Amsterdam: Summer in the City

Or not, as it turned out. We flew into Schiphol airport during a deluge of monsoon rains and thunderstorms. The weather was so bad the airport had to temporarily switch off the electricity, meaning we were waiting on the runway for half an hour until the plane had permission to approach the terminal. This wasn’t … Continue reading →

A cooking class in Hoi An

I’m really not a fan of cooking. At all. I’ll bake the occasional cake, but when it comes to making actual meals, I try to avoid it. So when I was given the opportunity to take a cooking class in Hoi An, my immediate reaction was no. Continue reading →

Vietnam’s trains and the Hunger Games

We were woken with a start at 4am by loud, discordant music filling our carriage. It announced our arrival at Nha Trang station, but it would not have sounded out of place on the soundtrack of the Hunger Games. Continue reading →

Egg coffee anyone?!

As inspiration for visiting Vietnam came from Simon Reeve and his BBC documentary on the country’s coffee industry, trying some of the different drinks on offer was something I was looking forward to during the trip. Vietnam is the world’s second largest exporter of coffee, employing 2.6 million people, and helped transform the economy following the … Continue reading →

Two weeks in Vietnam: the highlights

Vietnam is different to any other country I’ve travelled to. Less developed than Thailand and perhaps less visited, the country is both chaotic and tranquil in equal measure. Continue reading →

Vietnam: What to pack

Just a few days to go now until the trip to Vietnam and with the important things sorted (like visas and insurance!), attention has now turned to packing. A colleague who recently returned from the country gave me some advice on the current weather conditions, so that has helped a bit when deciding on clothes- … Continue reading →

Planning Vietnam: vaccinations and visas

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but preparing for a trip to Asia needs so much more thought than a quick trip to Europe. The trip to Vietnam is now only a few weeks away, and there still seems so much to organise – including visas, insurance and injections! I have visited a … Continue reading →