Hello all! Sorry for late entry, we've only just managed to find a decent internet connection that will actually open our site!

We have spent the last 2 and a half weeks travelling in Vietnam. We caught the bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where we spent 2 nights and 1 full day. We didn't get to see a huge amount of Saigon but we did manage to visit the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum which were both really interesting. We also visited a local market and sampled some of the Pho Chay which is veggie noodle soup. In the evening we met up with our friends again (Tori, Chris and Ben) who we'd been with in Cambodia to try out the local Bia Hoi. After copious amounts consumed we came to the conclusion that it was either non-alcoholic or the smallest alcohol percentage in the world! Can't complain though as it only cost us 8,000 Dong for 1 litre! Which works out to be 25p!! We didn't care if it tasted rubbish for that amount!

In Saigon we bought an open-bus ticket for $20 each which could take us all the way up to Hanoi dropping us off at different places along the way. Our first stop was the beach at Mui Ne....

Mui Ne

Mui Ne was really nice if not a little quiet and stank of the local speciality fish sauce but it was just nice to chill for a couple of days. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach which we more or less had to ourselves! We had great views all up the coastline and were able to watch some of the kitesurfers and fisherman out at sea. The only other activitie we did here other than sunbathe was that we hired motorbikes with drivers in the afternoon to show us around. We visited the fairy spring, fishing village, red canyon and the sand dunes for a spot of sand-sledging! The fairy spring is a shallow stream of water running in between the sand dunes which you can walk along until you reach its source which takes about half an hour. This was really nice apart from the 2 little Vietnamese girls that decided to take our shoes as ransom the whole way until we gave them some money! The fishing village was beautiful, really colourful and took some really good pics of the boats and the coracles. The red canyon was a red canyon and was quite interesting but the best bit had to be the sand-sledging on the sand dunes. For $1 we had a plastic mat along with boy to help push us down the slopes. Apart from getting covered head to toe in sand this was great fun - check out our pics and fingers crossed videos!! After Mui Ne we headed to Dalat....

Dalat

Dalat is a town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and its bloody freezing!! We had to wear our fleeces and jeans for the first time! We only had 1 full day here and the best way to get around and see the sights is to hire Easy Riders (old-fashioned motorbikes with crazy drivers!). We had a jam-packed day where we visted a minority village where we met the chief, who we would certify insane and got to try rice wine which had maggots crawling in it! We also visited a coffee plantation, flower garden, silk factory, elephant waterfall which we got to climb under, the laughing buddha and meditation pagoda. This was all good fun and pretty interesting but the best bit was cruising on the bikes for the day around the mountains and just soaking up the scenery. We left Dalat the following day for Nah Trang...

Nah Trang

Nah Trang was the Blackpool of Vietnam!! We didn't stay here too long but had just enough time to spend a day at the mineral mud baths and the next day on a bota trip to some of the surrounding islands. We hired bicycles to cycle 5km to the mineral mud baths where we got to soak in mineral mud for 45mins then bathe in 38 degree mineral water for about an hour. After this we treated ourselves to a steam bath and massage. The massage was really good, if not a little rough but probably what we needed after lugging our bags around. The boat trip the next day was a bit like an 18-30 booze cruise but as it was only $6 and included lunch we couldn't refuse. It was actually a really good laugh and we got to visit 4 different islands, do a bit of snorkelling and swimming and generally chill out before catching our overnight bus to Hoi An....

Hoi An

Hoi An was wicked, we loved it here and by far our favourite place in Vietnam if not so far. We spent 3 full days here but could have spent a lot longer and we definitelty recommend as a holiday destination as it has everything you would want. The town itself is small set alongside the river and has a very French feel to it. Its a really pretty place with lots of lovely restaurants, bars and shops. Hoi An is most famous for its tailoring so we couldn't resist and had to get something made. We opted for smart Winter coats (although you can get absolutley anything made here), we chose a tailor in the afternoon and by 11am the following day our coats were ready to post back to England. We were really pleased with them, the quality is amazing and best of all they only cost us 16 pounds each!!! We were pretty gutted to have to send them home so soon but there was just no way we could cart them around with us and of course we don't actually need them! We also got ourselves a pair of leather sandals each made, these only took 3hrs to make and are a perfect fit for a grand total of 5 pounds!! If we would have had more time and more money we definitley would be coming home with a whole new wardrobe! Also while we were in Hoi An we cycled to the beach which is 30km long with hardly anyone there - a lovley change after the crowds in Nah Trang! In the evenings we tried out the local street food and ended up the Before and Now bar which was good fun. We were sad to leave but next stop Hanoi!

Hanoi

Hanoi was completely different to Hoi An, a really busy city with hundred of motorbikes! We stayed in the Old Quarter of the city which is the backpacker area and our time spent here was mostly catching up on sleep from our night bus and checking out the travel cafes for tours to Halong Bay and getting into Laos. We ended up chosing the Kangaroo Cafe to book our trip to Halong Bay as we had heard mixed reports about Halong Bay so opted to pay that bit extra to ensure we got a good trip. We chose a 2 day, 1 night tour which took us to Halong City where we caught our old-fashioned junk boat. There were only 8 of us in total and the boat was really luxurious. The first day the weather was beautiful with clear blue skies and we just cruised around all the tiny islands that make up the bay. We visited a huge cave but the highlight was definitley swimming off the boat in a secluded bay. In the evening we were treated to a meal of seafood onboard our boat with the slightly dodgy entertainment of Christmas music! The next day after breakfast we sailed to a look out point on one of the islands, the 520 step climb nearly killed us but the views were worth it! Despite some of the mixed reports we'd heard, we loved Halong Bay! It was amazing crusing around all the islands on our private boat and really glad that we did it.

All in all we enjoyed Vietnam but we're looking forward to getting to Laos now as we've heard great things about it. Vietnam is a really nice place but we weren't blown away by it, in hindsight we would have skipped the south and just visited the north as there is so much more to do there and its generally a lot nicer.

Photos will be up later when we find a faster computer! Hope everyone is well, missing you all lots!

Lots of love us xxx