VIETNAM

HANOI
Our train arrived at Hanoi, the capital city if Vietnam, at 5am! We managed to avoid the taxi scams ($10 for 2km!) - waited for the first bus into town and checked into one of the many grotty backpacker hostels. After we re-cooperated some energy we went for lunch by the lake with some girls who were staying in our dorm and spent the rest of the day sight seeing around the "Old Quarter" of town, including the Hoa Lo Prison where we saw the horrible conditions the old Vietnamese prisoners were kept in and the Doam Xuan Market (and got a new bag). The following day we got up early for a trip to see the temples at Hoa Lu and Tam Coc, we had a funny tour guide who's favorite phrase was "And now we go into...DISCOVERY!". As we were having lunch it began to thunder.... just in time for the river cruise! Luckily we were bombarded by a mob of women selling disposable rain macs! Aside from the rain we had a fun afternoon and the scenery was beautiful- clean, wide river with huge limestone pillars jetting out from the ground. That evening we feasted on heart and kidney with noodles and pig brain soup, we were both in agreement that the noodles were okay but the pig brain soup did not go down well!!


HUE
Our next stop in Vietnam was Hue, which was a small sweet town divided in two by the Perfume River running through the middle. On the afternoon we arrived we visited The Forbidden Purple City and went shopping in the market. Our second day was spent entirely on the river. Caitlin and I found a boat to take us down the Perfume River to see the temples and pagodas that have been built on the banks. Later on that evening we had dinner on the river, eating out on a floating restaurant! That night frog was on the menu, which i would happily eat again- it was actually quite nice!

Hoi An
Hoi An was the next stop, we arrived early afternoon and headed straight for the beach!

white sands - CHECK, blue seas - CHECK, palm trees - CHECK

By now we have been away nearly a month and I can't believe it has taken us this long to find a place to lay in the sun! We left the following day free of plans to do exactly the same as the day before- lie on the beach with no interruptions, only to be woken by the tropical storm that had rolled in over night....brilliant!


Nha Trang
We got the night bus to Nha Trang and prayed for good weather all the way there- even though heavy rain had been forecast for the next few days. When the bus arrived at 7am we could not have asked for a better wake up call than the clear skies we were greeted by. We decided to have breakfast on the beach and spent the rest of the day sun bathing on the white sands and swimming in the sea :) The following day I did exactly the same, unfortunately Caitlin did not make it out of bed due to the antics of the night before, when we went for a heavy night out with a group of guys we had met on the night bus. I came home to meet her later with a sun burnt knee! It was agreed that an early night was in order due to our early bus departure in the morning.


DALAT
Dalat is situated in the central highlands of Vietnam and prides itself on its rebellious spirit! The weather is spring cool instead of the tropical heat, the town is dotted with elegant french villas and the farms around are thick with flowers and strawberries- not rice! Dotted with lakes and waterfalls and surrounded by evergreen forests, Dalat is nicknamed The City of Emerald Spring. After our first night we woke early again for our french baker breakfast- banana bread and pain au chocolate. Then went to meet our "Easy Riders"- a witty and knowledgeable crew of local motorbike guides who were about to take us around Dalat and its surroundings. We got going and straight away were hit by the breath taking views of the farm land. Shortly into our journey we took a break from the motor bikes to make a short, but steep, ascent! It was worth it tough as a panoramic view of the land was waiting for us at the top. Back on the bikes we drove around the mountains stopping at a flower farm, a silk far and introduced to a family who had a coffe plantation. The main event of the day was seeing The Elephant Waterfall. We saw it first from the top and was able to scramble down the side to see it from the bottom- at its best! Back up top we were spoilt with a real feats of Vietnamese food. That evening we met up with some people we had previously met in Hoi An who had invited us to there hotel to use the sauna and hot tub on the roof terrace! This was one of my favorite days since I have been away, doing the Easy Riders tour was such a great way to see the REAL Vietnam. I had an amazing time and Mr Hung, my guide, was able to take our sleeping bags (which we had not used once since being away- I don't know why we took them with us) and give them to a family in the very rural areas of Dalat as the nights are much cooler in the highlands.


HO CHI MIN CITY (SAIGON)
We had only a short stay in HCMC and spent most of it outside the city. We went to visit the Cu CHi Tunnels. It was fantastic to see how the people of Cu Chi survived attacks of the USA by living underground and interesting to learn all about their survival e.g. the air holes built in termite hills and tiger traps. We even got to go in the tunnels, since 1960 the tunnels have been widened so that fat westerners can fit down them!!

MEKONG DELTA
Our last few days in Vietnam were spent on the Mekong Delta. After a short drive, including a stop at The Giant Buddha we got on board a river boat with our tour guide JJ (short for James Bond!) and cruised along the Mekong River and seeing the 4 islands- Dragon, Phoenix, Tortoise and Unicorn where we stopped to talk a walk through the village and went to see the coconut candy workshop. That night Caitlin and I did a home-stay and spent the night with a Vietnamese family. To get to the family home we were dropped of by taxis on the side of a motorway (by the way by this time it was way after dark!) and we had to walk down a very muddy and a very slippery track, luggage and all, down to the river. The last part of our journey was a ride on a very rickety boat that took us to our accommodation for the night. The ride down the river was beautiful, even thought it was pitch black, the trees on the river bank were lit up by thousands of fire flies - so pretty. We arrived at the home-stay quite late and s had dinner straight away, where we made our own spring rolls with the family. It was a lovely evening spent with the family and meeting there children and their pets!
Caitlin and I had a little cabin top share that was made out of bamboo and had a balcony which over looked the river. In the morning we were able to take a better look around the place in the light. That day we visited the Cai Rang Floating Market. It is quite an interesting concept! Most of the produce that is bought there is later taken to sell at markets on land. That evening we went to Sam Mountain (it's a hill really) where we could see Cambodia in the distance once at the top. That night we slept in a small town called Chau Doc before we crossed the Cambodian boarder the following day.


Vietnam is a beautiful country with so much to see, if you blink you miss something special! But my favorite thing about Vietnam is... withdrawing cash!!!! The exchange rate is ridiculous, 1 British Pound is equal to 30,000 Vietnamese Dong, so on my first day there I felt like a millionaire when taking out 5,000,000 Dong! But seriously I loved my time in Vietnam! It's a shame we only got to spend 2 weeks there as it did not seem long enough at all.