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March 10th 2009

Published: May 22nd 2009

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RainbowDaisy

Typical market sellers

The journey over the boarder from Cambodia to Vietnam was certainly an interesting one as I chose to use a relatively obscure boarder crossing- at first it involved me and my backpack precariously perched on the back of a moto for 3 hours riding down some of the bumpiest, dustiest unsealed roads Id seen, then when we finally reached the boarder I was informed that there was no public transport on that side of the boarder. I therefore had to persuade a boarder guard with the aid of a few dollars to take me the last 30km on the back of his own scooter!!! So I did eventually make it to the nearest town where I was able to get a local bus up through the Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh City. I was very excited to get to HCMC as Becky (my best friend from Plymouth) was flying out to meet me and travel round Vietnam with me for 3 weeks.

After the peace and tranquility of Otres and Kampot it was a bit of shock to arrive in HCMC which seemed like one of the busiest cities Ive been to. Apparently there are 5 million motorbikes in

Crossing the road Vietnmese style

HCMC and it seemed that every single one of them was on the road at once! And in a city that has no pedestrian traffic controls, crossing the road became a bit like and olympic sport!

Whilst in HCMC we went out to visit Cu-Che where the Viet-Cong had established a network of tunnels that had been their base during the Tet offensive. These tunnels were used for transport, communications, hide outs, weapons and food stores as well as homes to thousands of Viet-cong soilders. The photo that I have uploaded us of a specially widened tunnel for foreign tourists so you can just imagine how small the original tunnels were- one of the main reasons that these tunnels were so effective is that the Americans just couldnt fit down them!

After a few day of exploring HCMC Becky and I headed up to the Central highlands where we organised a 5 day motorbike trip though the highlands and up though part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This trip was amazing, our drivers/guides were really sweet and looked after us so well and through them we were really able to experience true Vietnamese country life. We stopped

Check out the rain

at so many beautiful places along the way- beautiful lakes, amazing waterfalls, stunning mountain valleys as well as visiting minority villages and a local orphanage to mane but a few. We spent the nights in small towns and villages with my favourite being a stilt house at Lak Lake where we awoke to the sight of elephants strolling past our door! After 5 days on the back of a bike it wasnt only by bum that was sore but also my face was hurting from smiling so much and my hands were sore from the high-fiving all the local kids along the way!

We finished our bike trip in HoiAn which has a stunning 'old town' along the banks of the river with beautiful cobbled streets, tiny shops, temples and colourful markets. From here we traveled up to Halong Bay where we spent the night in the bay on a traditional Junk gazing at the stunning scenery of thousands of jugged limestone casts and tiny islets. But inevitably after a few relaxing days on the coast we were back to the hustle and bustle of the big cities as we explored Hanoi where we took full advantage of the