I'm thinking about making myself a T Shirt that clearly states "No, I do not want a motorbike. No I do not want any sunglasses. No I do not want any photo copied unreadable books. No I do not want a boat trip. Or a room to rent for an hour. Or any cigarettes. Thankyou." But, that would mean I wouldn't get the joy of repeating myself on a 5 secondly basis... seems here, especially in Saigon, that the general idea is that even if you don't want something, continually stating how cheap it is will make me suddenly become a smoker/hourly room renter/person who must have 10 pairs of eyes to protect from the sun... ah the joys of travel...

Since I last wrote I have made my way down Vietnam to my final destination, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh as us tourists initially call it). My stops along the way were:

-Hue. It rained everyday but I loved the guesthouse I was staying in and the town was interesting to wander around. Except for when I thought it would be a good idea to stroll through a local market and it took me about an hour to escape - I swear it was like a maze!!

-Hoi An.My favourite place in Vietnam. Such a pretty location on the river! One morning I was going for an 'improving' walk (impressive a mum?) along the river when a newlywed couple were getting all their photos taken in traditional outfits on the river. A Chinese guy and a Vietnamese woman and they looked stunning! They were paddled upstream by a cute old man and was so cool to see - very colourful. Hoi An is the clothes making/shoe making capital of the country so I couldn't exactly be blamed for being unable to resist a smidgen of shopping... really it was for practical reasons as wearing my jandles in London in winter is probably not the best idea! So I got 2 pairs of boots made and a dress, pretty much a bargain and was lots of fun trying to get across what I wanted with my total lack of vietnamese and the lady's total lack of english...

-Nha Trang. Finally some sunshine! I spent the day recovering from my sleeping bus from Hoi An... not too much sleep going on, somehow I managed to pick the only 'bed' that had no room for the lower half of my body... quite amazing that I managed to actually straighten out and walk of the bus after the 12 hours in such an uncomfortable position! Was great to be by the sea again and I loved just wandering up the beach, trying to avoid the "Hey lady, where you from? you want cigarette? book? bread?" etc etc etc

Am now in Saigon after yet another night bus... the train idea was great in theory but due to lack of funds I was forced to take the wretched bus!! Wasn't that bad this time, I managed to get a bed that I could stretch out on... Was fairly awkward with a couple on the bed in the middle isle demonstrating some PDAs that would earn an AO rating. Luckily they were not in their allocated seats so they got moved and were replaced by an american man who snored so loudly that I could here him through my ipod headphones... Combined with the feeling of heading directly into oncoming traffic (stupid right hand side of the road driving) I didn't have exactly the best nights sleep...

Saigon is busy. Very true what everyone says about the motorbikes. Particularly difficult as I am now so confused as to which way to look for oncoming traffic. I've basically given up and now I bravely step out and hope for the best... or sometimes I shadow a local as they dodge easily between the speeding bikes. I fly to Bangkok tomorrow night, one night there and then I'm heading to London for a winter Christmas! Surely even the cold has to beat the painful sound of carol remakes playing in the shops here...