag handed out at the end.

After looking at a few more of the exhibits we concluded our tour of the Tunnels and headed back to Saigon. Our driver had clearly been to the same school of driving as our previous driver. We endured a white-knuckle ride as he swerved in and out of the lanes of traffic, overtaking wherever there was a gap, beeping his horn and generally intimidating other drivers to move over. The inevitable accident waiting to happen happened as we reached the rush hour outskirts of Saigon and our minibus was involved in a collision with a scooter, knocking the young girl off. Thankfully she was unhurt. The driver seemed more annoyed that he'd had to stop and get out than the fact that his reckless driving had caused the accident in the first place. We were never more glad to get off that bus!

After two weeks in Vietnam you get to understand how the traffic works. It's basically a free for all. If there's a gap and you can fit in it, go for it. If you're bigger than a motorbike and want to overtake, beep your horn in an intimidating fashion until the motorcyclist or cyclist moves over. At junctions and roundabouts there's no point waiting for another driver or motorbike to pass as he won't extend you the same courtesy. You can transport pretty much anything on a motorbike. Whole families, including babies and toddlers ride on the bike, often without helmets, and usually up front. The most people I saw on a motorbike was four. I've seen freezers, chairs, pots and pans, bottles of beer, dogs riding shotgun, live chickens, dead pigs, you name it it's probably been transported by motorbike.

Saigon has three million people and around two million motorbikes, which is more than Hanoi. It's also the largest city in Vietnam. Where Hanoi, particularly in the Old Quarter, felt cramped and frenetic with bikes and rickshaws, Saigon felt that little bit airier. The roads are wider and the streets seem to be laid out better but the driving is still as crazy as ever as our experience proved.

Our time in Vietnam was drawing to a close. For our last trip we were heading into the Mekong Delta to stay on a traditional homestay. It would turn out to be an incredible experience in more ways than one.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

On another blisteringly hot day we left Hoi An and took a bus to Danang to catch a day train to Nha Trang in the former South Vietnam. The day in question also happened to be 30 April, Reunification Day, and one of the major public holidays in Vietnam. We were told the station would be busy and it was. Entire families with huge bags and other belongings were camped out ready to catch the train to visit their extended families, whilst we stood getting in the way with our unwieldy rucksacks and bottles of water.

Vietnamese trains are functional but have definitely seen better days. Cleaning appears to be erratic and actually seems to commence after the train has started its journey. The air conditioning didn't kick in until the train was moving either, so we fought our way to seats whilst sweat rolled off our faces and down our backs and then spent the next ten hours sitting in a sodden state as the air conditioning alternatively worked then didn't and the sun blazed fiercely through the windows.

In between the news, game shows and subtitled American movies on Train TV, we talked, ate, snoozed, read and listened to music to kill the time. A few disappeared to the drinks carriage again, one of our group returning wearing a completely different shirt to the one he'd gone in wearing. He'd swapped his with one of the locals.

We finally arrived in Nha Trang at about 9pm. The town felt like it was already in party mode as young Vietnamese rode around town with two and three to a motorbike, beeping horns and weaving in and out of traffic.

The most attractive thing about Nha Trang is its beaches. Beautiful golden sands, palm trees and clear, blue water. I'm not a beach or sunbathing fan but even I was drawn to the beach cabanas and sat gazing out at the South China Sea, even venturing in on one occasion. When I think of Vietnam, beaches are probably way down the list, but Nha Trang really is a hidden gem. Great beachfront bars, cool lounges, spa and massage places all over town, it really was a great place to take forty-eight hours out from the relentless travelling.

I've been surprised and impressed with Vietnamese food on this trip and a great example of this is Lanterns, a small but excellent restaurant in Nha Trang, that serves Vietnamese as well as Western food. The shrimp claypot was absolutely stunning, so much so I went back and had it again the next day! As well as serving great food, Lanterns raises awareness and support for good causes in the Nha Trang area. You can also volunteer your time to help teach English to local children through Lanterns.

