At the border of laos we get off the bus and qued to have our passports stamped for exit which took about 20 mins then walked to the bus that has already driven thru barrier then it’s a 6 km drive to the vietnam border again off the bus and get your passport and visa stamped luckily I had done this in laos so it didn’t so anything extra like other people had to pay for various reasons we waited about 30 mins and all okay then back on the bus and on to Dein bein phu ,if anyone done this trip that has a nervous disposition then I would recommend flying as the roads are not good and the driving is very scary
We arrived by crazy bus in dein bien phu at about 1300 ,it’s a famous town in North vietnam as it was where the french lost there power in as big battle in this area of a giant valley there is a war museum to see that shows all the history but sorry my camera went flat all we had been travelling for so long .
We stayed here till 1900 then caught another overnight bus to hanoi this bus was like all disco on wheels bright lights and pumping music till about 21.00 then the lights go out the sleeper bus is okay for the 12 hour trip but as we stopped on the way the aisles fill up with people sleeping on the floor we all slept okay and arrived at hanoi on the outskirts bus station there we caught another bus into the centre of hanoi to the backpacker area and quickly found a cheap room for $8 a night with 2 beds happy family it was called the friendly hotel hanoi ,as it was early they let’s us leave our bags and we went for breakfast noodle soup all round and less than $3 we checked in at 09.00 and then dumped our bags and went exploring 
Over the next five days we visited the prison ,the 1 pillar pagoda ,the war museum the police museum we also went to the water puppets show which molly loved and also a few temples these were not so clean but very nice, We ate ate so may different street food stalls and every night the night markets
molly had a chance to operate the puppets at the show which she loved 
The streets here had a train track so close to the houses
Molly at the police museum
The last day we were going to catch the night train to hue a famous town for its imperial fort and palace ,the hotel let us leave our bags there all day while we went for our final exploring until 19.00 then we walked 1.5km to the train station molly was so good carrying her bag all that way would normally catch buses but where we were was easier to walk
I would recommend Google maps for finding bus routes it gives times and numbers of buses and shows the route so no chance of getting off at the wrong place ,this and maps me has saved us a fortune by not getting taxis a single journey is 20 cents each molly goes free
HUE
Imperial city of Hue we arrived after catching the overnight train from hanoi which was very nice we had a 4 berth cabin and shared with a local man and his little son it was about 20 dollars per adult and half price for molly we arrived at 10 am and it started to rain so we ate breakfast at the street fed stall near the station before walking to find somewhere to sleep as per photo below
We walked about 1 km to a area of guest house and found a place called than an guest house a nice family run place for 7 dollars a night and breakfast included it was not far from a few busy streets and cafe/ restuarants
SAIGON/ HO CHI MINH
I prefer saigon as a name as I was born in the 60,s and the musical miss ho chi minh does not have the same ring ,we arrived here from the airport by catching the bus outside the Airport they go about every 10 mins , we wanted to stay in the backpacker area as it was central to everything we wanted to do and the bus drops you on Le lai road next too the park then a 100 m walk and your at the start of your search for somewhere to stay we walked down pham ngu lao street which h is about 2.5m wide but full off guest houses and cafe bars and massage houses and people on scooters going about there daily life after trying a few places we found y nhi guest house
and they did a deal for us 2 beds for 12 dollars a night a nights the hostels wanted 5 dollars each bed plus we got our own room molly likes the hostel now and again but gets embarrassed playing with her toys in front of guests. we again like always dumped our bags and went to explore and get something to eat we arrived on a street a bit like khoa San road in bankok full off bars cafes and blaring music but here after 9 pm no kids are allowed in the bars so we went down some narrow streets and found a local eating place and had our noodles and rice dishes prawns and chicken and of course a cheap beer less than 80 cents in fact beer is cheaper than cold sodas here
Over the next 7 days we visited all the local sights ho chi minh museum, china town ,the independence palace and hoc hi minh residence and gardens,the war museum , and the war remenants museum which really made me feel bad for what happened to the vietnamese during the war as in most wars it was a background of being puppets for East v West so soon after Indochina war ,these people have suffered
