So my last morning in Vietnam. My taxi is coming at 12.30pm to pick me up and off to the airport I go, headed for Siem Reap which will be good. Will be sad to say goodbye to Vietnam, it has been a real surprise. Would love to return one day. On Friday morning I visited the Temple of Literature with John and June. It is just around the corner from our hotel. It was founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius. Vietnam's first university was established here. Again, very peaceful inside although plenty of horn honking on the outside. We returned to KOTO for a coffee and shake before back to the old quarter for more shopping. June wanted to get a few final things and it is always fun wandering around this section of town. The roads are quite narrow and it is mayhem basically. You can barely walk on the pavement because the bikes are parked there and you end up on the street. It is funny how blasé you become with regards to the traffic. You know they will miss you. June did some great bargaining, even for a wallet that John didn't want and then the guy followed us for about 200m. Bit of a misunderstanding. He went from 300,000VD to 100,000VD for a leather wallet.

After a late lunch, back to the hotel and I did some packing. Have figured out I can hopefully take my new bag as carry on luggage. We met for our street food tour at 4.30pm and back to the old quarter. We wandered around the markets and our guide pointed out different things. Lots of preparations happening for the Asian new year at the end of this month. We tried a mini Vietnamese roll and then some pork cake in fish sauce and a fresh spring roll. Wasn't too keen on the pork cake. We then hit the BBQ which was our main meal.

All the meat was laid out and we were able to choose what we wanted and they cooked it for us. We picked out beef skewers, chicken skewer, quail, frogs, eel, chicken stomach, goat breast, corn, pineapple and a baguette which they squash and then fry with butter and honey. They cook it for you and then on your table you have a grill to keep the food warm. Mind you, the table and chairs are suitable for pre-schoolers, not adults. So much food but so good. Frog really does taste like chicken as does quail. Goat breast was just chewy as was the chicken stomach. Eel was just fishy and the bread was yummy as was the corn and pineapple. We then also tried some crab cakes too. Apparently our bill came to about 600,000VD which would be about $5 each. Not bad for the feast we had.

We continued our walk and for dessert we had fruit bowls topped with condensed milk (they love condensed milk here) and then we were given shaved ice to put on top. Didn't think I could eat any more but I managed. The fruit just has so much flavour here. We finished off in a hidden little café 3 levels up where June and Toni tried Egg Coffee. Now it sounds awful but it is basically filtered coffee topped with meringue. I even tried it and I basically just got the meringue top but if you liked coffee I'm sure it could be addictive. We were told the tour would go for 2.5hours, we were out for almost 5 hours. It was a great tour and well worth the money.

Yesterday was time to say goodbye to Toni, Paul, John and June. After they left I walked into town and visited the Hanoi Hilton (the old prison where American POW's were imprisoned). Only a small part of it left and it has been turned into a museum. The french originally built it and used it to imprison those fighting again the french. Museum is a little one sided as you can imagine. It's all about the atrocities that the french imposed while how nice they were to the Americans. I must admit, I don't know enough about the history to know how the Americans were treated here.

From here I visited the Women's Museum which was one of the best I've been to in Vietnam I must admit. Really well laid out and with good information. The best bit was about the street vendors and their life. It makes you understand why they are so pushy to sell their wares. A lot of them come from the country and only get back to see their families once a fortnight or so and they have long days. Up at the market at 3am to buy their stuff and then out on the street all day to peddle their wares for not much money.

I then indulged in some luxury and visited the spa for a couple of hours. A massage, dead sea salt scrub, pedi and mani made me nice and relaxed before doing some final shopping. Picked up a North Face jacket for mum. They are made in Vietnam and so cheap here. I also finally managed to buy an embroidery piece. I was very tempted by one back in Nha Trang but the price and size put me off and I thought I would keep looking. Found a small size one with 2 conical hats and a lotus…good memories of Vietnam.

Last night I had dinner with Adrian, Karen, Katie and Ben who flew out today. We tried a restaurant that was advertised at KOTO. It was founded by ex KOTO trainees and most of their staff come from KOTO. It was fabulous. We had a set menu for about 500,000VD which is about $25 but the food was crazy. Traditional food with a vietnamese twist is how they put it. I tried the salmon which I would never usually order but it has me tempted to now try it back home. Dessert was banana and chocolate mini spring rolls. Could have had another order of that easily. A fabulous meal to finish off my stay in Vietnam.

We visited the local night markets and it was truly local. It was so busy but great to feel that atmoshpere one last time. Sad to say goodbye to Vietnam I must admit but bring on Siem Reap and some more adventures.