Vietnam

ietnam 24/06/09 – 24/07/09

Hanoi

Arrived in Hanoi airport at 9.15pm and our hotel picked us up. It was a 45mins drive to the hotel which we shared with a couple, 1 from USA and the other from Scotland. We didn’t think the traffic was too bad but we did notice that everyone was beeping a lot. We arrived at the hotel and checked in. Of course we were on the top floor 5 flights of stairs and no help with our bags. We decided to go and get food as we were pretty hungry and it was only 10.30 at night. We walked around for 15mins and not one single place was there to get food so we went to a café and had a beer.

Good morning Vietnam!!!! Up late in the morning and headed out for breakfast in the café we had, had the beer last night. My breakfast was pretty horrible but they noticed my disgust so they gave me something else which was better and they didn’t charge me for what I sent back. Left there and noticed there was a lot of French influence, and then the madness started…. Motorbikes/Moped’s everywhere apparently in Vietnam there is a population of 86 million people and 80 million bikes. Trying to cross the road was a task in itself. Bikes don’t stop at red lights and even thought they are supposed to go up one side and down the other they don’t all stick to that. It’s more of say a prayer and cross….

We headed off to the Hoa Lo prison which was set up by the French for political prisoners. John Mc Cain was kept there. We left there and navigated our way through the streets to find a map in a travel agent. We walked in and she made us take a seat where she continued to plan our whole month’s trip and then wanted us to book with her. We said we would think about it and come back with which she replied its ok we’re all friends here just be honest. Eventually after an about an hr we left without booking anything but without a map!! We left there and found the Hoam Kiem Lake and went over to see Ngoc sonTemple & famous giant tortoise. Booked our tickets for the water puppet show. Walked up to Sinh Café to price more trips and then we went to H-Silk restaurant for some food. Left there and headed to the water puppet show which was a little strange but very entertaining and was the story of the Vietnamese farmers.

Up at 7.30am and went to Sinh Café (not the one we had gone to the other day) and booked our open tour bus ticket, Halong bay tour and Sapa tour.

We got a taxi then to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which of course was closed on a Friday & Monday which we didn’t know! We went around his house and the grounds. Saw his 2 houses, the museum and pagoda. We got a motorbike taxi to the Ethnology museum which showed us the different tribes in Vietnam and their clothes etc. Back on the motorbikes and got some KFC. We went back to the hotel for a little sleep and found out Michael Jackson had died… We got dinner in a pizza place and home to watch a DVD.

Halong Bay

Up at 7am and got a 3hr bus to Halong Bay. Started to lash rain as soon as we arrived. We were taken to our boat which was supposed to be called the “Black Pearl” but we don’t think it was although the captain was a little crazy…. We set off on the boat and got lunch served to us which was amazing. Loads of fresh prawns, fish, rice, veg and fruit for desert. We met our fellow traveler’s at lunch. A family from Brazil who live in Italy, 2 Irish couples – John & Lia and Gareth & Mary. Another couple – 1 from France and 1from Singapore and another couple fromSpain – Gio & Sergio with there friend Toby from Germany who are studying in Singapore. We got shown to our rooms; ours was 007, cool eh??!! We stopped off at Sung Sat Cave also called amazing cave. It really was amazing, loads of animals shapes were formed in the rocks. After that the weather got a bit better and we set off. We moored the boat and then we set off Kayaking. Apparently I and Damien set off like an Olympic team; the Irish lads said they were proud to be Irish. We rowed off to a little remote cave where the boats couldn’t go. It was amazing just like a lagoon. We got back to the boat about 45 mins later and then went swimming in the water. Damien jumped off the top of the boat (Fairly scary so fair play) we then had dinner after that which was more amazing seafood. We had a good few beers and sang some karaoke which I must admit after a good few beers sounded much better….