It was jolanta birthday here so we went to hard rock cafe as a treat for us we had a great meal and they got her on stage and gave her a cake and also the band were brilliant the whole resturant sang happy birthday
Dad loves the military museums
We also visited the purple temple and a great water park called dem sem which had lots of flumes and wave machine’s which dad went on the the tornado the ball on drop and kamaksi all were extremely fast the ball on one you go down a shot twist g and turning and at the end get dropped into a bubble then spin round and finally a drop into the water
Molly had to go to the dentist today as she had a hole in her tooth she was very brave no injection and dentist was nice 5 dollars and because we are always on scooters we bought her her own helmet
We visited the normal night markets which was only allowed on the streets from 7 pm which was great to watch as people are ready on there scooters and trolleys and tables chairs and instant tents on wheels to charge for positions and once the police let them go it’s a mad dash as per the videos after 30 mins the market is up and running as if they have been there all day it was an amazing site
we found a great play ground for kids that had tables and chairs and every day we would go and let molly play and also do homework 30 min play 30 in homework works a treat
The best part of saigon is that everywhere is easily reached by bus and at 6000dong per journey it’s so cheap we even went out of the city and back by the bus but not many tourists seem to use them
We loved saigon and after a trip to mui ne for a bit of sun and relaxing we will be back before our trip to the meekong delta for 3 days
we had molly,s birthday cake specially made
MUI NE
We caught the 7am bus from saigon on a sleeper bus but during the day 6 dollars each which was great, molly slept most of the trip and I watched a film the heat once we arrived at 12.00 then we found a cheap place to sleep called sea winds resort it wasn’t on the ocean side of the road so it was cheaper but very nice a great garden and a good room for us with 2 beds again so we’ve been lucky again molly is happy as we have a hammock outside on our porch
we went and found a so called beach but not good as it was full of rubbish so we found a place that let us use there pool for 3 dollars which was perfect there was nobody in it ,we stayed till sunset then went and ate in a local bar which was hard as there are mainly tourist restuarants and they all seem to cater for package holidays for Russians as it was expensive
next day we caught a bus about 20 km north and found a great beach on a resort and spoke nice to the owner and they let us use the private beach again nobody on it that night we went to El Latino Mexican resturant which was great food eat as much as you like for 5 dollars molly ate 10 chicken wings I ate 3 pizzas and jo ate half a pig ribs
after 5 days in mui ne we caught the bus back to saigon so we could collect our passports and get ready for our tour to the meekong delta
Whilst in saigon we decided to do our first real tour which was going to be to the meekong delta we paid 40 dollars per adult for 3 days 2 nights including bus and hotels plus tours 2 breakfast and lunch molly was half price and from the meekong we will go to phnom pen by boat
so we did our 2 nights 3 day tour of the meekong delta see link https://www.tnktravel.com/tours/vietnam-tours/mekong-delta-tours/mekong-delta-discovery-3-days/
Our guide tom was so good it was a perfect tour we were riding bikes going on different boats in the jungle visiting so many things that if we had booked it ourselves we would have been still travelling a few days later because where we went was not accessible by public buses our hotels were 2 star which for us was 2 stars higher than we are used to we also had 2 breakfast and 1 lunch included
This was a bee farm
we visited a temple with 200 year old tree with amazing roots and saw people eating fried rat and snake
This was at a coconut toffee factory and delta river village me with a big snake even though I hate snakes
a snake in a bottle wine which was very strong it’s meant to be aphrodisiac but I didn’t notice anything
us on way to floating market
This market deals in quantity not single items so it’s not for tourists it’s retail only but still fun to watch little boats come to you for coffee or food and fruit
We visited a noodle making factory and the girls had a go at the process
We visited and jungle in the meekong it looked like grass on the floor but was a river flowing thru the trees here lived many different animals and birds
This is our group on the tour
These are the different forms of transport we took
After the tour on the final morning we caught this boat to cambodia and Phnom pehn
all went without hassle on leaving Vietnam and entering Cambodia 30 dollars each for visa .The trip up the river takes 5 hours this includes stopping at both borders to do visas
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