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Published: April 5th 2013
We spent about 5 days in Ho Chi Minh, our second night there we met up with some Spanish buddies and I arranged to meet my uni friend Harriet who I haven't seen in like 2 years and has been teaching in 'Nam for 9 months - we had a awesome night with all of them and taught them all Irish snap (Obvs!). Drinks were flowing that night so the next day I had a bed day and Cec went off to be cultured. Speaking of cultured, we visited the War museum, the Cu Chi tunnels (where they did the fighting in the war) and did a day trip of the Mekong Delta; honestly it was all a bit dull so for the details see Cec's blog 😊 Our last night in Saigon was St Patricks Day but as we had a 7am bus the next it wasn't too crazy, just some beers, free hats and a load of Australians - Fun!
From Ho Chi Minh we headed to Mui Ne - what a let down! We'd heard good things about this 'beach town' what a load of shit; no beach for miles unless you were in a fancy resort,
no nightlife anywhere and some sand dunes that were just not worth the effort. Booo Mui Ne!
Next stop was Da Lat and it was cold yay! Like trousers and a hoody cold :D We met this Danish girl, Leah, on the bus and ended up rooming with her in this big ass room with 4 double beds for cheaps - it was sweet! The next day we hired motorbikes and went off to explore Da Lat which was so much fun, we went to the Crazy House which was crazy and like a big playground. I got very over excited so we ended up with a tonne of Where's Beth? photos, I don't care if you don't like them its still happening 😊 After that we went off to Datanla falls I wasn't so bothered as we've been to countless waterfalls in the past 3 months but turned out to be one of the best so far, mainly because there was a rollercoaster down to the falls and one back up - no exercise plus rollercoastering yes please!
Nha Trang was another beach town but this one actually had a beach, we hung out there for a
day and had a night out which was pretty messy - too many buckets and drinking games but such fun!
Got our first sleeping bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An, 12 hours and I didn't sleep a wink next time I'm buying drugs I missed the first day in Hoi An because I passed out knackered in the hotel. We rented bicycles in Hoi An and spent a few days there; Cec and Leah got clothes made as the town is famous for its tailoring but I couldn't give a monkeys so skipped all that.
Moved on to Hue and its boring citadel, we rented motorbikes to go look around but it was too boring so we ended up getting drunk. Hue is nothing that special so we left the next day for Hanoi on our second sleeper bus 15 hours and armed with Valium this time I slept like a baby on valium.
In Hanoi we stayed in the backpackers hostel which is cool, its got a rooftop bars with offers everyday on booze so we had a few days of drinking there and getting lost in the maze that is Hanoi. Also met up
with Ana who we travelled Cambodia with which was lovely but only had 1 day before we had to say goodbye for good 😞 From Hanoi we booked a trip to Halong Bay which coincided with my 23rd birthday - epic days!
Castaway Tour Day 1 started at 6.30am getting up to leave on a 4 hour bus then onto the 5 hour boat that would take us through Halong Bay to the island we would stay on. Drinking started on the boat at 12 after the rules talk - nothing about safety and all that crap it was drinking rules! No. 1 Buffalo - if you get caught drinking with your right hand whatever it is, has to be downed in one. No.2 You can't say ten or mine or you have to drop and do 10 push-ups (I caught a lot of people with that one by carrying around a 10,000 dong note and asking what it was - 17 people now hate me haha)
We reached Castaway Island about 5pm its a pretty basic island; a beach, a bar and some huts to sleep in but I had such a good time there! We
Halong Bay
On the boat with drink no.1 and no idea what was coming :)were greeted by the previous group who would be there for 1 night with us then leave in the morning, they made us do yet another drinking game - it involved chugging beer while spinning and making a clothes line with your team and the losers swap clothes so there were a fair few guy in bikinis after that.
