So guys.. We made it safely to Saigon in Vietnam on a supposedly 6 hour bus (more like 10 hours). We consulted our "reliable" Lonely Planet for a nice, cheap place to stay and rocked up at a hotel that the book said would be $10, the man laughed us out of the door (rooms started at $40). Luckily, we found Ing- our hero. She ran a little hotel and offered us a 4 bed room with breakfast for the bargain price of $20- sold. We ventured out for a little something to eat and drink and fell in love with Saigon. People were really friendly and the City was bustling with thousands of Motorbikes coming from all directions, making crossing the road interesting!! We found a little bar called Eden- very quirky, good music and free garlic bread.. sweet as a nut!!

We had an early start the following morning.. after a delightful breakfast where infact the omelette we ordered turned out to be a fried egg-- silly Ing!! We decided that we didnt need any transport and we could walk and navigate the city by ourselves- fun times. Things did go more smoothly once Laura had turned the map round the right way after about an hour of walking!! First stop was the market-- where Tara nearly floored a Vietnamese girl for continuously touching her- we left shortly after. Next stop, the Independence Palace where Lauras lacking navigation capability turned out in our favour.. she somehow found a little back entrance so we didnt have to pay a fee!!! After some ridiculous photos (see new album) we moved on to the pagoda (temple type thing). It was the worst Pagoda ever and we were not impressed after having walked a very gruelling half an hour along the main road. Next was the War Museum, then the Cathedral and then the river. It took us hours and we were absolutely dead by the time we got back to the Hotel. We were absolutely starving aswell.. and decided to go to Chinatown for a nice meal.. After having a massive fight with a Taxi driver over rates, we arrived in Chinatown.. no restaurants or tourists to be seen. We had to walk along a chaotic road and the only food joint we found was PizzaHut- good traditional food. We returned back to the hotel, totally dead from an exhausting day and settled down to a good nights sleep.

6 in the morning... the most God awful drumming noise began and continued for the next few hours.. This noise was coming from a group of drummers in the street which was marking the week coming up to the Chinese New Year- we were not impressed at all. That day we booked a trip to the Floating Market.. we travelled 5 hours by bus to this market to then be told that it wasnt a tourist market and that we couldnt buy anything- what a delight. We did however have a nice trip down the river and got to wear ridiculous hats- it doesnt take much to amuse us these days.

The next day.. we set off for Dalat.. another 9 hour bus ride. Dalat is a pure delight. It is in the mountains and bloody freezing but really good to escape from the chaos of the city.We are staying in a little hotel for $10/night, including breakfast and it really is lovely here. Today, we hired 2 little guys on motorbikes to take us to Datanla Waterfalls-- absolutely stunning. We then rented a swan shaped paddle-boat and paddled around the lake. We leave tomorrow for Hanoi. We wanted to book a flight as its like 2 days/ 2 nights by bus but everything is booked because of the approaching New Year. So we leave for Na Trang tomorrow morning (6 hours). We then get a night bus to Hoi An (12 hours),ten a 3 hour bus to Hue and finally a 15 hour night bus to Hanoi.. wish us luck!!

Anyhow, hope all is well at home.. we love reading the messages so keep them coming.

Much love xxx