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Hello everyone - here's an account of an interesting 2 weeks in Vietnam back in May
We decided to fly from Luang Prabang in Laos to Hanoi and it took 1 hour, far shorter than the 24 hour bus journey that some of our friends took. In Hanoi we did a bit of sightseeing - the 'Hanoi Hilton' prison where American POWs were interred during the war, and an Army Museum. Both interesting but propaganda was so intense it was a bit sad. We next went to Halong Bay, the famous coastal area 2 hours from Hanoi where mountains literally appear out of the water. We had a great 2 days here on the 'booze cruise'. Sam and I both won drinking competitions - Sam's opponent was so angry that he lost that he stormed off to bed. We had a fantastic time here, meeting loads of great people who we spent the next week with. By the time we got back to Hanoi we were exhausted.
Our next adventure was one of the highlights of our Asia trip. We went to 'snake village' - as you might expect full of snakes. The 3 of us each ate a beating snake heart. The snakes skin was sliced open, their beating heart squeezed out, then it was our turn. Sam went first and it was one of the most disturbing things I have ever experienced. The sound of ripping flesh/ nerves/ whatever else there is around a heart was so disgusting. After seeing this I went wild, making all sorts of weird movements and noises in order to psyche myself up for what I was about to do. I did it. Charlie had insisted that he wasn't going to do it but realized he would never hear the end of it from me and Sam if he didn't so he did it as well, clinically and without fuss. After eating the heart we each had to drink a cup rice wine mixed with the blood of our respective victims. After this we were all sick, Sam for about 10 mins. One guy who did the same as us puked up the heart twice and both times it was still beating. We then ate almost every part of a snake you possibly could eat. Snake bones crushed with peanuts, ribs, etc We were on a massive high and remained so for the rest of the night (apart from Sam who had a little bit too much rice wine). Finally getting back to the hostel late at night I was confronted by a fat American woman who found out that we had eaten snake hearts. I had snake blood all over my face and she came up to me and told me I was a disgusting person. I then pretended to smear blood on her so she tried to punch me in the face. Luckily I got out of the way in just in time. As I walked off she screamed at me "Its not the fact that you're a filthy murderer that gets me, its that you're trying to cover me in animal blood."
Next we went to Hoi An, a cute city in central Vietnam. We stayed in a nice but cheap hotel. Sam and I got suits tailored. Nha Trang was next, and the place of our incident. We were out one night having a good time with some friends we new from home. I was alone with a friend who got in an argument with a motorbiker. It then escalated into a fight which I joined in. Then all his motorbike friends turned up and so there were about 8 of them on the 2 of us. Luckily we only had light scratches when it all died down. Charlie turned up to see what all the commotion was. Next thing we know the bikers came back, this time with weapons (sticks and batons) and attacked us. We didn't even try fighting this time and all legged it in different directions, each getting some nasty hits. I got a cut on the head and Charlie's legs took a beating. I got cornered at one stage and forced off on one of their motorbikes to another part of town to give them a bit of dosh.
We then went to Dalat which was crap. Our last stop was Saigon, the old capital of South Vietnam. We only spent a day here and visited the Cuchi tunnels in the jungles where the Vietcong fought the Americans. It was a good day and really interesting.
Dom
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Kay 'We then went to dalat, it was s***' - hahahahahaha so true