Sunday 26th - Fri 31st (Week 18)

Sun 26th - Caught the metro to KL Sentral to catch the 11:30 bus to KLIA airport, then took the 2:40pm flight to HCMC, arriving at 4:40pm local time. Had to go through the Visa on Arrival process - filling in an application form, then handing that, a passport photo and our pre-approved letter in. Luckily there weren't many other people doing it, so it was pretty quick, collected our bags, and caught a taxi to our hostel. We are right in the middle of the backpacker area, full of restaurants, shops, tour agencies, touts etc, but luckily our hostel is down a tiny little alley, on the 2nd floor, with no window, so its nice and quiet ! Headed out to have an explore and despite all our travels, we were astounded by the traffic here ! Motorbikes whizzing everywhere, inches from each other, no-one stopping at traffic lights, and no way to get across the road other than just go for it and hope they avoid you ! Mental. Checked out a couple of lovely looking restaurants, but too pricey for us, but still ended up eating in a lovely old colonial house which was pricey, small portions and not great food - so not impressed with our start to Vietnamese food !

Mon 27th - The lady in the hostel warned us that it is the TET festival over the next week, and if we are planning on needing transport, to get it sorted asap. So I went to the train office as we wanted to take an overnight train on the 29th, and there are no trains available until 30th. Then went to a bus office, again, no buses until 30th. So had a manic morning investigating our options, and finally had to buy a flight at twice the price of the train and book another nights accommodation as well. Headed out at 12, and had a lovely Western lunch of pumpkin soup, and tuna baguette ! Then did our usual exploring the entire city on foot, starting with the War Museum. Not too sure what I expected, but it was so graphic in both the descriptions of the torture during the war, and actual photos, that I felt really queasy, faint and even a bit tearful - very unlike me. And Brandon had to tell me not to look in the Agent Orange room as the photos were horrific and he was worried I'd have nightmares. Glad to leave the place, and walked to the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office (old 1800's building), City Opera House, and various other sights we came across along the way. Then at 6:30 we went to the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre and watched an impressive 50min show on a stage where the puppets move on top of the water so you can't see the puppeteers - very clever actually.

Tues 28th - Got picked up at 8:15 for our day tour to the Mekong Delta. Took 2 hours to get there, passing rice fields, and most of the population of HCMC going back to their home town for the TET festival. Apparently there are 10 million people living in HCMC, and during TET, 7 million of them head home for the festival period - no wonder we're having trouble getting on a train or bus ! Visited a honey farm, tried some honey tea, rice wine, local fruit, and listened to traditional music. Then took a trip down a narrow river by small row boat to a place that produces coconut candy. Took a larger boat down the Mekong to Turtle island for lunch, and then back again to the mainland, with a final stop at a Buddhist temple. Pretty good day to see the river and local houses, boats and people etc, but felt very touristy and like a conveyor belt - onto the next thing while the next group come in. For dinner, we had our most adventurous meal yet - rice and noodles with beef from a street cart, sitting on children's plastic stools down a little alley with motorbikes trying to get past, and it was actually our best dinner so far, and for 70p each, with a 40p beer ! Stayed up late rearranging our itinerary to include another 10 days in the Thai Islands (hopefully for better diving), and 5 nights in KL to see the Malaysian Grand Prix ! But this now means rearranging all our flights, booking additional ones, and generally shuffling things around to make it work !

Wed 29th - Checked out of our hostel, and went on a half-day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong during the war. Very impressive effort - to try and protect their families and villages, they went underground, digging a vast network of tunnels down to 10m deep to survive all the gun fire and bombs. We saw all the tiny entrances and went down some of the tunnels which you had to crawl through. Quite sobering to think they had to live down there, cook, eat, sleep, and defend. Also saw some of their traps they laid for the enemy - huge 12" nails on moving parts to try and cause the most damage to anyone that stepped on the hidden traps. Back at hostel by 3pm and spent another few hours sorting more flights, accommodation etc before catching a taxi at 5:30 to the airport. Our Jetstar flight was only 1hr late, which judging by lots of reviews we read is pretty good - some regularly being 4-8 hours late. Landed in Da Nang, and got a transfer to our hotel in Hoi An. The streets were deserted - not sure if its due to being late at night, TET or just a quiet place ! Another late night trying to book more flights and accommodation etc.

Thurs 30th - Bit of a lie-in until 8:30 then had a lovely breakfast on the balcony overlooking the swimming pool and grounds. Made the most of the free breakfast as we've been trying to stick to our budget and not buying much, so enjoyed the buffet ! Beautiful hotel (Southern Hotel & Villas) and a real bargain but bit further away from town, so checked out at 12, and moved to our new hotel in the Old Town. Spent the afternoon wandering all around Old Town, looking at the ancient houses, assembly halls, tailors and admiring the beautiful flowers and lanterns for TET. Really nice to see everything all decorated and all the preparations for the new year, but also causes problems with transport and nothing being open and no tours running ! The Old Town is stunning - such beautiful old wooden buildings dating back hundreds of years, as well as colonial buildings. Very similar to Chinese old houses - open courtyard and same sort of decorations. Found a nice street seller and sat on little plastic chairs to have lunch, directly opposite the Japanese Covered Bridge, and I had my first coconut of the trip ! Back to the hotel at 5, and had our first nap of the trip to catch up from late nights, and another one tonight for New Year. Headed out for a great curry dinner, then wandered up and down the river front to see all the lanterns, light statues and all the celebrations going on for NYE. Managed to get a perfect spot directly opposite the fireworks which went off at midnight and were crazy. Proper Chinese fireworks - no timing or co-ordination, just letting off hundreds of huge fireworks constantly for 10 mins ! Felt really privileged to be there to watch it - especially as it was unplanned and we didn't even know about TET !

Fri 31st - Took a private tour with 2 ladies from the hotel to the My Son Ruins. We had originally just booked the usual group tour through our hotel, but being New Years Day, no companies were running tours, so we had to go privately. But this actually worked well as we could dictate our own schedule and meant there were hardly any other people there. Incredible ruins - similar in style to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but on a smaller scale. Built from 8th-13th century but unfortunately mostly destroyed in the war in the 60's. Such an incredible waste - stunning structures and carving that have stood there for hundreds of years, and a few bombs and they are destroyed. Were going to hire bicycles this afternoon, but by the time we got back at 2:30 we were tired, so skipped lunch and had another afternoon nap ! Spent about an hour wandering the streets trying to find any restaurants that were open on New Years Day, and eventually ended up at a nice veggie place 2 doors from our hotel !