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Our journey from Vientiane to Vang Vieng was by mini bus, took about five hours and was a real bone shaker. Large sections of the road didn't even have tarmac even though this was a fairly major route.  Vang Vieng turned out to be better than we expected.  Lonely Planet describes it as 'sullied eden or hedonist's paradise', either love it or hate it but I thought it was ok!  We found a nice guest house in the main street by the river but just outside of 'the party zone'.

The main reason everyone goes to Siem Reap is to visit the magnificent 12^th century temples of Angkor Wat and magnificent they are indeed. Siem Reap itself has really just grown into a tourist hub for people visiting the temples, with the main street being called 'Pub Street'.  It’s not actually as bad as it sounds and does have some nice restaurants and lively bars.

We travel south out of Saigon by coach and plunge into the unforgettable Mekong Delta - flat, lush, fertile and beaming with life.  Our first stop is Ben Tre, a small town that acts as the major hub on the 'upper river'.  The mighty Mekong divides into nine rivers each flowing into the south China sea and referred to as 'The Mouths of the Nine Dragons'.

We started the journey to Halong Bay very early  from our hotel in Hanoi.  It was a bumpy four hours but well worth it when we arrived at the harbour and saw the beautiful limestone karsts rising up out of the green sea.  There are over 3000 of these and they are like small islands covered with vegetation.  Ha long literally means 'where the dragon descends into the sea' and legend has it that the islands were created by the tail of a dragon as it ran towards the coast.