Xin chao everyone! Vietnam is a fantastic country and my favourite so far. However, we didn't get off to a very good start...in fact it was a disaster!! The bus journey from Vientiane (Laos) to Hanoi took us about 26 hours. When we arrived at the bus station and got on the bus there were boxes and bags everywhere. We didnt know what was going on or where we were to sit. The bus driver didn't speak a word of English and the Vietnamese people didn't seem too impressed with us takng their seats! Luckily, we got chatting to a half Vietnamese/half chinese guy who spoke good english; he was our translator for the entire 26 hours, in fact, I think I made a good impression on him (even if I do say so myself!!!), as he offered me his head rest and gave me his business card!! I thought i'd make a great Thai wife after the cookery course, but now I have the chance to become a Vietnamese wife too.....there are just too many options!!!! Back to the bus..... it kept stopping every hour or so and also broke down at one stage. When we got to the border it took 4 hours for the bus to pass through. The security team checked every item that was on the bus and also thought that we'd smuggled somebody through the boarder. Anyway we arrived safely; our bags were soaking wet as they were on the roof (it rained during the nite) so lets just say we were all a little pissed off, tired and cranky. It was abn experience and one I will never forget!! Hanoi was lovely but a day or 2 was loads there. The traffic was mental and when crossing the road you were taking your life into your hands. There is no such thing as obeying pedesterian crossings in this country!! Anyway, we found a really good bar called the Funky Monkey and met some guys from Dublin who we went to the local nightclub with and didn't get home till 5am. Let's just say I was not feeling my best the next day. It's a really small world as all of them went to the Irish college in Ring and had been to Dungarvan (where my mum's from) and enjoyed telling me how much they loved a JR'S special and Davits the nightclub!! We then took a 2 day boat trip to Halong Bay which was fabulous. The weather and scenary were gorgeous so we enjoyed just lounging around....very relaxing. The most stressful part was when I saw a rat sitting on the bed in the cabin next to ours.....I didn't sleep a wink that night!! Our next stop in Vietnam was Hue. There wasn't much to do touristy wise so we found a cool bar called the DZ bar where we had fab food and played pool for the nite. We're all shocking at the game but no doubt we'll improve over the next few months....that's what we keep telling ourselves anyway!! We went to the local waterpark and hot springs the next day. It was quite embarrassing...... we assumed that you wear bikinis to a waterpark, so thats what we did. Little did we know that Vietnamese girls don't wear bikinis. As we were the only Western people there, we got pointed at, laughed at and stared at. You would have thought we were famous!! We then moved to Hoi An. Now girls, this is shopping heaven!!!! I have never seen so many tailors in one street. We all went a bit crazy and got loads of things made. I now have some fab dresses, tops and a gorgeous chocolate brown pinstripe suit. In fact, I went so mad that I had to buy a wheely to carry my fab new clothes in. Breda and Catherine did the same, so you could say that we've totally lost the backpacking look now with all the extra bags!!!! We went to see the marble mountains (it's a bit mad as they import marble from the north even though they have the mountains made of marble!!). We also visited China beach; the beach was lovely and the waves were massive so we had a good laugh jumping them and nearly losing our bikini bottoms!!! Nah Trang was our next stop. It has the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. We spent the first day lounging around the beach and then went to The Sailing Club in the evening where we enjoyed drinking buckets!! We all had a bit to drink but Eileen was hammered. She was so funny. Me and Eileen came back on a motorbike together....this was great fun until some ladyboys followed us and tried to steal our bags. I was going to ask them for a b**** fight but as they're not b****es, I couldnt!!!....Hahahahaha...you probably had to be there!!!!! It all worked out in the end and we got into our hotel safely. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is amazing. Again the motorbikes are crazy! We went to see the Reunification Palace and the War Museum. The war museum was horrific, but really interesting. It was great to be able to put things into place after doing the Vietnam war for GCSE history. It brought me back to Year 11. We also went to see the Cu Chi tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong during the war. We were allowed to crawl through them; they were tiny....we were all on our knees and the heat and darkness was shocking. I don't know how the Vietnamese people spent hours and hours down there. We also got to do some gun shooting with an MI5 gun; you should have seen my face when I was shooting....it was classic!!! So there you go, we've had lots of adventures and experieces in Vietnam. We've all had a brill time and enjoyed it..... I think it may be a country that I will visit again. We're now in Cambodia for 6 days which is a lot different...another experiece. We're then heading back to Thailand and Phuket for a few days on the beach. I could so get used to being a lady of luxuary!!! Hope everyone's well. Look forward to hearing from you. Lots of love