So I've spent the past 3 weeks in Vietnam following the sunshine, seeing the sights and eating amazing local cuisine, including even trying fried worms!!!

First stop was Nha Trang, beach capital of Vietnam. We got a sleeper bus from Saigon straight there and arrived at about 6am. We met up with the 3 scottish girls there who we were friends with from tubing and laos. For our first three days it poured rain! Luckily we'd stumbled across an awesome hotel when we arrived off our sleeper bus at 6am. For $3.50 each a night we had a huge room with a fridge, satellite tv, air con and a nice bathroom with a hot shower! Jackpot! The weather improved on day 4 and we spent our days on the beach, where you never have a moments peace with people selling paintings, bracelets, pompadoms, fruit, drinks....and it's always "happy hour buy one get one free"!! There was a fruit lady who would come over singing and shouting and if anyone was lying on their front she'd slap their ass! She was so entertaining we had to buy fruit off her! We hung out with the 3 Scottish girl til they left after a week and then the 2 cork girls (danielle and leanne) who we also met in Laos came to join us. We went to the mud baths one day which was a lovely relaxing day, mud baths, mineral baths and sunbathing. And after a few more beach days, the four of us travelled north to Hoi An by sleeper bus.
We got the back row of the sleeper bus cos there was four of us together. When we got to our hotel in Hoi An we discovered that all our bags smelled of fish after the bus! They obviously had fish in the storage compartment with the bags, so we all had to get everything washed and air out our backpacks on the balcony! Hoi An is the place in Asia to get tailor made clothes and there are hundreds of tailors there. I got a maxi dress, playsuit and dress made for only about $35. Would have loved to get a whole new wardrobe but I'll just have to go back after oz! We had to sample the local beer while we were there as it's the cheapest in the world-10cent fresh local beers!

After 3 or 4 days there we got another sleeper bus to Hanoi, longest journey yet, 18 hours! Got to Hanoi at about9am after leaving Hoi An at 1:30 the previous day! Checked in to Hanoi backpackers hostel, and we ended up in a dorm with 5 other Irish people, mostly from cork! Great craic! We looked at the city map that first day and decided to go to the zoo but ended up at the Musuem of ethnology! We went to a pub quiz at the hostel bar that night which was good fun, we didn't win though! Then we went to a Halloween party wearing scary masks, not very imaginative but they were the best costumes we could find at short notice! We went on a free walking tour of the old town the following morning at 10am , we saw the whole old quarter and learned loads about the city. It was one of the best things I've done in Vietnam. Myself and Mel went sunbathing at a nearby pool the next day and tried to read our books, so far it's taken me 2 months to get as far as chapter 7 of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I'm determined to get to the good part!

The following day we had to look up flights and overland routes to get to Thailand and after much research we decided to book a flight to Bangkok. We went to Hanoi waterpark another day but after a long taxi journey (our taxi driver got lost and had to ring his company to get directions!) we found out when we got there that it was closed because "it's too cold"- it was at least 26•C and we were roasting! But it's cold season for the Vietnamese! We went for a wander around the fun park nextdoor, it was really old and deserted! Most of the rides were very rickety and did not look safe, so we left. After consulting our map we decided to go to the prison museum which was really interesting! Then we went for pho (vietnamese noodle soup) which was delicious. We were sitting by the lake afterwards when a group of Vietnamese uni students came over to practise their english and ask us questions! We saw at least 8 couples having their wedding photos taken, apparently they have these photos taken for weeks before the wedding as they have to get photos in 5 different settings, one being by a lake! We went out for dinner with Leanne's friend from home who has been teaching English in Hanoi for 2 years and he told us where to go and what to see for our last few days. Teaching English here sounds like another good option as it's the best paid place in Asia for tefl and demand is high so I might be coming back!

So tomorrow night we all fly to Bangkok and then the four of us split up. Leanne and danielle are going to the Thai islands and me and Mel are going to Chiang Mai. Hopefully I'll get work there for a month or so, but that's depending on which roads are flooded out of bangkok. We may all end up going to the islands, who knows....