It's the 31st May and we have arrived in Ho Chi Min City aka HCMC. Immigration was interesting and lengthy, which resulted in our backpacks being abandoned in the airport. After a local bus ride and avoiding the tuk tuk Mafia we decided to walk to our hotel. 5 minutes in melting from the heat we stopped at the first hotel we found, ditching the one as planned. A good bit of negotiation got a great price for a luxury room (luxury in the eyes of a backpacker mind). This is where we spent the next 3 nights. First on the itinerary, sleep. Awoken and refreshed we headed to nearest bar for our first Vietnamese beer. Yes I had one too, means they were only 30p. Several games of pool later we headed for our first dinner, pumpkin soup, very Asian. James obviously had the local favourite beef noodle soup which soon become his staple dish, eaten at least once a day for a month. I for one had still not grown fond of noodles.

I decided it was time to take charge of the day's itinerary. We were off on a city tour, in the boiling cauldron. After a visit to the local market where the Vietnamese came from all angles trying to flog us the latest fakes. Totally freaked me out so we left and headed to the War Remnants Museum, which was very sad. We then got to sample some great food in a chic little cafe. My expectations were raised, however soon dampened throughout the month, james however loved it all! The war theme continued the next day with a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels where 16000 Vietnamese people hid during the war and only 6000 survived. We got to go into a 100 meter tunnel where we had to crawl on our hands and knees. This was how they lived. It did show how clever the Vietnamese were however with the handmade traps and ways they tricked the Americans, very impressive.

We spent the next two days on a trip down the Mekong Delta trip. A 6am bus trip followed by a boat ride down a large river and a canoe down a smaller one. We visited small markets and villages seeing all sorts of delights, including skinned rat ready to cook, black chickens and live ducks in carrier bags ready to purchase, poor things. We were then dropped off on the highway as we opted for a overnight home stay as opposed to a hotel, and escorted by motorbike! The guys raced all the way with us in tow, pretty scary but we survived. Our basic bamboo hut was on the river which we loved. We got to make our own spring rolls with others at the homestay and sat down to a feast. We tried elephant fish a local delicacy and even had entertainment from the locals, card tricks and karaoke. The fact that we also got to sample rice wine, 40% proof alcohol made the night even more fun. The following day we got to visit the floating markets, which were a little unimpressive, either that or they had sold everything before we arrived :/ We did however learn how to make rice paper and coconut candy all hand made with no gloves, I had to stop myself giving them a bottle of alcohol gel.

We were very excited about our next stop, mainly because it was 15 degrees cooler, in a place called Dalat. Getting there meant 7 hours on a sleeper bus..... We arrived at a hostel and shared a room with Josh from Borneo and Pedro from Spain. Josh had been in town several days and took us on a tour, which turned out to be a food tour! We got to sample all sorts of street food at the night market, egg pancake wrapped in someone's homework paper, seafood sat on tiny chairs on the pavement which was filthy but the local favourite apparently. We even found a cool bakery for desert. We were loving Dalat, I even had to wear a cardigan!! We decided to move to another hostel called Yolo. Although we moved to a private room one night in, as we were unlucky enough to share a dorm with 5 rowdy lads, we spent the next thee nights with ear plugs in but met some great people and done some cool things.

First on the list, Easy Rider Tour. We spent the day with Dai (yes that was his name) and Dong touring the countryside on the back of their bikes. At local villages we seen silk factories, rice wine factories, locals making bamboo baskets in the living room of their very basic wooden houses, visited waterfalls and sampled weasel poo coffee, very interesting. Unfortunately we also saw our first dogs, slaughtered and hung outside a local house, just wrong! We had lunch at a local restaurant recommended by Dai, can't say I enjoyed the large quantity of rice with meat I was unable to identify but james enjoyed lunch with the lads :) A few drinks in the evening and a little persuasion resulted in booking onto a canyoning trip the following day. What a crazy day. Now I'm up for pretty much anything but jumping of waterfalls and abseiling down them seemed pretty crazy. The abseiling was great but being told 7 meters from the ground to leave go of the rope and jump backwards into the waterfall was another thing. James loved it however and even jumped off an 11 meter cliff more than once, mad! We swan down rivers, slid down rock slides and abseiled more and had a lovely lunch at the riverside on a rock, very rustic. Several huge bruises later, we were back at the hostel dirty and wet but were treated to a free buffet, result!

