Finally got some pics up, and I think they're working!!!

Well, hellooo everyone welcome to the Vietnam leg of our trip!

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City with some trepidation - The Rough Guide does not paint a happy picture more often than not and it perhaps put us on the back foot...not aided perhaps by the cheerless visa rigmarole we went through on arrival.

Our fears were quickly gone though as we arrived in our taxi into the 'backpacker district' of Saigon. (how the locals prefer to know it!) A hive of tourist and native activity, we had our pick of hotels, eateries, travel agents offering various services all over Vietnam and all sorts of shopping options.

After a little confusion over payment with the taxi driver, it should be said that most of this confusion was brought about by a massive language barrier, we were soon accommodated, fed and ready to see the sights, rather than remaining in Ho Chi Minh though we picked a day tour of the Mekong Delta.

We spent Sunday night in an Australian run bar/restaurant where there were proper Sunday Roasts on offer with real gravy and everything! Sadly they had none left once we'd got round to ordering!

Our day tour was a fabulous trip - we went on a big boat off to an island on the river and tasted local cuisine. We saw how they make rice paper and use coconut wood. Later we had a little row boat ride through the narrower parts of the Mekong and stopped off to see some bees and traditional Vietnamese music while we tasted some local fruit. All very nice and the coachload on our tour had a few very friendly tourists with various routes ahead of them and all offered plenty of suggestions for further travel options!

Yesterday we got the bus to Mui Ne, a lovely beach resort with again plenty of hotels, restaurants etc and we're looking forward to spending a lazy afternoon by the pool!

Finally to answer some message board questions...we don't know what type of fish they were nibbling at us, all we do know is that there were two types and we opted for the less ferocious. They actually enjoyed my feet more probably for two reasons, 1. They're bigger than Katie's, and 2. They're probably dirtier - they weren't going for tasty chunks of flesh you know! Also, Col, despite my ticklishness it was bearable after a minute or two and became quite theraputic. Though I nearly kicked some of the little critters out of the water at first!

That's all from Nixon! Lots of love, I hope the weather at home is picking up and speak to you all soon! xxx

Well I think Nixon has pretty much covered it for now...first few days in Vietnam have been great, although it is really hot, hotter than Singapore so taking a bit of getting used to! Mui Ne seems a nice small ish resort, and our hotel has a pool which is lovely...so we are going to just try and stay cool by the pool I think!

Hope everyone is well at home, it's always lovely to hear from people! We will no doubt update again soon...xxx