Hi Ly and Martin

We are finally back home (via Malaysia and Melbourne) and back at work.

Thank you for all your assistance during our wonderful visit to Vietnam.  Everything seemed to run smoothly (apart from my forgetting to bring the itinerary and hotel vouchers - thanks Ly for printing them off again for me!).  I'm usually so organised I must have had last minute brain fade.

We loved Hanoi and Ha Long Bay (Dragon's Pearl was wonderful - met some great people and the food was wonderful).  Merv and I even managed to get through the kayaking without a divorce action!  We will definitely return to Hanoi as we felt we had only just scratched the surface while we were there.

Our accom at Hong Ngoc 2 was good value.  The room was quiet though pretty compact but very clean and comfortable.  We loved the hard beds - we are both very tall and suffer from back problems so the rigid mattresses are just what the doctor ordered.  The location was brilliant, breakfast adequate and the staff friendly and attentive.

Hoi An was delightful.  Vinh Hung Resort was very nice (apart from the fact that they denied that they had a booking for us initially), the room was large and well equipped; the bathroom very clean with large spa.  Breakfast here was excellent.  The staff always seemed a bit confused to me but they were OK.  Both pools had the worst pool ladders I've ever encountered - the rungs were so narrow that they nearly cut grooves in your feet. 

Majestic Hotel in HCMC was the jewel in the crown.  What a gracious establishment.  We really enjoyed our stay at the hotel - evening cocktails on the 8th floor - to die for!!  The breakfasts here surpassed all previous offerings and the staff was so efficient and friendly.

HCMC was interesting and we had a lot of fun but we definitely left our hearts in Hanoi.  Loved those bia hoi!

All in all we were very happy with our first VN adventure.

Next time (2008 we hope) we will incorporate Sa Pa, Da Lat and maybe Hue into our itinerary as well as Hanoi and Hoi An. 

We'll be in touch.

Cheers and thanks, once again.

Wendy and Merv Lockhart