So Vietnam.... where to begin.

Katie and I left Saigon around a month ago and headed to Mui Ne, a nice quiet beach where all the windsurfers hang out. We couldn't be doing with any strenuous activities or sight seeing so we sat on the beach for a few days in the sun reading books and relaxing... there are worse ways to spend a day. We found a lovely beachside bar in Mui Ne with a beautiful swimming pool and chillout areas where we spent our days, it was really expensive in there so we would buy a sprite between us in the morning and use all their stuff for free all day... cheapo travellers.

We then headed up in to the mountains of Dalat where we did some canyoning. If you haven't seen it already here is the link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owUIEDi3bvM . It was great fun, although we couldn't walk for a few days after it

Next stop was Nha Trang where we did a fair bit of diving. It was really cheap as the visibility wasn't the best, but we still saw some good stuff like Lion Fish and Octopie (Octopussies?). We also went to a water park/ amusement park called Vinpearl, whilst not being particularly cultural it was really fun... and there were monkeys riding bicycles there. What else can you ask for?

From Nha Trang we boarded our first sleeper bus to Hoi An. This is basically bunk beds on a bus which in an odd way we were looking forward to... how wrong we were! It was billed as an 11 hour journey........ it took 23 hours! The bus broke down on numerous occasions and at one point they had to call in a new bus to come and pick us up. It was pretty tedious but we've learn't to roll with the punches now so no harm done.... saying that I did have a bit of a paddy when we got to Hoi An and all the hotels were full but that is another story.

Although the weather turned rainy from here we loved the town, it was really quaint with narrow cobbled streets and a river that flooded the streets on a nightly basis. We enjoyed all of their local foodage like fried wontons and white rose dumplings - good eating. Hoi An is also full of tailors so we both took the opportunity to get some custom suits, jackets and shoes made to send to Oz. I think we got a little bit carried away as the parcel we sent weighed seven kilos which is a fair bit. Hey ho.

We also got involved with Beer Hoi here, it is a locally brewed beer that you drink on the side of the street and it costs about 10 pence a glass. Nice.

After Hoi An we headed up to Hue for a day to meet our friends from back home. We stayed in the pub all day, watched the mighty Tottenham Hotspur win 9-1 and then a cyclo (like a three wheeled bicycle) driver let me drive his bike back to our hotel as I gave him a cigarette. Dicey.

The next day we all walked around the citadel for a bit of culture. Our friend Rachael tried to get us lost on more than one occasion and we must have walked about 10km which is about my limit on a hangover. It was really fun though and good to see friends from back home!

After Hue we travelled up to the capital Hanoi. We had a look around Ho Chi Minh's (Vietnamese hero, looks like the KFC colonel) mauseleum and museuem which was pretty standard as far as Vietnamese museums go. We got there too late to see his Sarcophogus although i'm not sure that was a bad thing.

For my birthday we pushed the boat out and went on a three day boat trip to Halong bay with the Hanoi Backpackers. It was absolutely brilliant and my favourite thing we have done so far in Vietnam. We had an awesome bunch of people, lovely boat, great food and amazing scenery. I let slip to one of the lads that it was my birthday on the second day and I got abused - there was a lot of drinking that day. They did make me a cake (a cardboard box with rude words painted on it and a candle) which was interesting.

We also did some Kayaking and wakeboarding. I stood up on it after a few goes and wasn't entirely awful.

After this we headed up north to the mountains of Sapa for some trekking. We got a sleeper train there which was interesting. We had no idea where we were going and ended up in a tiny cabin with four vietnamese people in three deck high bunk beds. Like most of the things we have done here, it was an experience.

Sapa was totally freezing so we wore all of our clothes for the duration. We went on a two day trek through the mountains which was pretty amazing and were followed the whole way by the hill tribe people who wear some funky outfits - we will put photos up soon but imagine a woman wearing a gladiator style tunic and a biscuit tin on their head.

After the first night of the trek we stayed in a home stay with the mountain folk, where they cooked us traditional food and we got drunk on rice wine with them. It was surreal but awesome.

We are now back in Hanoi for a day and about to embark on the 24 hour+ hellish bus journey to Laos. Wish us luck!

Hope all are well and congratulations to Gary and Joanne on their new arrival. Can't wait to meet him!

Dean and Katie

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