Special Guest Reporter: Paul Martin

---

Gday everyone...Paul here for a change. Ive been a slack bastard with the writing but have been busy
avoiding dodgy Men in temples trying to assault me. Thus far so good. In fact this trip has been much more positive...I had a gorgeous prostitute try to drag me home in Saigon. Much better than some nonce trying to grab me bits in a temple!! The hooker didn't appreciate me wanting her photo though.....

Travelling with the lads has been a funny experience....patience...persistence...and we will get through without any serious damage to each other. I think the crazyness and busy pace of things here is starting to get to them. Ben has started drinking far too much cognac and Sam could be seen dancing in the streets of Hoi An around 1 am last night...For some reason Sam and I keep getting offerred marijuana and young girls when we walk the streets at night...is it something about our look or what?....bugger me...I must be starting to look desperate or something. Tonight after tea we were walking back to our hotel and a sidewalk stall owner just yelled at us "marijuana"......what the F....

Hoi An is a very cruisy pretty place and we have gone a bit mad with clothes...well I have. I think my bag now has nine more shirts in it and all of them are ugly and magnificent...paisley rocks. Costs about $10 to have one made. Lots of people with big noses in Hoi An...very busy and plenty of those French speaking plonkers. Meals remain a bargain and the three of us eat out each evening for about $ 15 to 20 tops. Sam is considering some sort of dodgy cigarette importing business.....80 c a pack has caught his attention. Last night he and I had a bit of a session and he drank three shots of snake wine...a fair effort indeed.

As Ben probably explained Pleiku where our friends are was a magnificent time...we were treated like visiting Rock Stars and they wouldnt let us pay for a thing...so generous...it was an action packed few days
. An old friend called Anh Sinh didn't disappoint one evening and even managed to get Ben off his head on beer. A rare sight indeed. Sam spent the latter part of that night bouncing off walls and somehow avoiding falling off the balcony.
The locals in the village where our friends live, live a very tough poor life but remain so beautiful and kind and loving...it was very touching spending a few days with them. We have it so slack and easy back home.

Alright I'm getting tired and feel i talk too much about beer and hookers which is unlike me.....so i should go......to Hanoi tomorrow....we were gonna go to Dalat or Nha Trang but unable to as all flights booked out and I'm not spending 15 hours on a bus. I'm too old for that shit....

Chuc Mung Nam Moi to the lot of you

Paul

---