"Follow, follow, follow, the Ho Chi Minh Trail"

Well, obviously the title only works if you sing it to the tune of Follow the Yellow Brick Road! Oh and yes the title was thought up by Chris! (Robin Williams would be proud!)

Just spent an amazing four days touring Vietnam, including parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, on a....wait for it....not a bus...not a train...not by foot (well sometimes)...but by Motorbike!!! (Sorry parents!)

After deciding we wanted to do a tour with a difference we were pleasantly suprised when we were approached by a tout for a company called Easy Riders who specialised in motorbike tours of "the real Vietnam." After parting with yet more cash (a significant sum!!) we mounted our metalic steeds and hit the road, some harder than others!! Yes thats right Taz managed to fall off her bike when it was stationary!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha!

On the first day we headed out of Nha Trang and rode a butt shattering 250 km to Buon Ma Thout, a town in the Central Highlands. Along the way we stopped off at various points to see the locals at work; in Lobster Farms, Fish Farms, Brick making and were even put to work in a rice field!

On day two we started at a waterfall and then finished at an Ethinc Minority Tribe Village where we stayed in a traditional Long House and took part in their singing and dancing. Chris did ask if they did requests, but thankfully the Chief didnt know Yellow Submarine!

Day three began with another bloody elephant trek, far more terrifying than the others as this involved crossing a large muddy lake, which seemed to go on and on and on and on, just to complete the experience, jumbo lost his footing and once again Taz's life flashed before her eyes! Chris being the 'sensible' one decided that given past Elephant rides, staying in the local village and chasing piglets was a much safer option!

The remainder of day three took us up the snake road through the hills and along the former Ho Chi Minh trail to Dalat, stopping along the way to see how Vietnamese silk is made and woven starting with the silk worms and following the whole process - yawn!

so day four then, we came back to Nha Trang, thats all we're going to say coz thats all we did! Seriously though it was a great tour and the Vietnamese food we stuffed our faces with was top notch infact it was worth doing the tour just for the Spring rolls and Snake Wine!! Oh and the scenery is bloody stunning!

We're now in Hoi An, which is probably the nicest town we have stayed in so far (infact it has been suggested that the town is better than Pattaya!). Its lovely and sleepy and has shops to die for (handmade shoes for 3 pounds, not to mention the bags and dresses - Chris is in his element!!). Just finished a Vietnamese cookery class today and the food was, even if we say it ourseles, bloody good!

Catching an early morning FIRST CLASS flight tommorow to Hanoi because there weren't any economy seats left! Check us!!

Hope you are all well xx

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