Vietnam! I am so behind on filling in this blog page thingy! First impressions of Vietnam were not too great - within 1 hour of entering the country we got ripped off (i.e. charged double) at lunch and then stayed in a town called Ninh Binh - which is a dump! Hmmm, so when we made it to the Halong Bay we were very pleasantly surprised by how nice it was a despite having the world's most irritating tour guide for a few days we survived a few days on a nice boat in the bay and the trip up to Hanoi. Hanoi is a great place...very Asian but also very French Colonial so you can spend your days wandering round the colourful markets and the evenings find yourself sat on the lakeside drinking Cappucinos and eating bagguettes! Went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and saw HGM himself - which i didn't like much 'cos i forgot that Mausoleums are where the dead are laid and thought for a while he was still alive...As we walked past his body i became acutely aware that he was very dead, or if not, he badly needed a new foundation and blush set!! The night train to Hue was yet another sleepless night as it was all i could do to stay in bed and not fall the 8 feet from the top bunk to the floor of the TINY cabin. In Hue we went on Cyclo tours and motorbike tours and tours of the Citadel and tours of the Pagoda and tours down the Perfume River and so on and so forth... In Hoi An i basically had 3 full days of fittings at the tailors where i had quite a few clothes made to measure - i really dont think ive ever had so much fun shopping - picking out the fabric, changing the design...there was really nothing that these women could not put together for you! I also found a place that did Fried Camenbert with Cranberry Sauce and a few of us split some three nights in a row! Hoi An is a great place for Vietnamese food so i did a cooking course, and obviously you're all invited to my next Vietnamese Dinner Party...Date undecided but i was thinking perhaps some time in May 2056?! After Hoi An...where did i go?! Ah yes, caught a short flight to Saigon or Ho Ch Minh City where i proceeded to catch the flu...people did not like me joking that it was bird flu! Ha! We visited the Cu Chi Tunnels and despite my clausrophobia i managed to crawl 30m underground - although i was sweating from nervousness when i made it back onto the surface! Didn't see much of Saigon 'cos i was sick, but i did get a nice take-away pizza delivered to my hotel. All good! And that, is Vietnam in a nutshell! I'll put up more photos soon too! :o) Hope you're well! I'm back soon. Much love. x