Well we finally made it!! From getting up at 3am to depart from Chch, it wasn't until 5.30am the next day that we were finally able to hit the hay...! It wouldn't have been right for the flight to go without a hitch, so sure enough we ended up having to check in ourbags twice as well as go through customs 4 times (note - Darwin airport is not the place to spend 4hours...And sure enough we did not receive the entertainment dvd units which we had booked ahead for with Jetstar!

BUT without doubt it was all worth it!! Arriving into HCMC was a sound cultural experience: we were prepared for the masses, but certainly not the numbers of people on scooters! They outnumber all other vehicles entirely and seem to go twice the speed. Although completely chaotic, they are all incredibly good at maneouvering around eachother...A lesson we learnt fast was that when crossing a road, under no circumstances must you alter your path - keep to the same pace and direction and the 'masses' will somehow make their way around you (as pedestrian crossings are completely unheard of haha).

Thankfully we had arranged for a pickup to our (windowless) hotel for the night - the sign bearing our name sure was a welcome sight!! Despite checking in around 11pm we headed out onto the streets and grabbed a tasty fried rice washed down with a cold drink - sure was good!

This morning we had a few hours to kill before flying up to Hanoi, so we checked out the Ben Thanh market which was awesome - the vendors literally grab onto you and try to drag you into their tiny booths, desperate to make sales. Some of the lacherware and art for sale is absolutely stunning - it is definitely going to be hard when it comes to buying and lugging it all around with us...The highlight however (or not, depending on how you look at it) was observing live frogs being prepared for dinner - the head, hands and feet (not necessarily in that order) were chopped off, then their skin peeled off (often with the remains still jumping about)...certainly interesting to watch!

We then booked some flights for next month from Cambodia to Laos, then headed out to the airport to fly out. Unfortunately our flight had been delayed 2 hours which meant close to a 4hour wait with very little to do, other than watch the heavens open up outside...

On arrival in Hanoi we were keen to avoid the taxi touts which are known to rip off tourists heading into town, so we cleverly (we thought) befriended a young swedish couple and asked if they wanted to share a cab with us at a fixed price. Unfortunately however the taxi driver got himself lost (after we realised we had driven past the same places 3 times), furthermore he very reluctantly agreed to accept our help in navigating...what should have been 30 minutes resulted in a 90minute ride!! The other couple did not seem to be coping very well we these complications...Last but not least, when we finally did arrive at our hostel, the bar was closing itself up :(

Hanoi seems to be somewhat quiet at night (unlike HCMC), so on a Friday night instead of hitting the bars, here we are keeping y'all updated...! On a side note, the food so far has been wicked including the coffees which are incredibly strong and made with condensed milk which surprisingly is rediculously gooood (I had 3 today - Nicky)!!

Big day planned tomorrow...watch this space :)