GOOOOD MORNING VIETNAAAAAM!!

3rd August - we set off on a four hour journey, saying goodbye to Cambodia and hello to 'nam babyyy!! We made a stopover in a small town called chau doc which lies on the Mekong delta so is pretty busy for it's size and had some of the best locally sourced ingredients in the world. Some of the group had planned to go on a boat along the delta, wr decided, along with a few others, that we'd like to take a motorbike up one of the local mountains to watc the sunset. Everyone's plans were scuppered however by another one of those pesky thunderstorms. All still feeling a bit tired from the craziness that was sihanoukville we decided just to eat in the hotel and chill playing cards having a team bonding session. Later me and V chilled some more in the room watching Asian MTV (hilarious) toothfairy and had late night chats in bed. It was a nice chill day.

4th August - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
We had about a 6 hour journey by bus and a short ferry crossing over the Mekong delta in order to get to Saigon - V and Steph were invited in to the wheel house by the captain who had a nice wee chat with them. Had lunch in a restaurant that to be honest wasn't really up to much but was set in the most beautiful surroundings so got a few nice pictures. We arrived in Saigon early evening to the most craziest, fast paced, place we've been so far. It was also rediculously hot and humid. Me and V went a wee walk around the area then stopped in at a coffee shop for an iced latte to cool ourselves down. As it was Abs, Ellie, Jess and Lexie's last night we were all keen to make it a good one but to be honest we didn't really rate HCMC for a night out - we found it to be pretty pricey with hardly any atmosphere compared to the places we'd been in Cambodia, we still made a fair effort to have a good night together. We had a few 'good morning vietnam' cocktails... When in Rome...or Nam as the case may be!!! We also all shared a Shisha whic is basically a bong but without the weed. Our hunt for food on the way back to the hotel later in the night led us to a street where someone had set a hammock up between a lamppost and a street sign - cue photoshoot. V and I weren't tired when we got in so stayed up for hours chatting about life. Very lucky to have her as a best friend/travel buddy as we've been having a ball.

5th August
Today we went to the cu chi tunnels, basically an underground network of tunnels used by the viet cong during the war to hide from the Americans/south Vietnamese, it's a pretty cool place and shows how determined they were to succeed during the war. Went into a few of the tunnels which was hilarious, you have to crawl along in the dark around all of these winding tunnels under the ground with no idea where the tunnels turning next, banged my head a good few times. Our guide was a veteran of the old southern Vietnamese army who served alongside the Americans as a translator. He was a lovely wee old man who could tell us a lot more about little personal things he remembered from the war in comparison to the other guides who were all quite young. We had our last meal with the girls at lunch before saying a bit of a teary farewell then wr left them behind to get the sleeper train to nha trang. The sleeper was hilarious, there was a mouse in the carriage that kept running into the other girls rooms so they were up all night screaming, we were pretty lucky and didn't come across the little s*** once, thank god!

6th August - Nha Trang
We didn't get the best sleep ever on the night train so we went for a nap when we arrived in nha trang around 7 the next morning. Ended up treating ourselves to a bit of a long nap in the end. We then went to give owe laundry to a little place up the street (10000 dong/kilo approx 20 odd pence) where the wash and press your clothes for you. Best ever!' we went for a spot of lunch then headed to the mud baths. Decided to be cheap and go in the communal mud bath which seats up to 8 people - we were lapped in with a large Vietnamese family who were over the moon to be joined by westerners - so much so they initiated us by attacking us with mud... Not ideal when you're wearing contact lenses. We have some pretty hilarious photos of the whole charade!! We went for dinner at why not that night where the have free mojitos from 9pm-12pm... Yes FREE MOJITOS?!? wtf?!? Afterwards we went to the nightmarket for a swatch before heading back to bed ... We had to get a porter to let us in the room though cos V had locked the key in the room. Nugget!! We both fell in love a little bit with nha trang as it's just so beautiful and very chill and laid-back which was a nice change to the craziness of sihanoukville and saigon!!

Still not caught up on myself with blog entries but getting bored and having way too much fun, will hopefully have you guys up to date in the next day or so.
Laterzzz
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