There and back again

We spent three nights in Kho Yao Noi not doing very much that didn’t involve hammocks and paperbacks. Largely unaffected by the tourism boom on the neighboring islands like Phuket, Koh Yao is pretty natural and still retains its traditional Muslim culture.

We had a change of plan and are now in the truly lazy part of our trip, island hoping around the Andaman coast of Thailand.

After the delightful overnight train journey we were happy to arrive in Hanoi even if it was at the stupidly early hour of 5.30am. As soon as we stepped off the train we were beseiged by hundreds of taxi drivers and moto drivers in true Vietnam style (i.e persistent and begrudging when you escape them) [...]

Many things in Vietnam are affected by either the French war of independence and the American war (ie the one we call the Vietnam war), and so it is with the Reunification Express Railway. The reopening of the rail link from Saigon to Hanoi was seen as a symbol of national unification after 1975. It [...]

Madness ! See for yourself.