Got up at 8am for another amazing meal. Drove on to another mountain. Leah & Gio didn’t climb up and Damien went back to bed. Wasn’t that great!! Checked out and got our bill for our drinks from last night and as usual the Irish drank the most…. We drove on and saw the kissing chickens/fighting cocks (rock formations). We drove on and had lunch (again amazing). Arrived back on land and got on the bus to head back to Hanoior so we thought, we were both told to get off the bus along with Sergio, Gio & Toby. We were told that we would be getting another bus and the guy who was now taking care of us told us he’d be 10 mins. After 30mins we were getting a bit worried that we would be left in Halong Bay but our new guide came out and put us on a new bus back. We arrived back to Sinh Café and went off for dinner in H-Silk restaurant. Picked up our bags from Sinh and got a bus to the train station to head to Sapa. Sergio, Gio & Toby were in our bus again and on our train to Sapa. We were sharing a cabin on the train with Alicia & Rober fromSpain. We were told also that we would have soft sleepers but sure as usual they weren’t soft they were hard!!! We had a few beers with Sergio & the gang and headed off to bed.

Sapa

Arrived in Lao Cai train station at 5.30am half awake!! We were greeted by loads of people asking if we wanted to stay with them. We all packed onto a bus for the Summit hotel. It was a half an hour bus journey up the side of a mountain. Arrived at the hotel and got to our rooms and then went and got breakfast with Gio etc. They were doing the home stay so we said goodbye to them for the day. We were put into a tour group of 8 and met our guide ‘Shoe’ who was 18 yrs old. The 6 (4 Malaysian girls and us) of us set off with other girls from Shoe’s village to Cha Cha village. On the journey to Cha Cha village all the girls kept asking us questions. “Where you from? What is your age? How many brothers and sisters do you have?” they all wanted us to “buy from me” so when we left them at Cha Cha village we thought we wouldn’t see them again so we said we’d buy later. Shoe told us loads of information about how they made clothes and dyed them and which plants did what. She had learned her English just from tourists and she had great English. We saw houses in the village, what they did with rice and a crafts shop. After the village we walked down to a magnificent waterfall where we met the other 2 (Singapore lads) who were supposed to be in our group but couldn’t find us at the hotel so had tagged along with another group!! We then embarked on a grueling up hill walk, on the way we saw cannabis plants that they make clothes out of and some beautiful landscapes. When we were almost back to the top hotel we were attacked again by the villagers who we thought were gone home. Our excuse for not buying from them was that we couldn’t buy from everyone…We arrived back at the hotel and realized we had got burnt even though it wasn’t that hot and there was no sun out or so we thought. We decided to stay in cos we didn’t want to get burnt anymore. We had our lunch and chilled out in our room. In the evening we walked around the market and town and bumped in Alicia & Rober. We went back to the hotel and had dinner with them. Dinner was a 3 course meal and was beautiful. Bed early as an early rise.

We got up at 7.45, had breakfast and met Shoe at 9am for our 12km trek. She had different villagers with her today and so they asked us all the same questions as the day before but we learned that if we talked among ourselves they wouldn’t ask us questions. We walked downhill and over sides of mountains until we got to Lai Chay village where we had lunch. After lunch we were attacked again by Lai Chay villagers trying to get us to buy. We got away from them and walked more up hill where the 2Singapore lads were followed by 2 5yr old kids begging. Hard to watch. Just as we were finishing the trek the heavens opened up and we got soaked. We arrived back to the hotel and had a shower and met up for dinner with Gio, Sergio & Toby. After that we got back on the bus to be brought back to the train station. This time on the train we were sharing with 2 Aussie teachers who were in the 50’s. They were nice. Sergio and the others were staying next door so we got a few beers and sat in with them. We played a drinking game called Kings. It was great fun. We went to bed pretty drunk at 12.30am.

Hanoi

We got woken up at 4.30am and got off the train at 5am inHanoi. We said our goodbyes to the gang. We thought the train station wasn’t that far from Sinh café where we were getting the bus to Nimh Binh so we decided to walk. We walked for about 10mins and then decided that we should look at the map. Of course we were miles away so we got a taxi back. We arrived at the Café at 5.30 and sat outside it till 8 when it opened. It was not a nice wait!!

