“Left! DRIVE ON THE LEFT!”

The final stop on our whirlwind tour through Vietnam was the island of Phu Quoc. It was here that we were supposed to be able to relax, do nothing and just sit by the beach. But, in classic Stokes fashion, it took us about a day and a half to get restless.Soooo we rented motorbikes! Despite the fact that only one of us legally knows how to drive…

We decided that Dad would take Katie, and I would drive Mum around – because this way it was more likely that at least one parent and one child would survive this expedition. As we got on our motorbike I looked at mum and said: “I will do everything. All the navigating, the driving, everything. The only thing I need you to do is remind me to drive on the right.” “Yes, ok, no problem!”

So we get to the end of the road, she squeezes me excitedly and screams: “DRIVE ON THE LEFT. THE LEFT!!!”

After exploring the colorful docks of a fishing town, paddling in the sea, making a nuisance of ourselves with the fishmongers and making fast friends with an egg sandwich vendor lady, we were ready to get back to our hotel. This time Dad was navigating, and of course we got lost and got bullied into taking a shortcut. The track record our family has with shortcuts is appalling – so I prepared myself to be simultaneously attacked by a gang of Vietnamese killer pigs whilst ending up in a different country. So it was a very pleasant surprise that we did actually arrive back at the hotel, safe and sound but utterly exhausted from our eclectic adventures!