So after travelling through vietnam at a hectic pace we are finally at our last destination before moving on to cambodia in the morning.

We started off in hanoi after deciding to fly from luang prabang in laos. it was an easy decision, either a 50min flight or a 30hr bus trip. once deciding where we were we going to stay we catched a minibus from outside the terminal and headed into the city. after the crazy bus journey to our hotel (the vietnamese have no rules when it comes to the road and everyone just honks their horns to announce they are braking) we arrived at what looked nothing like the pics we had seen, no travellers to be seen anywhere and a dodgy hotel manager who just kept trying to sell us tours every time we came and left. To late to change our minds we just wanted to eat and the boys wanted to watch the football. In the morning we decided we wanted to leave Hanoi as it was just another busy loud city with not a huge amount to do. After nearly getting riped off by the hotel manager for our bus tickets we packed our bags and walked out (not a happy man), we proceded into the busier side of town and had a look around. That evening we got onto the sleeper bus (our first one, with proper beds, very exciting) to our next destination, Hue. Hue was a very nice little town, people were very friendly and it has a lot of history, we knew we were only going to be there for one night so we decided to do a local tour seeing the tombs that were scattered around the town and then getting a dragon boat back down the perfume river. We left Hue the next morning and arrived in Hoi An that afternoon. Once again the people were very friendly which was a surprise as we had been told that they were very stern and did not like tourists very much. Hoi An being the best place to get clothes tailor made we headed straight out to get some attire made. We walked around the local market and the town. the next couple of days we chilled out on the lovely beach that Hoi An had and Katie spent a small fortune buying things, subsiquently leading in her needing to get another holdal!!

another sleeper bus took us to nha trang where we had heard the beach and the bay was one of the best in the region. to our dissapointment the beach was dirty including one local deciding to go for a wee in the middle of the beach right infront of us at one point. after a couple of days relaxing by the sea we then caught our last sleeper bus to hoi chi minh city (saigon) we were told to be ready outside our hotel at 9pm but after dinner at 8pm we got called back to the hotel to get put in a taxi that we were told would take us to our bus. we arrived at the chaotic bus station to then be shouted and pushed along by local officials grabbing our bags out of the taxi and ushering us towards a random sleeper bus. after getting on we realised we were the only westerners on board, no travellers in sight. Everyone was staring at us and one guy even videoed us and then proceded to watch it back about 10 times!! very surreal experience but we got to hcmc safe and sound, even if it was 4am.

Hoi Chi Minh city is just like any other vietnam city and we have spent the last couple of days sorting out our cambodian visas and exploring the city. Vietnam has been a very interesting country to visit, even though tourism has had it effects on the country it still has its charm and beauty.

Sorry we havent put any pictures up but we cant find any decent computers. as soon as we do though we'll try our best.

hope everyones okay at home and enjoying the last few weeks of the english summer.