Vietnam....Our Highlight so Far

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Hi Everyone

Well we arrived safely at Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) airport and were greeted by our friends Roy and Lisa who we were staying with for the next 9 nights (lucky them!). We were also greeted by around 100 taxi drivers circling us like vultures! This city was a real eye opener - from the traffic to the poverty. We were very grateful to have a very comfortable place to stay with Roy and Lisa as I dare say the hostels would have been a little 'rough'! After a quick settle in our wonderful tour guides Mimi, Lisa and Roy from "More On Tours" helped us to explore the neighbourhood. We quickly realised that there were not many white people around the area, regardless, people were very friendly. Rachael also discovered that the shopping was heaven for any girl who likes shoes and handbags (and lets face it, there are not many who don't). Yes, I recommend it to anyone BUT make sure both shoes are the same size...Im still carrying around 1x8 and 1x9....just cant bear to get rid of them.
Our good friend Simon arrived the following day to stay with us as well. Needless to say there were more than a few drinks consumed over the course of the week.
We spent most of the week (and a bit) exploring HCMC and immersing ourselves in the culture as much as we could. Of course this included massages (no happy endings), shopping, local food, shopping, karaoke, shopping.......you get the idea! Needless to say we needed to invest in a new suitcase!
We also got away from the city for a few days. We did a 1 day tour out to the Cu Chi Tunnels (from the Vietnam War) and some impressive temples. The five of us also went to Vung Tau for 2 nights (a coastal pininsular about 2 hours via hydrofoil) which had a great fishing villiage atmosphere. While there we attended a moving ANZAC Day dawn service at the sight of the battle of Long Tan. Of course, this was followed by a big breaky and later we watched the traditional Collingwood V Essondon AFL match.
All in all Vietnam was a fantastic experience - we could write so much more but we will stop now! Check out some of the photos. See you in Thailand!
JK and Rach

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