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Day 1-2: Fly to Hong Kong
Wander around market, eat street food.Day 3: Fly to Hanoi
Land on a runway next to grazing water buffalo. Hire a taxi from the hustlers outside the single room terminal. Drive past duck herders and field workers in conical hats.Accommodation: HanoiDay 4: Journey to Cuc Phuong National Park
Hire car & driver for 120km drive SW of Hanoi. Accommodation: Cuc PhuongDay 5: Explore Cuc Phuong
Visit an ancient cave. Hike in jungle with hundreds of varieties of butterfly.Day 6: Visit Tam Coc
Interact with village children during car breakdown on road to Ninh Binh.Visit Hoa Lu ancient capital. Take punt ride at Tam Coc past karst rock formations and through rice paddies. Accommodation: Ninh BinhDay 7-8: Rice Harvest & Night Train
Return to Hanoi through the Red River Delta during rice harvesting season. Board overnight train for 28-hour journey to Nha Trang. Arrive late & starving. Check in and out of cockroach-infested hotel. Find a new hotel and eat the best egg sandwich ever from a street vendor after midnight. Accommodation: TrainDay 9-10: Explore Nha Trang & Surrounds
Hang out on beach with vendors offering fresh grilled prawns and sandy massages. Rent a moped and drive through a monsoon. Stop at a cafe with a rain-soaked rat and coffee thick as tar. Hire a tailor to make Ian a pair of Vietnamese pajamas while he lies sick in bed. Accommodation: Nha TrangDay 11: Chauffeured to Buon Ma Thout
Eat at a driver-recommended restaurant with shelved jars of preserved snakes, severed boar heads and a complete monkey. Try unidentifiable meat. Accommodation: Buon Ma ThoutDay 12: Elephant Ride in Tribal Villages
Drive to Lak Lake and ride Bong (the farting Eelephant) across a lake, through villages and fields. Marcelle gets motion sick and naps for an hour afterward in the village's community hut.Day 13: Fly to Ho Chi Minh City
Buy an original painting and dine at a French restaurant.Accommodation: Hotel MajesticDay 14: Day Trip on the Mekong River
Ride an old woman's punt along a muddy river. Stop for lunch at an open-air restaurant growing its own fruit and vegetables. Visit both a Buddhist and a Cao Dai Temple, which claims Victor Hugo as a patron saint.Day 15-16: Fly to & Explore Bangkok
Take a water taxi into the city, wander the market, visit the royal barges. Take a canal boat tour around the water-based shanty-town.Accommodation: BangkokDay 17-18: Fly to Los Angeles via Tokyo
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