Nimh Binh

We got on the mini bus for our 3 hr trip to Nimh Binh were Leah got a seat and Damien had to sit on a stool because this was a tour and we were only taking the bus there. We stopped half way and sure didn’t we bump into the gang again. We chatted with them for a while and then we turned to walk back to the bus and a girl stopped me and was asking me where I was from cos she was convinced she knew me. Turned out she did know, she was a friend of a girl I was friends with through Eddie Rockets but I hadn’t seen in yrs!! Arrived in Nimh Binh at a hotel which was the most expensive hotel we had stayed in. it was $25 for the room for the night but the bus was picking us up from there the next day so we decided to stay. We dropped our bags and decided to go for lunch. The restaurant food was very expensive so we decided to go out and get some. We walked the whole town and couldn’t find one place to eat so we bought ice-creams, crackers and cheese and went back to the hotel to eat them. We were pretty wrecked so went for a snooze. We got up and went for a beer on the rooftop and then had dinner but as we couldn’t find anywhere to eat the last time we decided to eat at the hotel. The food was amazing and went back to the room where we watched a DVD.

Got up at 7.30am and got breakfast which was included in the price of the room. We rented bicycles from the hotel and cycled 7km to Tam Coc. It’s like a smaller version of Halong Bay on land. Arrived there and left our bikes at a restaurant and boarded a small rowing boat which took us down the river to see the stunning Limestone rocks. On the way back the guys in the boat tried to sell us everything from t-shirts to tablecloths, they were quiet persistent but we didn’t cave as we didn’t need any of those things. They weren’t really happy that we didn’t buy. On the way back one of the guys got tired so Damien took over some of the rowing for a while. Just before we arrived at the dock they asked us for a tip even though we had paid for the boat trip so we gave them 1000dong and they had the cheek to ask for 10,000dong which of course we didn’t give them. We had lunch in the restaurant that our bikes were at. We asked for Chicken soup but trust there was everything but chicken in it. We cycled on then another 2km to Bich Dong a cave with a built in temple. After a water break we headed back our 9km to the hotel for some cooling beers and we had dinner - goat (Damien liked it but Leah no!) at 8.30pm we got the night bus to Hue 11 hrs away. Poor Damien found it uncomfortable cos he was too tall for the seats. Not a problem for me!!

Hue

Arrived at Sinh Café at 8.30am and were attacked by touts for hotels as soon as we got off the bus. We saw this one hotel that was $10 a night and had a swimming pool so we got on the bikes and headed off to the hotel. When we arrived the manager showed us a room that was still dirty from the guests before but assured us it would be cleaned. He then told us the room was $12 so we argued with him that we were told $10 and so would only take it at that price. Eventually he said ok but not to tell the guests down stairs cos they had stayed in that room and had paid $12. We were told to wait down stairs while the room was cleaned. Sitting down stairs we were hopped on by the tout that had brought us to the hotel trying to sell us a city tour for $15 and DMZ tour for $40 each. He showed us pictures of what we would see and how personal the tour would be. He also showed us a notebook that people had wrote in about how they had enjoyed their trip but the dates were from 2006. We told him it was too expensive and showed him the guide book that said it was only $6 and $18 but he said that was for a big bus tour that wouldn’t be as good. He was such a bully. Damien went in to use the net and met the 2 people that were checking out and they said they did the city tour and it was a rip off. Eventually after about an hour our room was ready so we went up to get away from them. Our room had been ready ages but they had failed to tell us… Surprise Surprise. We decided to go for breakfast and when we went down stairs they asked us where we were going so we said breakfast and they responded with we do breakfast here but we wanted out so we went to the Mandarin Café. Breakfast was cheap and they offered the same tours for $7 and DMZ for $10. We booked with them but we hadn’t brought our camera with us so we got on the bikes and were brought back to the hotel. As I went in to get the camera the tout and manager went out to Damien. The tout confronted Damien and starting asking him where we were going and why weren’t we going with him. Damien told him that his tour was too expensive. He then asked what we doing tomorrow and Damien said we were going on the DMZ tour and he asked with him and Damien said no cos again it was too expensive and he went mad. I came out and we left on the bikes but we were conscious all day about our stuff cos they had been so pissed off. We visited Minh Mang tomb, Tu Doc, Incense village, Thien Mu pagoda & Citadel. We arrived back in our mafia hotel and went up to our room to find our bags had been tried to be opened. We had locked them but they were opened a bit. Fortunately they hadn’t got anything from us but it kind of ruined our time in Hue. We went off for dinner and decided we were going to check out tonight cos our tour was at 6am and we would bring our bags with us. When we arrived back to pay our bill they were saying we could leave our bags there the next day but obviously we didn’t want to do that!!

