Greetings form Vietnam,

What a journey from Laos! We set off from 4,000 islands on a boat at 11am to the mainland, then after a 4 hour minivan to Pakse we climbed aboard our bus to Vietnam. This was no normal bus - there were more huge sacks of rice than people! We were the only Westerners on the bus and we were squished down the front with about 12 Vietnamese people while the back and underneath of our seats were full of rice sacks! It was an interesting journey to the border where we sat watching TV eating noodle soup in a run down restaurant until the border opened at 7am.

After arriving in Danang at about 3pm, we needed to change buses to get to Hoi An - we were assured that it should cost 25p each. We had been warned about getting scammed for bus ticket prices once in Vietnam and were told that there is not much you can do and should accept that we will get ripped off at some stage! We ended up bargaining as hard as we could but it was clear that the bus driver wasnt letting us Westerners on for Vietnamese prices! We haggled down to 75p each, which we were more than happy with.

It was a huge relief to get to Hoi An after our hellish 36 hour journey and it is AMAZING! Our favourite place yet. It is a quaint little town with lots of history and old French colonial buildings. We have really enjoyed sampling the nice little restaurants, and especially the patisseries, on the river front. There are over 400 tailoring shops which we have thoroughly enjoyed exploring. I (Rich) have splashed out on 2 suits, 1 jacket and a pair of shoes. Lisa has got a suit, a winter coat, a jacket, shoes, a dress, 2 skirts and some boots. These are all made to measure in less than 24 hours, very very cheap and great quality! This place has not been good for our bank accounts!

If that wasnt enough Hoi An also has an amazingly good beach. It is white sand and 3km long (aparently where the American GIs hung out during the war), we spent today relaxing after a frantic 2 days of shopping and fittings (and re-fittings).

Off down the coast to Jungle Beach in a minute on another sleeper bus, we will tell you all about it when we get back. This place is slightly different as it is just a small resort in the middle of its own stretch of beach, it is extremely basic and we will be eating every meal around a huge table with the other guests and staff. (I have my fingers crossed for beach football everyday!)

Got to go now, will update once in Nha Trang.

Bye!