It's the 10th June and we are heading to Nha Trang, our expectations are met when we arrived at the commercial beach town full of Russians with everything catered to Russians. Very odd. We escaped the oddness with a day at mud spa and springs sharing a small jacuzzi with 3 Chinese people when your unable to control your body due to the slippery mud was interesting. 2 nights in we left and headed further north to Hoi An, on our favourite...an overnight sleeper bus! With the of lack of sleep we were so happy to arrive at Aquarium Villa, for £10 a night it was amazing and the one place we have struggled to leave, hence the one night becoming 4. We even had a bath. Hoi An was amazing, an ancient town with so much character and charm. We first explored on pushbike riding into the town through paddy fields then onto the beach. Day two we decided to upgrade to a moped and take an hours drive to My Son, historical temple ruins from the 4th century in inland Vietnam. The drive was tough it was so hot, even more so on arrival. Needless to say we didn't stay long, the breeze on the bike was much more appealing. Back to our hotel it was with dinner on the balcony...we were out of backpacking mode and into holiday mode, which seemed to be happening more and more often these days;

Sad to leave Hoi An and the place that had become home we headed to Hue. We stayed two nights and decided it was time to head into the countryside. We found the perfect place, Phong Nha. We checked into Easy Tiger Hostel and shared a room with Noah from San Fransisco and Gabrielle from Canada. The hostel was run buy British guys who employ locals from the area. We were given the low down on the impact of the war in the area and learnt that it was still, littered with land mines. The western food was great, chilli con carne and chicken pie! Much needed change from rice and noodles. I was happy. The area is famous for caves, particularly the one recorded as the biggest in the world. However we decided to visit the one full of mud instead, a convoy of around 15 bikes left the hostel. The drive was amazing. Our day consisted of zip lining, kayaking, climbing through caves and floating in a mud bath in the dark. Awesome experience. We also got to try chocolate coffee in the house of a man who discovered the worlds largest cave. We spent our last day explore yet another cave, we hopped on board a gondola style boat with a couple from Wrexham (only the second welsh people we've met). The journey to and the cave was beautiful, not as much fun as the previous day though. Cheese burger and chips consumed we headed for Tam Coc a place famous for its rivers.

The night bus was again an experience particularly when at 4.30am james woke and checked the map realising the driver passed our stop. There was no way he would turn back we were left to find a taxi in the dark and head back to our hotel. We spent 3 days exploring the area on bikes riding through paddy fields and small villages and was transported down the famous river by a lady rowing with her feet! She worked hard and we felt guilty. Next we headed to the capital city, Hanoi. A very diverse city, high end shops such as Prada and chain restaurants and in the next street family run restaurants where food is eaten on plastic tables and chairs on the pavement. It rained a fair bit during our stay so we decided a trip to the war museum, (which was again very harrowing) and the cinema was in order, popcorn, lollipops and Jurassic park 3D. The realisation when leaving the cinema and not getting in the car to drive from Merthyr or Nantgarw but to be in a crazy Vietnam city was odd. Not being fond of cities we craved country life again. We booked a 2 night trip to the cooler mountain town of Sapa.

A 5.30am start and a 9 hour bus journey later we arrived at the most dirty run down hotel to date. The room was a little more appealing compared to the stinking restaurant we had to eat in more than once, but sleeping bags were required. We were met by a little Vietnamese lady who took us to the nearest village, called Cat Cat. Our first experience was a house where children played on the concrete floor, covered in bruises and the mum had a black eye. I switched into work mode, although knowing there was nothing I could do. Just around the corner a dog was in the process of being slaughtered, again not a site we will forget. The indigenous tribe families live such basic lives with very little, I don't think We seen one child with shoes or trousers on during the 2 days. The local music show was interrupted when the locals wanted James to don the stage for photographs, he was a celebrity. We survived the night in the hotel and headed out on the 2nd day trek to our home stay. The trek was tough, wet and muddy, but beautiful. We were joined by several local tribe children and mothers. We arrived at our home stay, a concrete building with mattresses on the floor of the unconverted attic. Spiders everywhere. The family were nice and gave us rice for tea. Several card games and rice wine shots later we were able to sleep on the filthy beds. I've certainly changed on this trip, I would normally run a mile. What we have learnt is that we massively appreciate our lives back home and how lucky we are. We trekked for several hours the next day finishing up with a noodle lunch before heading back to Hanoi for a flight to HCMC. Our Vietnam trip was over but we loved it, I'd go as far as saying its one of my favourite places. Writing this we realise the length of experience we have had and the memories we have made in a short space of time. Now to do it all again in Cambodia!

Much love Roanna & James xxx