Hello!

Well its easter sunday and i have just spoken to all my family so all is very well in Vietnam!since i spoke to you last a lot has happened- mostly in the form of chillaxing! we spent another 2 days in Hoi An, getting aquainted with the locals, playing cards and learning magic tricks from them, all over so seriously tasty dishes in the steet kitchens on one of the small islands across the river from Hoi An main town. We also went to see the japanese covered bridge, which was, no suprises here, was a covered bridge- it was really facinating! haha! it was kinda pretty tho and the other side of the bridge were some more lovely little stalls and a lot less bustle- which is impressive as Hoi An town is pretty quiet! and we picked up our coats! and after small alterations we are both very pleased!!But then we headed on to Na Trang and to the beautiful beaches!

We headed off again on the lovely night buses- and this one was actually a lot nicer! and we were joined by the 3 lovely watford guys. we seem to be following the same route as 3 argeninian guys and 3 guys from watford, we have been bumping into them in every city,and the argies were on our first night bus, the watford boys were on our second day bus then again on our second night bus. this bus, tho nicer, was more eventful! we were finally getting of to sleep, Jack (one of the afore mentioned watford guys) next to us was already sound asleep after earlier taking a sleeping tablet, when we over took a bus, cut in far to quickly and sharply clipping the edge of it smashing the window by emilys head! the whole bus woke up with a start, Jack meanwhile was sound asleep! we were unharmed, and all was actually ok, we just had to wait for 2 hours before the bus would stop and we could sort it all out!

We eventually arived in Na Trang at 6am and we were on the beach by 9, sunburnt by 12 and hidding in the shade by 1!! asnd that we decided was the british way!! haha!! :D the beach was lovely, if the sea a little difficult due to the steep drop just beyond the shore line which was constantly being hit by powerful waves, so you were either standing in a few inches of water or were out of ur depth beyond the drop, and the only way to get out was to ride in with a wave- we eventually got the hang of it without loosing our bakini bottoms! we spent the naxt day again chillaxing at the beach and the evenings were spent having a few drinks with the boys from watford and frederic the friendly german! on our third day there we hit the mud baths again with jack, sam and chris and frederic and a canadian couple. it was great fun!! the mud was really thin and not what we expected and then the mineral baths were HOT- not so good for the suntan! they definitly took a little getting used to!!

After that we again headed for the night bus, this time joined by the argentinians!! this was the nice style bus and there were no crashes-always a bonus in my book! so apart from the speedy driving towards holes in the road and steering towards all bumps possible at a manic speed, especially considering the lack of suspention in the back of the bus, all was well and we arrived after our last night bus unscathed! :) yay!!

We are now in Saigon! and it is easter sunday and we could not find an open church anywhere-even the cathedral was closed, so instead we headed to the war remnants museum, which was needless to say horrible, but a must! We have been following the liberation celebrations down the country, it now being 35 years since the end of the war, but other than that we have seen very little about the war, or remnants of it throughout the country. Vietnam is a country recovering and it is doing well!! we did actually hit the liberation day of Na trang, seeing all the parades through the city of what were frankly some fairly disordered soldiers and locals, but they all looked like they were enjoying themselves, but we missed the fireworks display as we were in a bar and didnt no when they started, but we did see the millions of motor bikes heading away from the beach which in itself was a sight!!... Anyway we spent the day in saigon with a lovely brother and sister from melbourne- melbourne is getting a great rep from the people we have met from there so far- i cant wait to see it for myself and meet more people from there!! we went also to the reunification palace which is full of kitchy furnishings from when it was abandoned in 1975 after a tank rolled in through the gates signaling the end of the war, and the hasty exit!! Saigon is a nice city. quite built up and it feels much more the capital that Hanoi did with its bustle and sprawl and generally larger centre with more shops and more to do! it has a great up beat feel about it, which is a slight change of pace from our chilling on the beach, but is not unwelcome!

we are off to the mekong delta tomorrow and then off to Cambodia and some more beaches-i cant wait!! Happy easter to you all, be in touch soon! x x x