Timeline: 11th April to 29th April 2005

At the beginning of Graham Greene's The Quiet American, protagonist Thomas Fowler muses "I can't say what made me fall in love with Vietnam". Despite spending little more than four weeks there myself I would have to agree, there is just so much too chose from. The wondrous French legacy of bakeries and patisseries, however, would definitely be on my shortlist.

In fact, you'd be hard pushed to find something you didn't like about Vietnam. Diverse landscapes of jungles, mountains, beaches and islands, scores of sight-seeing opportunities and welcoming people. It has something for everyone, which is no doubt the very reason why the country has soared in popularity as a holiday destination in recent years.

Travelling in Vietnam is surprisingly easy, especially if you travel by coach as you will often be collected from and dropped off at your chosen accommodation. Otherwise the train is safe, efficient and a great way to meet locals, if a tad slow.

One of the first things you notice about Vietnam is the number of motorbikes that zip around everywhere. In Hanoi alone there is said to be 4 million people and 3 million motorbikes. Motorbikes are the main mode of transport and astride many of these bikes will be entire families, maybe a mattress or two and often livestock.

Defying logic, the general rule for crossing any road is to take a deep breath, simply walk out and let the traffic weave its way around you like a huge shoal of mechanical fish.

Very quickly you get swept up in the pleasant, relaxed way of life which Vietnam and its people offer you and it could be easy to forget that this country has a very bloody past. But, as the propaganda likes to point out, Vietnam emerged victorious from this time of continuous war (1858-1975) against "Colonialists, invaders and occupiers" and now stands "United and free".

Of course, it doesn't take long to discover that it is neither. The personal accounts of our tour guides revealed the true situation. A country still polarised by ideology as much as geography, a country where "Re-education" camps were still in operation well into the '90s. A country where, for locals, travel between towns is controlled strictly by quota and permits, where the secret police question how you can afford chicken for dinner and a country where the level of ingrained corruption would shame most African nations.

It would be almost impossible to visit Vietnam and not come across a war site -- always referred to as the "American War". Below is an abandoned American tank.

Cafes double as travel agents, naturally, and these offer personalised tours to local war sites. These are hugely informative, interesting and surprisingly honest.

The slight lean towards propaganda only gives way to an outright slump at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. But even then, only the most obdurate of people could fail to be moved by the exhibition displaying the horrific after-effects America's use of Agent Orange has had on the population, wildlife and environment. Sadly, thousands of these barrels still litter the countryside.

The most interesting sites, in terms of interaction, are the last two remaining tunnel networks.

The 'Vinh Moc' tunnels can be found 45 minutes from the town of Hue, and the 'Cu Chi' tunnels (right), a similar distance from Saigon. These were fascinating to visit as you are able to go down and crawl along them. In their original state these tunnels were tiny in diameter in places but have now been slightly widened so that tourists can enter. In most cases they were only big enough to crawl along and some were only big enough to pull yourself along flat.

I found them horrendously and alarmingly claustrophobic, stale and dark and the 100m route seems like double that. The end result is a very dirty and sweaty re-emergence. I would have taken my chances with the carpet bombing, I think.

Our journey through Vietnam began in Hanoi where we were welcomed by a Scottish backdrop of drizzly rain and a grey sky. Hanoi is an ideal base for undertaking short trips north and east to Sapa and Ha Long Bay. The weather gradually improved as we travelled further south. We visited Hue, Hoi An, and Nha Trang before reaching Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. Just to explain the difference; after the war the government encouraged mass migration south. Millions of North Vietnamese peasants flooded into the city of Saigon, it ballooned in both size and population and the new conglomeration became known as Ho Chi Minh City. The centre is still referred to as Saigon.

From Saigon we embarked upon a two-day trip along the Mekong Delta which took us to some small islands, home to ethnic groups which still live and work within a subsistence economy of fishing. It was all a bit contrived however as these 'isolated' communities receive a stream of tourists on a daily basis.

The end of this tour took us to the Vietnam/Cambodia border and a separate boat took us six hours up the Mekong River to Phnom Penh.