Time for the fifth instalment of my adventure I feel.....

I arrived in Hue, a town that apparently saw a lot of action during the war. Here I visited the Citadel, a fort-like area with a moat and high walls, supposedly you could see bullet holes in some of the walls still! It was in Hue I would say a temporary farewell to Cai and Dale who bought bikes and planned to top-gear-it down nam.

I started to panic a bit about timings, one of the reasons I didn't join them, as my visa for Vietnam was growing close to expiry and I still had half the country to see! so after a very funny night out with Finbarr and Lorna, an awesome Irish couple who share my enthusiasm for drinking, I headed on to Hoi An. Here is the tailoring capital of South-East Asia, as I am not planning on working for atleast the next 6 months, I felt it would be a foolish purchase and decided here would be a good place to shoot through and make up some ground. A brief cycle through the town (very picturesque) and a couple of hours on the beach and I was on the road again, this time to Nha Trang.

The overnight bus got me there at 6am and I was on a boat cruise by 8. This included snorkelling, jumping off the boat, some sweet islands, an aquarium with some seriously awesome turtles, a floating bar complete with free cocktail happy hour and a live performance from the maddest boat crew I have met to date.

Returning to my dorm, I met Cameron and Sarah, They were pre-drinking, pre-food so I instantly knew that we would get along well...I wasn't wrong! After an awesome Indian we embarked on the night out; some of the tensest drinking jenga I have ever encountered ensued, the forfeit for losing other than the pure devastation of defeat was standing in the middle of the street and doing "the chicken dance". The infamous "sailing club" came next, Benjamin had informed me of this place before I arrived, a posh resort on the beach by day, a huge club/dance floor/borderline rave by night....silly silly times.

The next day although fragile we decided to hit the water park. This was brilliant and involved a huge cable car across the sea to the island where it was situated (I was bullied for the excitement I had for such things)....it was ace though, and so was the water park. It was what you would expect from a good one in England, just with the safety standards of Vietnam which made it all the more exciting, the watersides were brilliant! There was also roller coasters, a beach, a wave pool and amusements just for good measure!

The night that followed had a very similar, drink-orientated theme to the one before except this time Ashleigh and Guy got involved, two travellers I am pretty convinced are following me, we have ran into each other that often!

After such antics a day of rest an relaxation was definitely called for so we headed for the thermal mud baths. This was just what the doctor ordered, after some mud bathing we had a swim in a thermal swimming pool, it is very strange swimming in a pool that is the same temperature as your bath and possible more so when there is a waterfall the same temperature! On the way back we went to a Vietnamese photography exhibit we had read about in our travel book, the art has made me long for an slr camera even more, some absolutely amazing photographs!

Night out in Nha Trang, round 3, followed a similar theme again (why change a winning formula!). Saying goodbye to the crazy employees at the jenga bar was emotional to say the least, however the presence of Finbarr and Lorna again and some very nice Danish girls got me through it for another awesome evening, Mr Andrew Milner also made another spectacular cameo.

Another emotional goodbye, this time to Cam and Sarah and I was on the road again. This time to Mui Ne, a small town I was recommended to visit if I had time....Very pleased I did! After an accidental yet brilliant night out on arrival, I went on a tour of the fairy river and the sand dunes. All very nice but all overshadowed by the quad bikes! After a 'this is how you turn it on' safety talk I was let loose on the dunes on a bad ass quad bike. This involved me plummeting down them vertically at full pace and doing donuts...I had a smile on my face for hours after, simply brilliant!

Saigon was next on the agenda and some culture and history. The War Remnants museum was the first destination on my list....wow, I obviously am against war, but that opinion has stepped up a thousand times. The pictures and information there are truly shocking and the effects the chemical weapons are still having on third generation Vietnamese is terrible....Dioxin is bad.

After seeing such things I needed a drink! I took a moto ride with Mr Chou, a proper mad head, who showed me the city and introduced me to dog (#1 on Mr Scholey's list of tasks, complete!) and white whiskey, not for the faint hearted. He was a little bit of a hero!

Another day of history followed with a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong did their thing during the war. The tunnel network was huge, the tunnels themselves were silly small. I really enjoyed scurrying through them, until everyone else got out of one of the exits and I decided to push on to see the underground hospital....being lost in a maze of underground tunnels, barely able to crouch, in the pitch black was exhilarating to say the least, pretty glad I am not claustrophobic to be honest. At one point the tunnel was too small to scurry through so I had to slide on my arse. At the time not great but I was grinning like an idiot again on my escape.

As I am writing this I am on a bus into Cambodia. Vietnam, done! Another country down on my adventures and more awesome times had.

Hope you enjoyed the read and are all well.

Luke. X