Now we're rolling (Ninh Binh to Hue)

Since we last posted we've been completely off the beaten track for about a week, following a fantastic road called the Ho Chi Minh Highway/Trail. The road vastly exceeded our expectations in terms of its quality (fully paved, not a single pot-hole, clearly waymarked, almost no traffic), the variety of landscapes it took us through, and - especially - the intense experience of Vietnam the route afforded us. Here's a summary:

• 27th. Thanh Hua (city) up to Yen Cat (hill town where we joined the Ho Chi Minh Trail) - 63kms - landscape bucolic but continuously populated
• 28th. Yen Cat to Tan Ky (felt like the end of the earth) - 90kms - many coffee plantations
• 29th. Tan Ky to Pho Chau (near Lao border, felt like a frontier town) - 92kms - many tea plantations
• 30th. Pho Chau to Huong Khe (the end of the earth again) - 53kms
• 31st. Huong Khe to Phong Na - 127km - valleys through karst mountains, Deo Da Deo mountain pass followed by long descent into stunning national park
• 1st. Phong Na to Dong Hoi - 52kms - heavy rain
• 2nd. Dong Hoi to Dong Ha (where we left the HCM Trail) - 109kms - flat boring landscape and weird atmosphere that reminded us of naff bits of Oz outback

(daily distances were largely dictated by the positions of towns large enough to have a hotel)

I've read many accounts of people seriously disappointed by Vietnam having experienced cynical tourist rip off after scam after rip off. I can't claim we weren't apprehensive about going right off the tourist trail ( - not one of the places listed above appears in the main guidebooks, not that we have a guidebook) but our gamble paid off: bar one, it seemed to us that the people we met valued the interaction with us more than they valued the transaction. Sometimes people's kindness was almost overwhelming. Here's an example. One day two guys pulled alongside us on a moped (a frequent occurrence). 'Where are you from' etc. 'I am a teacher'.. 'I am a teacher too (Zoe)' etc. It was clear the teacher (who spoke little English) wanted us to stop and have a drink with them, but we didn't really want to stop at that time so we thanked them and they carried on. I told Zoe I'd read that a teacher earns about $30 dollars a month (£15). About 20 minutes later the same two guys reappeared having gone on to the next town and bought us two bottles of soft drink (worth 30p each). Of course we stopped and drank them. In fact we were so touched we even pretended to like Manchester United.

Pictured is one of the motivational distance markers we passed along the way.