Hi all, The more I travel the smaller and smaller this world seems to get!!! You would never believe what happend to me yesterday in Vietnam? Well nothing really happened but I met two girls in a place called "Sapa" who were from Mayo. We got talking and they asked me where I was going after vietnam. I told them south Africa for 10 days or two weeks, but that I would be cutting the trip short as I was coming home for a friends wedding in Newcastle. I then said actually the firend is also from Mayo. I'd that no sooner said when one of the girls said "Dermot Keane". She is only a 2nd cousin of Dermot's and all of her brothers and sisters will be at the wedding. I am meeting them again tonight, getting a train back to Hanoi and we are on the same flight tomorrow to a place called Hue so we might end up travelling together for a few days or so. Her name is Debbie Carduff and her friend is called Jenny - amazing isn't it? Niether of us could believe that we bumped into each other in vietnam of all places. The 3 of us did a 10km hike together in the North West of Vietnam in Sapa. It was fairly tough going and it was also very hot but we still had a good laugh along the way. Last night then I stayed in the remote village that we had walked to with a local family and the girls stayed at the hotel back in the town. The host family were very nice and there were also 9 other people staying. They were all a group of friends from Belgium on holiday for a month. They are all in their 4th year (bar one) of studying to become doctors. We all got on very well and stayed up until 10ish playing cards and having a laugh. It was Isobelle's birthday (one of the girls) today, so Happy Birthday again. After breakfast this morning I went off with my tour guide May and did another 5km hike before having lunch by a picturesque waterfall. I got a motorbike back to Sapa around 2:30 and now have a few hours to burn before getting the night train back to Hanoi. I'll arrive there tomorrow morning at 6am! Last night the other tour guide Tom was cooking dinner and it was just amazing! After dinner we had a few beers around the table and Tom kept us entertained with many funny stories and tales about life. I will sign off now as I must have a shop around the village. Take care all, Michael