After two days R&R we were back on the road, this time by overnight sleeper bus to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon, the penultimate destination on our Vietnamese adventure. It would prove to be an adventure in more ways than one.

Hue & Hoi An, Vietnam

After spending time in Hanoi and Halong Bay it was time for us to leave and catch the overnight sleeper train to Hue. After catching taxis across town we arrived in plenty of time for the train, found our six-berth cabins and crammed our rucksacks into any available space, ready to enjoy the twelve-hour journey.

The guys went off to find the drinks carriage, returning four hours later having sampled most of it. A couple of us explored the train and were amazed to see people crammed into every nook and cranny including in corridors, cupboards and behind doors. We had been warned off trying any of the food on the food trolley - a selection of unappetising rice or noodle dishes - and when the guys later told us they'd seen noodles being rinsed out on the floor in amongst the cockroaches, we knew we'd made a wise decision to avoid it!

Going to the loo was certainly an experience. There are Western style or Vietnamese 'squat' toilets on board. Thankfully we were near a Western one. Even so, the loos weren't particularly clean and over the course of the twelve-hour journey, the floor got progressively more wet through so you could never be entirely sure what you were standing in.

With the exception of the guys rolling in late, plus one of our party being escorted back by the train police after being involved in a fight, the journey was largely uneventful. I didn't sleep a wink though everyone else in the cabin said they slept well, no doubt being lulled by the motion of the train.

We arrived in Hue on a humid but overcast day. As we only had a day in Hue, after checking into the hotel, I decided to wander round and see some of the local sights. Wandering across the Perfume River, a local rickshaw driver started following me for a couple of blocks, pointing out some landmarks. I decided to pay him to bring me round Hue and, after paying him the princely sum of 120,000D or £3.50 spent a very pleasurable hour being shown the sites including the Imperial City, the Citadel and the Dong Ba market, including some sights not in the guidebooks - Ho Chi Minh's family home and a pagoda complete with monks in flowing, yellow robes.

Foolishly, I had gone out without sunscreen and ended up with sunburnt arms. Hot and bothered I decided to return to the hotel and relax for the remainder of the day and try to catch up on sleep. Dinner that night was at a local restaurant 'Ushi's' where we chowed down on local Hue specialities while Ushi herself, something of a local celebrity, mingled with her customers.

Our stay in Hue was short but sweet and was certainly quieter after the chaotic streets of Hanoi, but we had heard great things about Hoi An and were looking forward to moving on.

For the four hour trip to Hoi An we decided to hire our own private bus rather than take the public bus as it gave us the option to take a slightly different route through the stunning scenery via Làng Cò beach, Danang, Marble Mountain and the Hai Van Pass. Each twist on the mountain road and hairpin bend, threw up another stunning vision of the coast below.

Arriving in Hoi An, the distinctive yellow, colonial style buildings in the Old Quarter and lanterns hanging from the pink and purple bougainvillea draped across the front of the buildings, gave the town an immediate charm. Despite the abundance of motorbikes, Hoi An has a friendly, chilled out vibe. The people seem friendlier and the town is fully geared up for tourists with its many cocktail bars, restaurants and cafes.

Hoi An is known around the world for its tailors who make beautiful hand made, made-to-measure clothes and shoes and there are several hundred of them in Hoi An. We were also lucky enough to visit a silk factory to see how silk is extracted and came face to face with real, live silk worms.

While in Hoi An we ate, for me, one of the best meals in Vietnam so far. Streets is a restaurant that helps train disadvantaged kids to become chefs. While slightly more expensive than average Vietnamese prices, the food is delicious. I started with local speciality White Rose wontons (steamed shrimp wontons), followed by another speciality 'claypot' with caramelised aubergine and tofu and steamed rice. It was incredible. And still only about £8.

