Long long time since the last blog update but nice and settled down in Brisbane, Australia right now so going to play catch up on the rest of the South East Asia fun and frolicks starting from where I left off last time....

So not the best start to Vietnam but all in all defo glad that we saw the whole country and had some great craic along the way. Phu Quoc Island was worth going to as it wasdefo paradise but ewas not looked after at all by the locals. We just had bad experiences of being ripped off and were let down by the hot springs being non existent, food being terrible and having to buy threr meals at a time to get full. Anyway we wre glad to be leaving the island and heading to Saigon.

Bus journey was pretty good from Rach Gia to Saigon, nice lil VIP bus so happy as larry getting stuck into my new Ben Elton book and having a few lil trips to slumber land.

Saigon was a well nice city and had plenty to offer for nights out and site seeing. Best thing i done there was defo going out to the Chu Chi tunnels and experiencing first hand what the Vietnamese went through to protect themselves from the American bommers even though the tour guide was the most biased war veteran ever(he did give us a few songs on the bus on the way down though, Paul Pots in disguise). Esp the way he got so into his gun noises and pretty much not giving a toss about all the young yanks that died. Esp when he was raving about how class they were with their tunnels as if they are the only country in the world who can do that. Well huh hum what about us with the coal mines my little Mekong friend. Was wicked trouncing through the tiny tunnels on hands and knees and thinking what it was like back during the war.

Had a couple of good nights out in Saigon aswell, hitting up Apocalypse Now Bar which was full of prostitutes I'm sure so nothing much changes there. Went to some dodgy temple where a bunch of peeps were paying away and humming like there was no tommorrow, can't remember what religon they were now. Also went to the Saigon Zoo where saw my first up close and personal lion, tigers, bears and other wonders from the animal kingdom.

Next stop off then was to Nah Trang after a few days in Saigon for the city break away fromthew beach. Off up the coast we go again now then, bus journey was ok again and had a sweet lil stop off in Mui Nee which is a surfer and kite surfers spot about 6 hours from Saigon. Weather was lush here so pity we only stopped off for an hour on the way to Nah Trang and if i ever venture back to Vietnam will defo do some surfing and try out kite surfing there. Also met the legendery Sam and Ricky in Saigon who i was to bump into again in Vang Vien and in Bangkok later in the trip, abso legends and the craziest lads I've ever met.

Nah Trang would have been so much better if it didn't rain so much. Apparently in the sunmmer season, which we just missed the beach is packed and the main club there, Saling Club has awsome nights on with dress ups and all that good stuff. Had some class nights out though at the Sailing Club. Therefore our days were spent inside the Irish Bar checking out day time DVD's and youtubing stand up comedians amongst some sweet British meals. met some cool peeps along the way though. Unfortunate night at the bWhy Not Bar though when lil Myden decided he was bigger than the boucners and refused to pay, resulting in him getting thrown down three flights of stairs and us getting chased down the road with rods by the k*** head Vietnam bouncers and me losing one of my sweet Hav's. Left Nah Trang a couple of days later after another night out at The Sailing Club and meeting some sweet Ozzie girls.

Next stop off was to Hoi An which was a delightful lil town on the river, very European and landed on our feet finding the Salsa bar and Brizzie Andy who made the nights out very amusing. Hes been alegend to me since arriving down in Brisbanre with jobs, V fest and just being a top lad all in all. Rented bikes out one day to go check out the beach and were about to surf but it was $20 an hour so knocked that on the head. Boys tried out some body surfing though while i had a lazy day if i recall. Nothing to do wiuth the night before ;-). Again short and sweet for Hoi An before he headed north again to Hue. Weather was shocking here though, stayed the night and went to check out the DMZ bar and met up with Andy and his bro again and had a few tipples. Next stop was to Hanoi and planning a day or two trip out to Halong Bay which is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world so that was something to really look forward to.

So then, onto the trip to Hanoi, BBBBBBRRRRRUUUTTTAAALLL!!!. All was fine and dandy and I was dreading the sleeper bus as the one from Hoi An to Hue was shocking and I was squashed in between these smelly young Viets. bad choice tkaing the one spot of the huge back spread of the bus as obviously it was going to fill up at the next stops which I didn't think about....Anyway 6 hours into the 10/12 hour trip police poulled over and boarded our bus and we didn't have a clue what was going on as we were all half alseep at this point during the trip. Eventually after some laser eye surgery fromthier flash lights and them barking instructions to lift up our bags and check our beds they left and we though we were in the all clear to get to Hanoi in a few hours, happy dayz. So I pass back out only to wake up in this police compound, all the boys had been kipping aswell and the driver was gone!!!. Not a scooby what was going on, after another like 5 hours stuck on the bus where we all slept we were shifted onto this small mini bus to travel the remaining three hours to Hanoi City. It was tipping it down and we were pretty miserable whenwe got to Hanoi and it was brutally freezing aswell. Oh yeh going back to the whole being pulled over apparently some local had smuggled chickens (not sure whehter alive or dead), this being illegal in Vietnam he was kicked off or arrested or sentenced to death probably. So our 10 trip took about 20 hours in total. Guess why I'm not too fond of Vietnam!!......

....Hanoi was freezing but we found a decent place to stay after trouncing around for 2 hours as the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel was full which we had been recommended. Hanoi was a nice city though, moped over run like Saigon. Got to meet up with Nadia again though so that was well cool and just spent a bunch of time with her in the city before she had to fly to India. Eat out at some quality food stalls and Papa Joes was legendery aswell. Also drunk our cheapest beers of the trip at Bia Hoi corner, 7p a beer, alllritteee!!. Pity it was so cold though. Also Adam and Magda who we met on the way to Hanoi on the bus joined the posey so we had a good group to see the city with. Gutted my bank card didn't arrive in time to the Embassy though so had to deal with Western Union transfers up untill being back in Bangkok....

Booked a day trip out to Halong Bay, that was well worth doing and to see the Limestone Krags close up was amazing and its amazing some of the natural beauties on this planet. Layered up to the max though as it was freezing out on the coast and in Halong Bay. Defo used all my sweat tops-t-shirts-4 pairs of socks each and everyday. Couple of good nights out/lockins at the Irish Bar aswell and seeing the Welsh comeback against the English in the first game of the Six Nations. Dodgy sex museum thrown in along the way aswell.

So that weas Vietnam in a nut shell, booked our bus to Vien Tien next as our next point of call was to be the legendery Laos which I will defo be going back to on the way home from this Asian/South pacific bimble...

Untill next time.xx