Huanglong

Huanglong is another epic national park in the Sichuan region, which we visited on a long day trip from Jiuzhaigou. This part of the region has a strong Tibetan influence. Their temples, yaks, yurts and prayer flags dot the countryside.

The national park is accessed by cable car, which takes you up to 3500m, and you walk back down to the entrance. Enough altitude to give you a light head and laboured breathing. There are even oxygen bars where you can buy canisters of oxygen to suck on.

The park is home to a large range of plants and animals, including apparently wild pandas. There are also Tibetan buddhist/taoist temples dating back to the Ming Dynasty.

The park also has a collection of thousands of cascading multi-coloured pools and waterfalls. It is quite a sight... possibly the most incredible place we have visited on our travels. Though our Western-ness was quite a spectacle here too, there weren't as many cameras in our faces and much smaller crowds.

Jiuzhaigou

From Chengdu we caught a 12 hour bus up to the north of Sichuan (China is massive). The drive was stunning. We travelled through massive gorges and countless tunnels, some over 5km long. We saw lots of Tibetan villages (including prayer flags and gorgeous white yaks), and stopped in the ancient walled city of Songpan.

We made it to Juizhaigou in the evening. It is a tourist town spread kilometres along a road with countless hotels and restaurants. We found ours after a 45 min hike up and down the strip with our backpacks on. We went out for dinner at a bbq skewer joint and had delicious seasoned sticks of meat and veges al fresco.

We spent a day at the Juizhaigou national park, a stunning place despite the hoardes of Chinese tourists. The park is famous for its huge peaks, massive waterfalls, and clear blue lakes. We walked down the western arm of the park, after catching buses to the top at 3000m. The peaks towered above and must be 6000m+.

The morning was testing, as the sheer number of people made it difficult to move along paths. Plus Chinese families like setting up picnics in the middle of stairways for some reason. We saw only a couple other westerners, and we seemed to be as big a spectacle as anything in the park. People were taking photos of us any chance they could. We still managed to find a few quiet corners of the park. The evening was much better as people started leaving.

We finished the day exhausted, having hiked over 15km at altitude. We hit up the skewer joint again as it was so good the night before.

We found out that the day after we left, a 7 magnitude earthquake struck this town on 8 August, killing 20 and injuring hundreds. Lucky for us we had already left, but our thoughts go out to those affected by the quake.

Chengdu

We flew from Hanoi up to Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China, arriving after 2am due to China's notoriously delayed flight network.

Chengdu is a city of over 14 million people. It doesn't feel that busy, and the CBD is clean and orderly. All motorcycles are electric, many people ride bikes, and there is a very good subway system.

We spent a day wandering, quickly discovering that no one speaks any English. Google translate is invaluable, and we can use it to communicate pretty easily- there is also a function that translates Chinese text using the camera. Luckily we downloaded the offline version, as all Google apps and websites are blocked in China, along with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.

We managed to order a delicious lunch through good luck and by pointing at things. Sichuan food is some of the best in China. Lots of spices, including Sichuan chillies that numb the mouth (in a good way).

We visited a giant panda breeding and research centre, and saw 30-odd pandas, including red pandas. There was a range from large adults, to cubs, to newborns. They are pretty cute creatures. They seemed pretty happy munching on bamboo, taking baths, and sleeping in ridiculous positions. We also had our first taste of enormous Chinese crowds- something we would become very familiar with.

Finally, we did a cooking class making local specialties kung pao chicken and twice cooked pork, which were delicious and fun to make.

Lan Ha Bay

No trip to Vietnam is complete without a stop in the Halong / Lan Ha Bay area. It is a world wonder of geology. Huge limestone columns rise out of the blue ocean, and somehow trees manage to grow in the cracks.

It was as beautiful as advertised. We stayed on Cat Ba island, and did a day tour of both bays, including lunch and kayaking. Unfortunately the amount of plastic waste in the ocean definitely detracted from the experience.

There are huge amounts of tourists in the area, both foreign and domestic. The sheer number of vessels in the water is staggering.

On Cat Ba we also visited a fort with an awesome view of the city, had dinner at a floating restaurant, and went out for a hotpot seafood feast with new friends from Portland.

Phong Nga

Phong Nga national park is the first time we have come across Vietnam's  limestone karst country. It is absolutely breath taking.

The park is home to countless caves, including Hang Son Doong, the largest found yet in the world. It's pretty remote (a guided tour costs around $3000 per person) so we stuck to the easily accessible ones. Unfortunately it's monsoon season and many were closed the few days we were there.

We got a boat down the river and into the Phong Nga cave. Very impressive.

We did another self guided motorcycle tour around the national park, visiting the botanical gardens, and generally being overwhelmed by the beauty of the limestone outcrops and dense jungle.

Hue

We spent a rushed day sightseeing in the city of Hue (pronounced hway).

Hue was the seat of power for generations of vietnamese emporers of the Nguyen dynasty. There is a huge walled palace complex in the middle of town where the emperor lived and held court.

We also visited emperor Tu Duc's tomb, final resting place for the emperor and his 104 wives. It was as grandiose as you would expect, except for the fact that he wasn't actually buried there, but in an secret location by 200 staff members who were beheaded to ensure it remained a secret.

We also visited a very strange abandoned waterpark attraction. Very cool, if not a bit creepy.

Hoi An

After a somewhat traumatic mini bus ride from Kon Tum (24 people in a vehicle designed for 16), we arrived in Hoi An.

We stayed with family friend Jane at the wonderful Christina's hotel. Jane works part of the year with the staff to maintain and improve the culture they have of genuine hospitality across the expanding hotel chain.

The staff had a welcome sign on arrival, a cake ready for Kellie's birthday, as well as a handmade card and bar of locally made chocolate. They really made us feel at home.

Jane and some of her friends showed us around the town over a couple days, including the best places to eat and drink.

Hoi An was an important trading port for centuries until the river got silted up, and business moved up the coast to Danang. The "old town" has been well preserved and has a collection of Asian influences including chinese and Japanese. The Japanese bridge is particularly interesting, it is featured on Vietnam's bank notes.

We hired a motorbike to travel north to Hue, we used a company that drops off a bike and transports your luggage by bus to the next hotel. It only costs $10 for the hire and service. We drove to Hue via the scenic Hai Van pass, made internationally famous by the Vietnam Top Gear special.