Got up at 5.30 am and got collected from our hotel, the girl thought it was a bit strange that we were taking our bags but we said we needed to. We walked around to the Backpackers hostel and had a buffet breakfast. Our mini bus arrived at 6.30 and off we went. We were sitting in the front with a guy called Andrew from Ballinteer. He had some very funny stories and he was getting to the last of his yr travels. The tour wasn’t that great cos most of the stuff we were supposed to see was gone or demolished but we did get to see the Vin Moc tunnels which were quiet big. We went down 80 meters and walked about 140 meters. It was really cool. We then went on to Khe Sani combat base and saw helicopters, bombs and some American soldier uniforms. We then went onto Dakong Bridge which was built for Castro. We also saw a smuggler going under the bridge. When we arrived back in Hue we bumped into Rober & Alicia and arranged to meet them later for dinner. We found a much better and nicer hotel for the night. We went out for an Italian with Rober & Alicia.

Hoi An

Got the bus from Hue to Hoi An at 1.30pm and arrived in Hoi An 5pm but luckily there were no touts so we walked around to find a hotel that was in the lonely planet but they said they were full up and were quiet rude so we booked into a lovely place with a swimming pool. We got the top floor room which was $12. We walked down to the old town and got lunch in Tam Tam. Damien tried the Cao Lao which is a local dish. We had a few local beers for 4,000dong which is about 20c. We had a night cap in Treats bar.

Got woken up during the night to a load of people making noise and our phone ringing. That morning we went out to price the clothes making but of course got carried away and next thing I had ordered a dress and winter coat for $110 and Damien got a bit carried away getting 2 suits and 2 shirts but then as he has no job he decided on the 1 shirt and 1 suit. We decided to go to the beach so we rented bicycles for a 4km cycle. We arrived and they tried to charge us for keeping the bikes there but we cycled on and found a place for free. We sat down and met 4 lads fromLondon. Joe, James, Mark and Davide. They all spoke about 3 languages. We chilled out with them for a while and then cycled back into town. We went for food down by the river in the cheapest place but the food was good. The whole riverside was in darkness as it was the full moon festival so we ate by candle light – romantic!!!. We walked around and seen some Kung Fu performance, singing, lantern lighting & we played some Vietnamese Bingo. Not like our bingo but the same concept. We walked across to another bar to watch the lightening but left cos the drinks were too expensive. We bumped into Kiki & Ram and they introduced us to Sarah & Richard. We all headed back to Treats bar where we had a few beers and ran into theLondon lads.

Got up and had our fitting first and of course they had run out of my material so I had to chose a different one. We left there and headed to the market to test out our haggling skills. Damien got a hat and we got 2 tops each. Left there and got some lunch and then cycled off to the beach again to meet the lads and Sarah & Richard. Stayed there for a few hrs chilling out and then headed off back to our hotel. As we walked through the door of our hotel we met Jonnie & Rory who we had met in Pai. We organized to meet them in Treats later for a drink. We went off to get our final fitting and then headed off for dinner in a very fancy place where we got all the local dishes. White Rose, Wontons & Cao Lao. We went off to Treats to meet the lads; while we were waiting we decided to play some pool. A guy asked us if we could play against him and his friend who were both from Waterford. Niamh was on her way to Oz for a yr and was just doing 6 weeks in Asia and Niall was just on a 6 week holiday. Of course being Irish we had quiet a few beers with them.

Hangover is a mighty one. We left the hotel room at about 4pm after watching a DVD to go get some pizza and pick up our new clothes. We went back to the hotel and chilled out again and then immerged for dinner in a lonely planet recommendation but we would not recommend it. Back to the hotel and bed.

Next morning we went to the post office to send home some of our stuff that we didn’t need anymore and our new clothes. We sent them by ship as cheaper option and we wouldn’t be home for 5 more months so didn’t need them. Met the Irish lads who told us there was actually 3 Treats bar so that was why we obviously didn’t see them the night before! Walked around for the last time and had a nice dip in the pool. Got the night bus to Nha Trang at 7pm another 12 hrs of fun…

Nha Trang

We arrived there at 6am and there were a few touts there but we had learned our lesson so we decided to walk around and look at a few places that were in the lonely planet and some we had looked up on line ourselves. Loads of places we checked were either full or were too expensive. We then remembered ourWaterford friends were staying in the Nice Hotel so we went up there to see if they had any rooms. They told us they would have a room available at 11.30 and said we could go upstairs and sleep in 2 cot beds until the room was ready. We woke up at 10.30 and headed down stairs. We were told to hang on. We bumped into Niall and he and Damien had a few beers while waiting. At 11.45 they told us the people weren’t checking out but they had a sister hotel called the Good hotel and that they would pay for a taxi for us to be brought there even though it wasn’t that far away. Niall came with us cos Niamh had stuff to do and we would meet her at the beach. We dropped our bags off and headed off for some breakfast. Niamh met us there and we headed across the road to the beach. The beach was dirtier then Hoi An and we were hassled a lot more then before but we had fun with them! We went home and showered and met them back at Nice hotel. On the way to the Cheers Café we met Sheena and organized to meet her and Marie later as they were celebrating their year traveling by having a face mask party. Just as we were finished our meal Niamh felt weak and passed out. We were all in shock and Niall brought her home while we went off to the Irish bar to meet the girls. The Irish bar wasn’t the best and we weren’t really in the mood for partying. We met Sheena and the others they had gotten to come with them and went to the backpacker bar next door. We met the 4 Londoners and Sarah & Richard there. Niall came back and said Niamh was ok. After a few buckets of vodka we soon forgot about it and went off to Guava bar and then headed onto the sailing club. At the end of the night Niall was a bit worse for wear so we drunkenly walked him home singing Irish songs and headed to bed ourselves.

Got up and just about made it to the beach to meet Niamh & Niall. We read our books and chilled out. I slept!! We then headed back to our hotels and bumped into Rory. We showered and met Niall & Niamh for dinner in the most amazing Mexican restaurant called Coyote. After dinner we said our goodbyes and then Damien and I headed to Guava bar. We then walked to the Why Not Bar for a bucket as the beers weren’t going down too well. We started to feel better and met Kiki & Ram and a few others that had been on their bus up here. We bumped into Rory again and he told us they were all in the Blue Dragon so we finished our buckets and headed there. We met John, Aoife & Eimear there with the lads and Yo-Yo. After a fair few drinks there and a good few free shots we all stumbled off to the Sailing club as it was a big night down there. We arrived there and they charged mad money to go in but sure we paid anyway. There was a big stage and decks out on the beach and everyone was dancing. We met all our Hoi An friends and drank a fair few. At the end of the night I, Damien & Jonnie headed off to the Why Not bar with 2 more English lads. Damien got there before the rest of us. They wanted to charge us in but as we had been there earlier they shouldn’t have so Damien said no and that he didn’t want to come in anyway and with that some Vietnamese guy came running out shouting. The bouncers held him back and we all walked off. We found some random like food place where we had a beer outside and then decided to all go home at it was 5.30am.

Eventually we left our hotel room the next day at 4pm to get some food although we had only woken about 3pm. We had a sandwich and went back to the room to watch a DVD(the usual hangover cure). After that we headed out to get some dinner in this lovely seafood restaurant. Went back and surprise surprise watched another DVD. I wonder what we would have done had we not bought our laptop????

We rented our first moped in Vietnam as it didn’t seem as mental here and decided to go off sight seeing. We went to the Oceanographic where we really saw the whole cast of Nemo (I thought they were made up fish but they really weren’t) and loads of others. Next we ventured to see the white Buddha on a hill, wasn’t that impressive. We drove on for what seemed forever to find the mud bathes but they did not disappoint. We shared a tub between the 2 of us and then went onto the mineral water bathes. It was really relaxing and something we had never experienced before! On the way back near enough our hotel the heavens opened and it rained like I have never seen it before. We took shelter outside a shop for about an hr hoping it would eventually ease off. The roads flooded within mins, we watched the roads turn into rivers. Eventually it eased off a bit and we went back to our hotel. We showered and changed and by the time we headed out it had nearly stopped. We went for a Indian dinner and had a few quiet beers as we were up at 6.30 for our bus to Dalat.

Dalat

It was supposed to be a 4 hour bus journey but was the worst 6hr journey ever (really bumpy due to the terrible roads)…when we arrived it was really cold as well and we were wearing shorts!! We got easy riders to the Peace hotel and booked them for tomorrow morning. We decided to go out and buy some rolls cos we had cheese and crisps. It was fine making our way to the market but we got lost on the way back. You would think streets led to other streets but they don’t. It took us a while but we eventually found our hotel which was not that far away from where we bought the rolls. No touts here so that’s always a positive. It started to piss down after we ate so we decided to stay in until it stopped… it didn’t(reminded us of Ireland). We ate dinner at the hotel and I had my first mash potatoes since home and it was good!!

Up at 7.45am to get breakfast and then headed off with the easy riders. Was still raining but not as hard as last night and the easy riders gave us rain gear. First we went to a temple then shown how they grow veg, flowers and coffee plantations. We then went for a walk up a hill to see the view but as it was over cast we didn’t see any view! Went to the silk worm farm, elephant waterfall and then went to lunch. After that we rode on a bit more saw a tea plantation and then they got us to do another irrelevant walk and then onto Nga’s crazy house(really cool – check out the photos). Back to the hotel. Showered and out to dinner. We decided that we would try somewhere in the Lonely Planet so we picked a place but when we arrived it wasn’t there anymore. We picked another place and yes that was gone too so we decided we should just pick a place ourselves. Wasn’t the nicest but it was near our hotel!

Mui Ne

It’s my birthday…Up early and again it is still raining. We got a mini van to the bus station to get the bus to Mui Ne. we got the mini van cos it was only a 4 hr trip and the big bus was 6 hrs. We were in the van with 3 Vietnamese families that had been on our bus to Dalat. The kids were really cool. Was a bit of a crazy bus ride as there were massive holes in the road and we had to avoid them. We arrived in Mui Ne at 1pm and we checked into a nice hotel right by the beach and had a pool and pool table. When we arrived the weather was fab and then it turned about 30mins after we arrived. Had a few beers and played some pool and met Nat & Brian(Kiwis) who were staying in our hotel and who we had met in Nha Trang. Damien and I went out for dinner in Sizzlers which was expensive but so good. They had proper steak and pies…. Eeeemmm. We met Nat & Brian for a few drinks after dinner.

Again another write off of a day as we had too much to drink the night before but that wasn’t too bad as it was raining and so we had some food and watched a DVD. Went for a cheap dinner but wasn’t the nicest!