Hoi An was certainly one of my favourite places in Vietnam. We met some characters - like the lady who followed me around and wouldn't leave me alone until I'd visited her shop or the Canadian guy who came to Hoi An for a holiday, ended up staying and has now opened his own coffee shop doing great Western style coffee and cakes.

We left Hoi An wishing we could have stayed longer and secretly hoping that some day some of us might come back. Next up was a ten-hour train journey to Nha Trang on one of the busiest holidays in Vietnam - Reunification Day. We prepared ourselves for the ensuing chaos.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

After a couple of days in Hanoi, it was good to leave the city behind and travel the 3.5 hours to Halong Bay. Heading out of Hanoi we crossed the Red River and caught our first glimpse of the 'real' Vietnamese countryside; the lush, green rice fields being tended by women in their traditional conical hats and the rows of banana plants drooping in the stifling heat.

Halong Bay, translated as the Bay of Descending Dragons, is a cluster of some 3,000 limestone islands, covered in thick vegetation, that rise majestically out of the Gulf of Tonkin. Many of them are hollow or contain amazing cave formations. The sight of them from the boat as you pass between them really is quite spectacular.

Later in the day, after an afternoon of exploring the aforementioned caves and swimming at a small tourist beach, we sailed into the secluded bay where we dropped anchor for the night and watched traditional fishermen trawling the water for fish and other crustaceans.

We were well looked after on the junk by our small crew of three and the food served on board was delicious: freshly baked whole fish cooked in ginger and chilli, scallops, squid and tiger prawns, spring rolls, rice, noodles and a wonderful array of simply prepared but delicious vegetables.

I don't think there's anything more idyllic than sailing across a beautiful bay whilst watching the sun go down. It was a marvellous introduction to the 'real' Vietnam and the wonders yet to come.

After a brief return to Hanoi, our next stop is the former capital of Vietnam, Hue. See you there.

Hanoi, Vietnam

So after three flights, various bus, train and taxi journeys, including an overnight stopover in Bangkok, I arrived in Hanoi yesterday, having travelled almost 7,000 miles. Vietnam, after the apparent serenity of my, albeit brief taste of Thailand, seems more chaotic and frenetic; the people a bit more surly and opportunistic if the experience of trying to get from the airport to the city is anything to go by. But also unexpected friendliness and generosity too, like the old man who smiled and waved at me from the bus going past mine or the young Vietnamese who wanted to talk to me to practice their English, who introduced me to their family then politely shook hands with me as they left.

But then there's always someone trying to sell you something be it a motorbike or rickshaw ride, a map, a guidebook, some toothpicks or even a pineapple. Or indeed your picture taken with a pineapple! Sadly it's unavoidable, but after a while you're almost always on your guard. Pickpockets are common and already I've heard stories of people having bags and wallets stolen.

Of the twenty-four hours I've spent in Hanoi it's been loud, brash, in your face and exhausting. There's the constant noise from car horns and revving motorbikes. It seems horns are used as a form of communication and as a way of giving out orders. Get out of my way! Move over! Police patrol the streets with loud hailers and microphones issuing commands to errant drivers parked illegally.

Then in the midst of all the chaos, there's the little things you notice. Like the exotic birds in cages hanging from the trees and the eaves of buildings; the people cooking food right out there on the street in amongst the exhaust fumes and open sewers and street dust; the piles of sandals and flip-flops at entrances to buildings; groups of Vietnamese huddled on low stools drinking coffee or iced tea whilst casting a curious look in your direction.

I spent some time at Hoàn Kiém Lake today, a little oasis of serenity in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. I'm not too sure how I feel about Hanoi but I'm certainly glad to have had the opportunity to experience it.

Tonight I met the rest of my fellow travellers and the people I'll be spending the next seven weeks with. A mixed bunch of Australians, Kiwis, Americans and Brits. We went for dinner, we shared stories, we laughed and we got to know each other. Here's hoping we have an amazing trip.