Hello from Vietnam!  We are curently in Ho Chi Minh City although not for much longer as we leave in 3 hours! 

We have been here since the 8th and stayed in the lovely Miss Loi's guesthouse as recommended by Lonely Planet for 5 pounds a night with cable tv, a fridge, a HOT shower (not had one of those for a while) and free breakfast of pineapple, watermelon, a baguette with cheese or jam and tea/coffee!

Our journey here was a long one, but we are getting used to them now.  We got on the bus at Sihanoukville at 7am and arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 6.30pm!  The journey was pretty uneventful except the ferry crossing, where we witnessed a crash that could have been a lot worse. 

Si was hanging out the window trying to take a photo of the mekong river when a mini van didn't brake as it got on the ferry and ploughed straight in to the back of a dumper truck.  The van just crumpled and the driver and front passenger were trapped,  Before we knew it people were jumping out the van, there were about 30 people in there! and everyone was trying to rip the doors off and pull the van back to free the driver and passenger. it was quiet scary as no one knew if they were ok, but luckily there was no major injuries.  All the while a little girl was banging on my window wanting me to buy mango, mango!  absolute nuts!  oh and the ferry didn't stop to see if the crash victims needed medical attention, it continued to cross the river even though people were trapped!

So Ho Chi Minh, Wow what a city, we have really enjoyed our time here, this city is mental!  The traffic is suicidal, worse than bangkok or Phnom Penh.  You just drive and beep your horn, there are no rules, you drive on whatever side of the road you fancy and you do not have a blind spot!  It has to be seen to be believed!  We did not get on the back of motos here that's for sure!  (Sorry mum and dad, we got on the back of moto's in Sihanoukville but only because there was no other way of getting anywhere and there is no traffic there!) 

We met up with the aussie boys again, however they've moved on to Nha Trang a day earlier than us. 

We have done a lot of sightseeing here, yesterday we went to the Cao Dai Temple which is a combination of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Taoism and witnessed the daily ceremony before heading to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which are an intricate underground network of tunnels  used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnamese War. 

Today we were up at 6.30am again to do the Ho Chi Minh City tour which took us to the War Remmants Museum, Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Empereur Jade Pagoda,Binh Tay Market, and Thien Hau temple.  That finished at 3pm and we are on a night bus from 7.30pm tonight upto Nha Trang, so just killing time in the free internet cafe before heading off! we are shattered, we get to Nha Trang at 6.30am tomorrow, just in time for the full moon party.  Probably going to be another messy night with the aussies! 

All this travelling lark is exhausting, you all think we are on one big holiday, we are absolutely shattered!  We have learnt to sleep anywhere and wherever we can get a spare minute.  Its going to be like that for the next 3 weeks without a break really as our Vietnam visa runs out 2nd June and there is so much to see here.

anyway enough about our troubles, i think it is 11.30am in uk, so have a fab weekend and we will update from Nha Trang (another beach resort) which we can't let ourselves get stuck in for a week!

thanks for all your messages!

love you and miss you loads michelle and simon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx