So as in our plan we were only going to be staying in Ha Tien for one night, we had purchased our bus tickets for Saigon that evening so that we could hop on the bus as soon as it arrived in the morning. It was going to be at least a 12 hour bus journey so all three of us were praying for a reasonably comfortable ride, we had been through some pretty rough jouneys so far and really hoped that this wouldn't be another.

The bus pulled up and it was just like all the other tiny minibuses that we had been on so far, our hearts sank a little. As we got closer and looked in the windows we realised that bus was packed full of locals already, so this didn't bode well. The driver jumped out of the front seat looked at us three with big rucksacks and he must of realised straight away that the bags wouldn't of fitted in the back, and said that we would have to pay for another seat just for our bags! Us, not realising that there would be no space for them, said no way are we paying for another seat purely for our bags!! The driver opened the back to show us that there was NO luggage space, the back seats went right to the door! This was annoying! After arguing with the driver and the guy in the hotel that sold ud the tickets, we ended up splitting the cost of the extra seat for the bags between us so that we could get on our way. I am not sure what was more frustrating, the looks we were getting from the locals on the bus the whole journey, or the fact that our bags had a better seat than we did!!

We settled down in our Nice hotel, well it was just called Nice Hotel anyway. After looking at the guide book we all headed down to the grand palace where the Vietnam war finally ended with Russian and North Vietnamese tanks storming the grounds and seizing the palace from US control, when we got there the palace was closed for an Asian leadership summit, but we still got to see the tanks as they were left on the lawn and haven't been moved been since they stormed through the gates in 1975.

We moved straight onto the war museum and as you enter the grounds you are first confronted with all of the vehicles, artillary and weapons that were left behind by the Americans, Russians and Viet Kong. We got all the customary photos of us hanging out of US Heuy Choppers then we headed inside the museum. All of the good natured laughing and banter we had while posing for photos outside stopped the moment we saw the first exibits. The whole museum - as you can imagine - is very bias in its view of the war, all of the exibits go to the very limits of justification in showing you the wrongs that the US did to Vietnam and its people. The first area is dedicated to the use and affect of the poisonous toxin 'agent orange' by the Americans. The chemical element used in this weapon was and still is the most deadly poison known to man, and the US designed wepons that would spread this poison across large areas. The pictures that showed the affects of agent orange on vietnamese people were horrific. It killed huge numbers of the population and if it didn't kill you it left you heavily deformed. The legacy of this horrific period is that children are still being born today with these deformities and diseases, one of the most harrowing exibits were the jars that were filled with real feutus' that were deformed and died before birth. This set the tone for the rest of the museum visit. I would not liked to have been an American walking around that museum!!

After sampling some of the Saigon night life, we took a hangover filled bus ride to the Ku chi tunnels which were roughly an hour outside of the city. We had heard alot about these tunnels, Firstly about how the Veit Kong had amazingly built miles of underground tunnels to stay out of reach from the American patrols and helicopters, and secondly (and perhaps the most appealing) you get to shoot real guns with real bullets. We were well excited!

We found out after we had literally sqeezed through the narrow show tunnel that it in fact had been increased in size so us fatter westerners can fit through it!! Finally it was time for the shooting range, I chose to shoot an AK47 and Dave and the other Ben shot another AK47 and an M16. For all you conservationists dont worry we didn't shoot any animals like I am sure it is possible (actively encouraged) in some parts of south east asia. Rather fittingly the shooting range spelled the end of our trip to Saigon, on to Mu Nie.

As bus journeys go our trip from Saigon to Mu Nie was ok, we arrived in very hot weather and spent a long and sweaty hour or two lugging our bags up the main strip in search of a suitable hotel, it was fairly quiet around as the peak season had not yet fully kicked in. we were about to settle on a hotel that was in our oppinion expensive for our budgets when we came across a big banner outside a lovely new looking manor house which said 50% off during November, we looked at each other and went straight for the door. We spoke to the owner who explained that it had only been open for 9 days and we were some of the first people, he showed us around and it was amazing. It was like a 4* boutique hotel, it only had 9 rooms but each very well designed, each having its own plasma tv, large en suite and perhaps most inviting a queensize bed. For the last few weeks all three of us had been sharing very small and cramped rooms, so we decided to get a room each after we had negotiated $20 each with the owner. It was very beautiful in Mu Nie, the rooms over looked the beach at the back of the hotel, we went running down the beach, and ate great food in the resturant opposite. This was our little bit of luxury living and took advantage of it for 3 nights.

We begrudingly boarded a bus heading out of Mu Nie towards the third largest city in Vietnam, Nha Trang. Nha Trang we were told is a party town, and our all of our nights there turned out to live up to that sentiment. we threw our bags into our cheap triple person room and headed out to explore. We went down to the beach and found the main night spot which is called the Sailing club, this is where we spend all of our evenings. We met a great couple Bradley and Leah who were awesome fun, and we spent lots of time with them drinking the vast majority of the alcohol stocks in Nha Trang. After a few days of just generally not being very nice to our livers we boarded a night bus to Hoi An. Bespoke suit anyone?

Thats it for this installment, hope all is well at home, miss you all.

Much love

Ben x