I have been to Vietnam two years ago. So, anything I can help you with?

hi Surfmoe,

Thanks for the response on the glocals forum.

Ok, first thing i'm stuck on is trying to arrange a 4 day boat/bike-based tour of the Mekong Delta..? there seem to be loads of guided tours and no way to choose between them so I'm hoping for a recommendation.

Other thing is - other than Hanoi, Hue, Danang and said Mekong Delta - anything you'd call unmissable? Not hugely into beaches, rather be out on a mountain bike somewhere. Also any village / homestay stuff I won't find in the Lonely Planet you know about would be cool to hear about.

thanks for any tips. MT

Hi Matthew,

I m Vietnamese. If you go to Vietnam I probably have some advice to give you. One thing you should know before everything is you can arrange trips once you are in Vietnam. Never bother yourself to do things from a distance...much harder and more expensive. Never rely yourself just on the stereotype or the stylised facts.

If you speak English everything will be just fine.

Have a good trip there!

Was in Sikkim 10 years ago. You needed a special permit to enter then which we sorted out in Darjeeling just over the border in West Bengal, but it took a couple of days. Anyway, won't go into details as everything could now be totally out of date.

What I am sure of is that it's still pretty amazing. Isolated hilltop Buddhist monasteries, enormous mountain vistas, silence, you feel like you're on a different, much slower planet. Lots of opportunities for hiking with much fewer tourists than the popular routes in Nepal.

One thing to watch out for: if you stay in a mountain hut you are likely to be woken up (putting it lightly) in the middle of the night by men making an absolute cacophony with a strange horn like instrument and shouting some kind of chant. It's apparently to scare off evil spirits. I don't consider myself to be an evil spirit but I was terrified! It's probably a nice gesture though.

Have a great trip!

thanks all for the tips, most useful.