Happy new year everyone. Hope the celebrations were great and resolutions still being maintained.

Now to us. hahaahaahaha.

Sorry we haven't written a journal in so long, but we've had some serious celebrating to do at this festive time of year.

When we last wrote we were off to the Mekong Delta to catch bird flu. We like the Delta, theres plenty to see on some enjoyable boat trips. We tasted some serious wines, banana wine, rice wine and snake wine- none of which we recommend. Snake wine in particular is to be avoided at all costs. Its incredibly strong and makes your legs wobble after the smallest sip. They call it snake wine because it comes with a genuine snake holding a genuine scorpion in its mouth in the bottle. On our return from the Delta we had the front row seats on the bus. 'Lucky us!!' We got to see our life flash before our eyes the whole way. We also got to see a Vietnamese man fall asleep on the back of the moped infront. We wondered why he was swaying from side to side as his driver changed lanes, then when we overtook we saw his eyes closed, then his helmet fall off the back of his head. At least he was wearing one (badly).

We spent a few more days back in Saigon, getting our hair cut in a salon advertising 'egnlish here spoken'. We paid a visit to the Chu chi tunnels that the Vietnamese dug and lived in during the American war. One particularly special western tourist dropped her camera in the spike-bottomed death pit.

Next stop was Nha Trang for Sarah's bday and the new year. As you can probably guess, this involved too much drinking, fun, and games. On the beach in Nha Trang there is a micro-brewery/bar/restraunt/swimming pool. Here we went beer tasting and fell in the pool. On new years eve day we went on what can only be described as a party boat. We thought it was a joke when a man told us all we did actually have to pay for a ticket to swim in the sea. We asked what would happen if we fell in. After snorkelling, we had a meal, followed by 'entertainment'. Vietnamese pop group, encouraging karaoke and crazy dancing. Then came 'the floating bar'. The floating bar is where everyone gets into a rubber ring, jumps into the sea and float around a floating barman. The floating bar man continuously serves strange alcohol to people floating past. We love it. Hell yeah. If it makes you feel any less hatred & jealousy towards us, it was actually a bit chilly that day and our shaking hands meant we couldnt control and kept spilling the liquid in our drinks.

New year's eve (evening) was another great party. Stupid drinking games, sea & sand, dancing, big cakes, comical hats, and the usual cyclo crash. We were driving a cyclo each, when Zoe had a mad moment and let go of the passenger carriage/steering column, crashing it into the gutter infront of Sarah's oncoming Cyclo (with driver as passenger) which ploughed into the side of it.

A few days of intensive recovery later we moved onto Hoi An. Its a pretty place, with lots of intricate architecture, with a french feel. We made a huge error in ordering tailored clothes and being measured before we discovered the local patisserie. The patisserie is completely undescribable, the best yet. It almost made us cry when we finished eating. This evening we ordered 2 jackets, a dress and trousers from a local tailor. You can design clothes completely to your taste, with your choice of fabric and fit, withj a silk dress costing about 12 pounds.

Tomorrow we're going to hire some bikes to work off the cake (or make room for another one). Then its off up to Da Nang to do some serious watersports.

So from us, Goodnight.

xxx