Ok, so I know I am massively behind on this but I have not had the means and time. But its happening now...

Also the stupid "a" key is fulty on this keybord so i pologize if my spelling is wful!

27/8/2011:

The sleeper train from Nha Trang to Hoi An was delayed so we had a deserved lay in and as we smashed the whiskey (our tour guides favourite drink) there was no hangover. Once we checked in to the hotel we did a walking tour of the city and went for lunch. We spent the afternoon visiting local shops (and bars!). Hoi An is renowed for its tilor made suits so a few people spent the day "getting measured" but i chose not to bother this time. I have fallen in love with green tea and ice coffee out here so bought myself a little ice coffee maker - lush!

In the evening we walked round the old part of the city, visited yet another night market and ended up in a sports bar. It was a gd night even though no one was hammered as we were all knackered.

28/8/2011:

We started the day with a cycle tour and to my surprise it was cooler on the bike when you were moving. They were basic with no gears but did the job well. We rode through a few local farms and plantations and saw real Vietnamese houses. We stopped to hop on a buffalo and strike a pose and then rode to an awaiting boat for a boat trip around the city.

We went for an awesome lunch where I had a whole fish which I dont normally but will be hving again! In the afternoon I went with the tour guide to a suit shop to help him pick a few gifts, in return he treted me to severl whiskeys - nice!

We went to a small street like resturant for dinner. In this resturant there was no menu but it was amazing! A plate of wraps (pancakes were put in front of you and you got to choose what you filled them with being chicken, pork, beef, spring rolls, eggs etc etc. The amount of food was crazy and they just kept bringing the stuff out. When we had finished we took a required hour to recover from the feast and walked down to the riverfront where our tourguide had set up tables and chairs and purchased a lot of the good stuff for us to enjoy. Not many of us remembered walking home that night and I woke up with a shirt which had been ruined by dandilions.

29/8/2011:

We were all hungover but got up at silly o'clock and jumped on a bus to Hue, we arrived at midday and went straight for lunch at the apprantly popular chain USHI. We were picked up by scooters after and toured the city and countryside from these scooters. It was a hugely fun day and all of us became really "close" to our drivers. I cant remember my guys name but he was a chubby small bloke who decided to pick the biggest guy in the group, needless to say we wernt the quickest scooter of the day. The highlights of the tour were the Imperial city, the tomb, the mini coloseum, the perfum river and the villages making hats and inscence. The villagers let me have a go at mking the inscence and i kept it to desmell my beer drenched bag (cheers drew). However I bloody dropped it on the way back - typical.

In the evening we had an early meal and an ever required early night!

30/8/2011:

The morning was ours to do what the hell we like so I decided to kick back and relax s the last few days had taken it out of me. In the afternoon e took the sleeeper train to Hanoi. We had yet another night of mayhem thanks to our tour guide who loves a tipple.

31/8/2011:

Hanging! And tummy was of too so I sore I would avoid the beer and stick to rice today. As always it didnt happen. From Hanoi we drove to Halong bay as we would be returning to Hanoi tomorow.

In the afternoon we took a private junk boat in the afternoon to one of the hundreds / thousands of islands of the coast. We had a big lunch on the boat while we sailed to an island with a cave. The size of the cave was impressive but the flashing lights and other crap ruined it. I wasnt overly impressd but really am not a cave fan anyway. I hastly exited and we preceeded to a floating village where we kayaked around and basked in the sun.

I returned to the hotel for a nap before dinner. Dinner was again uncoventional as we started with cooked plates of chicken and finished with soup which you cooked yourself on the table. Nonetheless it was good and cheap. The driver joined us and banged back a few rice wines. The round home was nervy but fine (i sat at the back of the bus). I tried to stay up t the hotel for beer but found myself running up to my room as I had not taken the self given advice to take it easy! Without giving away too many details I did not get much sleep that night and neither did Adriaan - sorry bud!

(ITS AT THIS POINT I HAVE TO APOLOGISE TO THE "ELDERLY GERMAN COUPLE". They are in fact both younger than 31 and did not take it well when reading my blog - sorry guys!)

1/9/2011:

As I said I didnt sleep and now I had the joy of a four hour bus ride to Hanoi ith my ass clenched - fant(ass)tic!

We arrived with me just in shape and I ran off to do my thing. Lunch consisted of plain rice (which I liked at the start of the tour but after two days of the stuff bloody hated!). After we planned to take a walking tour round Hanoi, no one could be arsed so we sat in a bar. I really enjoyed my tonic waters! Another portion of rice was followed by a very early night!

2/9/2011:

Still felt awful - AWSOME!

We took a bus tour round the city with our first stop being the mueseleam, the que was 5km long as it was vietnam day so we skipped this and went striaght to the prison used during both wars. We went on to see the Pagoda and the Ho Chi Minh museam. This, ofcourse, was not at all bias or was not there to tell the world how great vietnam is!

The afternoon was spent in a very plush bar, Jaspas, at the top of a 50 story tower. This was an NZ rugby themed bar. I was still not well so ate nothing but did enjoy sitting there watching rugby for hours. We were let into the hotel pool and larked about for a bit before going out for farewell drinks for those that were leaving us. By this point I had realised that I needed to smash several immodium to sort myself out, i did and it worked.

After 2 days of misery it was time to party. We went out for a good meal (where I actually ate something other than rice) and headed for the nearest bucket bar. We had a good few drinks to send of those who were leaving, most of us (including me this time) were behaved and left with our morals. Others had one or two too many...

3/9/2011:

We left Vietnam at 6am for Loas, our first stop was Lak Xao. The drive was quite long but I felt somewhat enlightened on the way because of the stunning beauty that surronded us. Loas really was beautiful and you could not help but reflect on your life whilst taking in this amazing scenery.

The border crossing was simple (bar Drew feeding the dogs (being sick) in the bin by the border office). There were now only six of us, including Long, left and we had become fairly close as a group.

The view from the hotel balcony was insane! We had a simple dinner and an early night.

4/9/2011:

Another 6am start and several more hours on the bus to Vientiane - I was not looking forward to this. However, Drew lent me a book (Cityboy) which once I started could not put down. I was surprised I would start reading (after a shameful 6 years) but enjoyed so have bought a few myself. I probably only enjoyed as it was about money, greed, sex etc but hey ho it was good.

We had a favourite dish for lunch - noodle soup and after me and Long went for a few beers walked down to the Mekong to see Thailand. We drank and ate dinner along the river and then went to a local bar for another big night. Me and Drew were particulary smashed and it took me a while to find our hotel!

5/9/2011:

Yet another 6am start to drive to Vang Vieng, this was a long day and we didnt get there untill 5pm. As soon as we arrived we took a speedboat trip down the river and saw the tubers - it looked great fun so I instantly wanted to do it.

We had an Indian for an evening meal which was surprisingly good and an early night as we were all done in!

6/9/2011:

The days was ours so I was off tubing, Drew joined me and we preceeded to float our assess down the river stopping for beer pong, sling shots, water slides and checkers. We ofcourse did some good drinking (beer and rice wine) but had decided to be careful as the river is fast and it is dangerous. We got out safely but don't really remember walking back to the hotel. Tht rice wine at the last place hit us! Drew did the clever thing and went to bed but I braved it and went for a quick fish and drink with everyone else (apprantly). I was pretty drunk but apprantly I was hugging a puppy to death, jumping in a puddle, sleeping, sneezing on tuk tuk drivers and stealing flip flops.

A required 3 hours sleep was had and then I was brand new and we went out for another big night.

My eyes hurt so I am leaving it there but will update the rest soon! Spek to you all soon! X