So where did we last leave you? From Hanoi we journeyed south to Hue, the old capital of Vietnam. I immediately liked it, as I discovered that I am a bit of a celebrity here. Unlike Laos where i was asked if my freckles were a nasty itchy rash ( the cheek!)here I was asked to pose with small children in the manner of famous and glamorous film star. The fact that I mostly looked hot and discheveled is beside the point.......

my ego aside though, things were much friendlier here than in Hanoi, and less risk of being mown down by a moving kumquat tree on a back of a moto. Lots of kids shouting HELLO.....We visited the old Citadel which was very impressive and the palace where the emperor used to live ( bombed in the war but much still standing) and we also took a boat trip down the perfume river to visit some tombs of the old kings. These were all very beautiful and in peaceful setttings and we learnt about how one king had over 100 wives and countless concubines and yet no children and how another king had something like 140 children! They are all buried in very vague places in order to preserve them from grave robbers. To the extent that all 200 servants who buried Tu Duc were beheaded so they could not blab. The perfume river is not the Mekong however so in case you're thinking of going, don't bother with the river trip!

From there we headed to Hoi An further down the coast. This is a funny place. It's a lovely place to look at with great unesco protected architecture, but on every corner is someone wanting you to come on a moto ride or buy some clothes. Let me explain - for a small town, Hoi An has over 400 tailor shops all selling custom made clothes for very cheap. It's a minefield....but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do... and thank goodness for that M&S 0% credit card i took out .... I now possess a suit, 4 dresses and countless shirts all winging their way back to England via seamail. So bring on the engagements as I now have some new outfits for weddings! Evan bought 2 shirts...and spent much of the time sniggering at the kids who were getting clothes made so they looked like the guys off the cover of the Snatch DVD.(We got some clothes made in teh "Market" as well where some older lady stalks you until you come see her shop and then you are surrounded by urchins. like some kind of Fagin and oliver twist set up. i sniggered at that too, bloody urchins everywhere, snigger)

We stayed in a great hotel - there are many fewer real budget options in Vietnam and everywhere seems to have breakfast , internet and cable tv included for around 10 dollars or less. We paid 11 dollars ( ooooooooo)here and got access to a pool which was heaven as it was really hot. Evan was happy because he could watch the football on cable ( guess how happy I was about that?) and i was happy becuase there was an eat all you can breakfast buffet!

We teamed up with Rianna and Rob, a lovely dutch couple we met on the bus down ( sorry rianna I am spelling your name all wrong!) and got up really early one morning at 5am to visit My Son which are Cham ruins dating from the 4th to the 13th centuries. They were discovered ( or as one guide put it, invented) by the French at the end of the 19th century. My Son was once a places of worship for the Cham monks and royals and it is incredibly atmospheric especially as we were the first tour group and arrived as the mist was still clearing. The setting in a valley is really eery and our tour guide was full of beans - encouraging all the boys to touch the linga and pray ( now go look up linga on google!)

We also took in the beach with Rianna and Rob - our first bit of sea this trip can you believe. I managed to offend one of the 100s of people (read urchin)wanting to sell us something by almost buying some bangles then changing my mind - mortal sin. At Hoi An I got the feeling that tourists are a necessary evil to the locals but an evil they can makes lots of money out of so bring it on! Having said that we met some lovely people including one of the girls who made me countless dresses and told us all about the ettiqette of which colour flowers to buy your friend's ex boyfriend for his birthday and how getting married in Feburay is a BAD month, but March and September are fine so Bryony, Bruce, Emily and Ian - you're all fine.

Our next stop was Dalat - famous honeymoon destination for the vietnamese as it's cool...as in climate. We had lots of fun here boming around on a moto - yes evan is now up there with the best vietnamese drivers ( i was more like one of those horrible videos on "tourists do the stupidest things" there is a reason the accelerator and brake are on the same foot in a car, putting them on different hands on a bike is asking for trouble, still no one died,(the doctors think the old guy will pull through, it was mostly just shock) anyways) and i am practising balancing things on pillion so by next trip I should be able to manage at least one kumquat tree, a large jack fruit and a bag of bananas. We visited the summer palace of the last monarch which was a preserved 30s piece straight out of a cary grant movie and full of vietamese tourists. The great thing about dalat is that it's a bit off the tourist route so we were again a bit of a novelty and thus people much friendlier and charge you the correct price instead of the price for westerners. We also visited the crazy house which I will upload some pictures of as I cannot describe it, needless to say it's like being in the faraway tree for those of you who are up on your enid blyton. A guest house with lots of rooms seemingly carved into a big tree. I was naturally in my element and wanted to move in. We topped the day with a great meal at a place doing vege food with lots of mock meat ( a real vietnamese thing) and I ate 2 rice dumplings when really I should just have had one and I really won't fit into those new dresses from hoi an if I carry on.

Today we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City - or Saigon if you're a local. The traffic here makes Hanoi look like a tame kind of warm up but it's lively and fun and there are proper shops ( unlike hoi an where all you can buy is pringles, oreo cookies and laughing cow cheese becuase if you're a tourist that's all you eat right? ) so I'm thrilled at finding some sugar free blueberry chewing gum to wash down my tofu in lemongrass and garlic.......( al;so more urchins, chewing gum and copies of ben elton books anyone. NO i'm eating, urchin!)

more later..