Hello from the periodically sunny Viet Nam….We'll where did we leave you?I think in Ho Chi Minh.OK from there we jumped on an overnight sleeper bus.Usually 10-12 hours of cramped torture but to our delighted surprise $10's worth of laying back in our own beds for the duration, think blood bus with lots of narrow beds and no nice nurses and you've got it!Arriving in Nga Trang refreshed and ready for action we found a hotel and fell asleep again for an hour or 2, it was 6.30 in the morning!Waking up we were off to explore the quaint town of Trang and have a spot of Pho Bo (the lovely national dish of Beef Noodle Soup!) after all that exertion we decided on an afternoon of sun loungers on the beach at the local 'Beach Club' (check us out!).With Emma's birthday ahead we had planned some diving, or first dip in the South China Sea, but had low (but optimistic) expectations after the wonder of the Similan and Surins.The next day we headed off in a little wooden boat to the local dive sites including Madonna Rock (s) so named because of the 2 conical shapes above sea!For those that are interested or in the know this is what we got….a nice 15 meter viz, 38 meter dive with some giant angel fish, some very nice nudibranchs, the lovely red fire gobie and some of the best feeding soft coral's we have ever seen.Next an 18 meter dive with ……3 yes THREE juvenile HARLEQUIN SHRIMPS (about 4mm and super cute!!!) a very nice swim through filled with all kinds of fish and all the usual suspects.Next a very nice 12 METER! Dive with a 7" + nudibranch, an Indian Walkman, 3 white leaf fish, a lovely giant brown/red frog/angler fish, a juvenile moon wrasse and a 4-6mm ghost pipe fish…all in all a very good haul indeed.Can recommend Trang for diving.Spent the next couple of days contemplating our next move from the luxury of our sun loungers at the beach club….we had a lot to discuss!!!Finally got on a bus to Hoi An and what a lovely little place if a little rainy.Set on the Thu Bon River Hoi An or Faifo as early western traders knew it was an international trading port as far back as the 17th century.Influences from Chinese, Japanese and European culture are well preserved in local architecture and art.Walking through the ancient streets, if you block out the 400+ tailor shops it's easy to imagine how it was a century ago.Checking into an over priced but very nice hotel for Emma's birthday we had a wash, used some deodorant and put on our best glads and headed for one of the most acclaimed restaurants in town.A very pleasant river setting amongst a pretty garden courtyard with lovely food left us pining for comfy clothes, cheap, delicious food and a friendly and un-staged environment.Not that we didn't have a lovely time, we did of course but we could have had it for a lot less (read: could have got much drunker for the amount of money we spent!).After a couple of days walking these beautiful streets, visiting the ancient houses and checking out a few of the tailors, there are so many and you can constantly hear cries of "come in my shop, take look, cheap price" we hopped on a short 3 hour bus ride to Hue pronounced Huuwieee….Hue served as the political capital from1802 to 1945 under the 13 emperors of the Nguyen dynasty. Famous royal dishes originate from here and nightly the Emperor would be served 50 dishes prepared by 50 chefs and served by 50 servants, sounds pretty good to us! The grand tombs and citadel are crumbling but are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.There is also a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which from1945-1975 served as a line of demarcation between South and North Vietnam.It is still advisable to take a guide to this area as there is the possibility of still unexploded ordnance. Well we had planned a day of visiting the old royal city and the Citadel but we didn't quite get what we expected.We bumped into Jess and John an Aussie/NZ couple we had met on the bus the day before, not an unusual occurrence.We all headed off to walk around the old walled city and planned to visit the Purple Palace and the Citadel then head off back over the water to our hotel for our 5.30 bus.After an hour of wandering around the old city we stopped to take some photos of a moated and very pretty ruin. A Vietnamese chap and his wife pulled up on their motor bike, which he very proudly announced he had brought the day before.After chatting for a few minutes at the side of the road we all went of for a drink at his favorite restaurant, turns out that he was on 3 days holiday and I think he was after something to amuse himself and improve his English.He was a math and English teacher and his wife stayed at home with the 2 young children.We still planned to go to the Citadel but ended up spending a fun few hours at their house meeting all the family and teaching each other card tricks!Then we hopped on a boat along the local river until we joined the Perfume River and the beautiful Pagoda.As today was a holiday, half way through a week long festival, (seem to have a lot of holidays here!) admission was free so all good. After that we all headed for something too eat before our night bus at 5.30.An interesting day, a future bed in Hue, fabulous Vietnamese food, a few beers and good company a nice way to spend the day even if we did miss out on a few of the ancient sites!!On the night of the 15th we take a sleeper bus (typing this on the bus now!) to Hanoi which we are very much looking forward to.After a few days there we will be heading off (both very excited and looking forward to) Sapa for a few days.We will be going by train to this mountainous area and looking forward to the daily 12km treks through indigenous hill tribes.Great news is that Lil Tel and Lil Ju will be joining us, they have been taking it easy since Cambodia, think the heat at Angkor Wat took it's toll, so they will love the climate in the hills (especially lil Ju who is prone to the odd hot flush!)Will as ever let you know what it's like and post some photos when we can.Take care x x x x