One of the problems with the ‘no plan plan’ is that there isn’t any sort of plan. I know that sounds obvious, but sometimes constantly moving is exhausting. You are always planning a few steps ahead. We had already found ourselves in Ho Chi Minh City, where we needed its transport links. Thrust from there…
The draw of the beach at An Bang was so strong. Before we knew it we had stayed eight days instead of the originally planned five. It was a great place to celebrate the New Year and wait for things to return to ‘normal’. We didn’t want to leave the beach, but we had to…
We arrived in Hue. Tired from the overnight train. The train was fine, mostly empty. We chose to take sleeper seats rather than a sleeping berth. This was because berths in Vietnam were in groups of six. Our last long sleeper in India with Four Berths taught us that if you share your berths with…
Like all things in life, travel is subjective. Following the advice of other travellers, we found ourselves in Cat Ba. I was disappointed. We came to Cat Ba because it is widely advised that this place is quieter than Ha Long. The cruises are in a much more peaceful area of the beautiful limestone islands….
When I decided we were going to visit Vietnam, I was aware that I wasn’t going to be very popular with the Weirdo I go on adventures with. I knew he was going to balk at the idea of the food choices so I hatched a plan to win him around by indulging one of…
If I had to work it out then it would probably be close on thirty years. A lifetime since I had flipped through holiday brochures for Kerala; and the glossy enticement to spend a few days cruising the backwaters in Kerala. Year after year we had returned to Goa having decided against it. There had…
Surprisingly our 26-hour train from Goa to Delhi arrived on time. Then having negotiated the very efficient and spotless Delhi Metro we came above ground just yards from our home for the night. We were never under the illusion that we were staying in a well-heeled area of Delhi, but the smell of urine on…
We needed Varkala to fix us. Travelling for around six weeks, we were a bit sick. We had suffered from back-to-back colds. We had both been ill in Kochi and were now also sick of moving about. Having reached the end of the world at Kanyakumari we were heading back north. Ultimately back to Delhi…
At the end of October, we were on the move with what seemed like the rest of the Indian population. We were fast approaching Diwali and we were on a local train from Kochi to Kanyakumari. Seven hours in an Air Conditioned carriage in ‘Chair’ seats. The seats weren’t together. After a couple of hours,…