Then came the volleyball and the first injury because I'm a moron. So volleyball coming at me, Im running 'gonna smash that bitch' oh hello bench - we both took a tumble into the sea, I came off worse, bit of blood and a limp oops. Mum I cleaned it and banaged it you've raised a sensible daughter :D
Not a lot to say about the rest of the day - more drinking games, meeting cool people, counting down to midnight for the big 23 I had to chug a beer at midnight but nothing else thank god, I headed to bed looking forward to and slightly dreading the next day. I was all tucked into the gross sandy damp excuse for a bed when someone taps on my mosquito net - it was Cec sounding very pathetic "Beth
Push-ups
They got caught with the ten/mine rule - mugs! are you there? I fell out the hut" WTF?! Up I get to see a nice flap of skin hanging off the bottom of her foot ew! Carried her down to get some help and some lovely girl (oh man I've forgotten her name - so rude) was a nurse so came and cleaned the cut while I held Cec down- looked a bit like torture but had to be done 😊 With that drama over I could finally sleep.
The birthday begins! 6.30am I was awake and after popping a few caffeine tabelts I was raring to go, went down for some brekkie; was just getting my toast sorted when Cec and Leah came along singing happy birthday with a bag of goodies - oh my days! What a cracking present! Jar of olives, bag of Maoam, hobnobs but best of all MARMITE!!! I got so excited I grabbed Cec for a hug and broke my sunglasses oops. So after a delicious breakfast of marmite on toast, it was drinks o'clock for the birthday girl - our tour guide got me a beer at 9am yuck. Went for a swim and learnt how to salmon, I can't believe
The Salmon
Charlotte teaches us the technique I'd never heard of it before this trip, 2 english girls we met did it off the boat the day before and its now my go-to jump into a body of water. Having just downed a shot of vodka I didn't stay long in the water for my own safety plus I'd got a taste for the booze 😊
A few games of beer pong later and it was time to do some high speed tubing. Ouch is the best way to describe it, 4 of us on a round blow up thing holding on as hard as possible and then flying off like rag dolls and getting beaten up by the water. Saying that though, I bloody loved it especially the last one where I skimmed the water like a stone whilst spinning sideways - awesome! The rest of the day was more marmite, drinks, kayaking and watching the film 'Pitch Perfect' because you can't party all day long - do be serious. Played a game of volleyball in the afternoon; I hate to be sexist but us girls sucked at it, best we did was a rally of like 5 hits - poor effort!
The new
group turned up and all the guys in our group did the Haka war dance as a welcome which was pretty impressive. Another group, another drinking game; this time it was beers and wheelbarrowing with the losers doing belly shots from a hairy mans belly button - yum! After that the party was on!
A few hours in, it was dinner time - buffet style so I obvs had a mountain in front of me; I was about halfway through when I hear calls for the birthday people, luckily there were 2 of us so I didn't have to go through it alone. We stood on a table while they sang happy birthday and as if that wasn't embarrassing enough; I have to bend over with my hands on the table - no clue whats about to happen but I'm not about to cop out. Then I'm lifted upside down and hung from a wooden beam on the ceiling; this can appears in front of me with a hole in the side and I was told to drink. I had to shotgun a beer (FYI first time ever and I bossed it!) whilst hanging upside down from a beam
Castaway Island
Yes that is the bastard bench down there yum! Needless to say the rest of my dinner was left untouched or a toilet trip would have been necessary. That beer was one of many (duh) and I didn't pay for a drink all night - I love birthdays!
Rest of the night was spent dancing, drinking and generally partying my ass off 😊 I did have a break to go swim in the dark and see the phosphorescence in the sea which I absolutely loved because it looked like I had magic shooting out my body. Eventually after 15 hrs of drinking I made it to bed a very happy girl - can't say the same about waking up again but shit happens.
Next day got a boat to Cat Ba island and collapsed for the day. Today I have a pronounced limp and a lot of bruises; spending the day in bed while the others are off seeing the island.
Thus ends this essay of a blog.
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