Today no rain so we were very excited cos we were starting to think the weather was following us. We decided to rent a bike and go visit the sand dunes. We went to the red sand dunes first and did some sliding on a board. It was great fun and then we traveled 24km to the white sand dunes. The white ones weren’t as good as the red ones and so we only stayed about 20 mins at those. We went back to our bike to discover one of our helmets was missing and as we were paying for parking we said we wouldn’t pay until it was found. Of course it was found and as we rode of the back of the bike kept sliding out. We then realized that we had a flat tyre, we walked for a bit up the dirt track that was about 2km long and then some guys got me to hop on one bike and Damien stand and drive his up. Would you believe it there was a garage at the end of the dirt road (how convenient!!!)… of course we got super over charged but nothing we could do as we were another 22km from our hotel. We found out that it was a massive screw had given us the puncture. It was a scam they pull up at the sand dunes. You cannot make it home with flat tyre so they charge you extortion prices to fix your puncture. We drove back to the hotel and chilled out in the pool for a while and then went back to Sizzlers for some good grub.

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

Got the bus to HCMC at 9am. We arrived there at about 2.30pm at Sinh Café. We walked around to a few different hotels but they were all full up, we found one that was $12 and John was there when we arrived and he said it was fine. As usual we were up on the top floor. We went out for lunch to Pho 24 which is a noodle bar. Wasn’t that great. Went back to the hotel afterwards cos it was raining a bit and we watched a DVD. Went to Allez Boo restaurant and had some burgers but the beer was expensive so we headed on to the Go 2 bar which had 2 for 1. Had a few and then headed home early because we were going sight seeing in the morning.

Got up and had breakfast. Walked to the Independent palace which is of great significance to the Cambodian history. We walked onto the War Museum which was the most depressing and eye opening thing we have ever seen. You think you know the war they had with America but you have no idea as they don’t have all this in the history books. We spent over 4 hrs there and it was a silent walk home. We went for a pint near our hotel and bumped into John again. We organized meeting him and Eimear later in the Go 2 bar. Off we went and showered and headed of to La Cantina for another amazing Mexican. Met the others later and had a few drinks with them.

Up early next morning for our tour to the Chu Chi Tunnels. The tour group was very big so it was a bit disappointing as it was hard to hear and he moved too fast to take photos of everything. First we watched a DVD on the Chu Chi people and the tunnels. We saw how they made weapons, their clothes and then went to the shooting range but as we had done the shooting range inThailand so we didn’t shoot any gun and it was so expensive. It started lashing rain just before we went into the tunnels so we ran to them. We crawled 140 meters through the tunnels and went down about 60 meters. These were much smaller then the DMZ. We left there and ran for the bus. Got back to HCMC and the roads were floated, we had to wade through the water to get to our hotel. We stayed in and watched some TV waiting for the rain to lift. We went for dinner and had one or two beers.

Up for our tour to the Mekong Delta. We got on our bus and then we got told to go to another bus which was a mini van but it was a smaller tour so we didn’t mind too much. We drove 2hrs to a boat where we got on and headed over to Unicorn Island. There we saw a bee farm and coconut candy making. We had some fruit and listened to Vietnamese music being played. After that we got a smaller boat with 2 others and rowed up a small river to a bigger boat. We then made our way to Tortoise Islandwhere we had lunch(instant noodles) and then back on a boat to get on a bus and head back. Got back and had showers and headed out to Margarita for some pizza. After we finished our meal we bumped into Patrick, Wayo’s dad and his girlfriend and little boy. We had a fair few with him. We stayed up till 4.30am drinking. Lucky no tours booked for tomo…

Got up 1.30pm and extremely hung-over, well Damien was!!! We met Patrick again for dinner and Huong (Patrick’s girlfriend) put glitter streaks in my hair. We had lovely food but no beers this time!!!

Next day Bus to Phnom Penh – Cambodia. Our time in Vietnamhas ended. We really loved Vietnam. Its amazing food, people, countryside, beaches & dare I say it - its motorbikes!!!!!!!!!!!

Catch us next time we update you on our 10 days in Cambodia.