Okay, hopefully this is third time lucky for writing this blog. The 2 times before this the power has mysteriously cut out. Frustrating? Oh yeah! But power cuts are a common occurance in Vietnam.

I am now in Ha Long Bay but obviously have a lot to update since I last wrote about Cambodia!
After chilling out and getting massages in Sihanoukville, Cambodia for a couple of days, we left for Chau Doc, Vietnam on the Monday morning. Border crossing and Bus rides were rally easy going and we got to our hotel in good time. After a quick refresh, we headed out on a boat trip down the Mekong river and visited the floating market and the "Cham" village. The village floods every year during the wet season and all the houses have been designed to accommodate the rising river. Amazing village really, considering they grow all their own vegies and keep chickens etc. Don't know how they manage during the wet season.
Heading back in to the city, we again refreshed (it's really, really hot) and then headed out to the hills to watch to the sunset. The motorbike ride was certainly interesting as we got a first hand experience of the "road rules". From what I can tell there is only one rule and that is don't crash. Anyway to avoid that is fine. The sunset was beautiful and it was great to get a good view of the Vietnamese countryside. The rice fields and Mountains and the green, lushness is stunning.
Only staying in Chau Doc for the night, the next morning we headed to Ho Chi Minh City. The best word to describe Ho Chi Minh is CHAOS. Apparently there are 10 million people in in the city and 9 million motorbikes. The noise and traffic is just incredible! Made crossing the road a interesting and challenging task. In Ho Chi Minh we meeet up with the additional people on this leg of the trip. We headed out to a few bars to get to know the "newbies" and then the next day day ventured to the Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the "American" War and are quite a sight. They are about 30cm by 35cm, it blows my mind to think anyone could fit in them. The other things is that they are incredibly hot and stuffy and these guys used to spend up to 7 hours in these tunnels. They were quite ingenius really. We got to have a look at some of their booby traps, set for the south Vietnamese and American/Allied troops. Nasty stuff but obviously did the trick.
After Ho Chi Minh City city, we set off for Nha Trang on the overnight train. Was a pleasant enough journey and we actually got a decent amount of sleep, even though we arrived at 5am. Nha Trang is a beach city with not a hell of a lot going for it, to be honest. Apart from mud baths and snorkelling, lying on the beach chillaxing is almost the only other thing to do. It can become quite hard to relax with all the hawkers who crowd around and try to sell all matter of things.
After Nha Trang we set off for Hoi An on another overnight train. This overnighter was not quite so nice and we did have a few unwelcome cabin guests, mice and cockroaches mainly. Again arriving seriously early, we had a sleep and then went to explore Hoi An. It is Beautiful! An UNESCO world heritage site, it was originally a merchant village and the old buildings have a funny mix of Chinese, Vietnamese and French. There are an unbelievable amount of Tailors around and of course I had a couple of items made... shorts and a coat (ready for the cold when I get back). Cheap is an understatement and the quality is fantastic! All made within 24hrs!
There is so much to explore in Hoi An that we basicaly spent 3 days walking around and seeing the sights. One of our group had his 21st b'day here, so we had a special dinner for him, gve him a couple of presents and a cake and then proceeded to have brilliant night out! For once we outlasted the Vietnamese, who don't seem to sleep!
Unfortunately, we were travelling by bus the next day around some very windy roads and there were some sore heads to say the least. My heads wasn't sore but I certainly wasn't well.
Arriving in Hue next, we explored the Imperial City. Hue was the capital of Vietnam a long, long time ago and was obviously a beautiful and impressive city once. Could do with a bit of work now but is still beautiful. We headed off on a motorbike tour the next day and spent 4hrs exploring the coutryside, getting a history of the area and then visiting a few sites, like the Pagoda overlooking the perfume river and Emperors tombs. The tour was fantastic but again incredibly hot and in my constant battle with the Sun, I came out a definite second best. In fact, I was a sunburnt mess.
Given that was yesterday, you could say I am still a sunburnt mess but am covering myself in moisturiser and sunblock today.
We have now arrived in Ha long bay, after a 15hr overnight train ride and 3.5 hours bus ride. It is another scorcher and we are about to head out on a Junk for lunch and an bit of an exploration. There are loads of wee islands and it looks like it should be a lot of fun.
Will let you know how it goes...