Hey all Our Vietnam sector ended yesterday and we have time to reflect on it from Vientiane, capitol of Laos. After major dilemmas as to what we could afford NOT to see and how to make the most of our time we did a quick 2 day very fun run through the beach town of Nhatrang and packed a day full with a touristy booze cruise to surrounding islands and made more friends whilst singing national anthems, snorkelling, dancing on stage to Labamba (pure cheese, we know, but FESTIVE cheese!), drinking Vietnamese dodgy "grape wine" (did you know there was any other variety?) in lifejackets whilst holding onto the floating bar & trying to keep the waves from tainting the fine vintage with saltwater, and whooping it up for the shortest tandem parasailing trip in the world (but man, those 4 minutes were AWESOME!) Hoi An was next, and by far the highlight for us of Vietnam. It's a centuries old silk trading post with a wonderful mix of Chinese, French and Vietnamese influences in the architecture, food and general vibe and deserves it's World Heritage Site status. It also happens to have an explosion of tailors, row upon row of them, all (often irritatingly) touting for your business. The prices are ridiculous ($6 for a bespoke tailored 100% cotton shirt anyone? How about $20 for a tailored linen jacket? Shoes that fit like a glove for $10, measurements taken at 5pm and ready at 11am next day? Skirt for $6? Yeah, we know, way too expensive...) It did come with it's own micro-traumas, we had to try a 2nd tailor before the fabled joys of having clothes made unfolded (excuse the pun) but all being well with the Vietnamese/South African Customs and Postal services, both being highly regarded for their stance against corruption, there should be a small box waiting for us in Johannesburg filled with lovely things. The food in Hoi An was just too good and we were forced to eat our way through many superb meals at great personal discomfort, but as seasoned professionals we did our best for world gastronomy. Whilst walking off aforementioned meals the town's multitude of art galleries and locally-made crafts workshops filled our creative and aesthetic needs. The riverfront setting and sunsets with a Bia Hoi (and lime) in hand listening to the soft sounds of "HELLO! YOU! COME EAT MY RESTAURANT! YOU BUY SOMETHING? WHERE YOU FROM? YOU WANT MOTOBIKE? YOU GOING TO BEACH? COME SEE MY AUNTY'S CLOTHES SHOP!" will be long-remembered. Having run out of time we only had 1 full day in Hanoi, another bustling busy scooter (moto) - filled SE Asian city. We walked through the Old Quarter much of the day which is like a permanently set-up market, certain streets for certain wares, tin-makers, blacksmiths, herb-sellers, religious Buddha ornament-sellers as well as more modern clothes stores, beauty stores and restaurants and coffee shops. We managed to take in a traditional Water Puppet show which tells folk stories to the accompaniment of a live traditional instrument orchestra and vocalists, impressive puppetry, especially the Phoenix Dance although the Phoenixes looked like chicken/peacock interbreeding experiments. Our night was rounded off with fantastic live jazz at Minh's Jazz Club - from millenia-old cultural stuff to classy Jazz in the space of 5 minutes and 200 metres, with Vietnamese city-hustle life along the way. I'm sure Hanoi's charms run much deeper than that but it wasn't a bad snapshot. Relaxed unhurried friendly Laos awaits. As always we hope you're all happy and missing us! I'm already missing Vietnamese coffee, the BEST, by far, I've ever had. Sorry for you Italy! Ciao KnD