Love at first steps

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Hi everyone. How you all doing? We apologise for the lack of pictures on all the previous entries but promise they are coming - still cant find a place that has a DVD disc drive so I can download some of the pictures from my camera like the monkeys : (

Anyway... we are in Vietnam now and we are LOVING it so much. I personally fell in love with Vietnam from the moment we crossed over the boarder. I want to live here. ......

We woke up very early again - 5.40am to get to the bus station to take us back to Phom Phen so we can get to the boarder to Vietnam. The bus journey took the whole day to HCMC but it was okay apart from right at the beginning when poor Boucs had to go to the toilet badly! Leena went to the bus driver and tried to get him to stop but he didnt understand any english so Boucs who was about to go at any second grabbed his little picture book in one hand and toilet paper and some money in the other (he was going to pay the bus driver to stop)! There were only fields and fields on either side of us which meant that he would have had to have gone in front of everyone but at that point he didnt care... VERY LUCKILY though the bus turned into a big restaurant area and boucs RAN to the toilet as fast as he could. We felt so sorry for him. Even luckier cos of lazy packing I had to shove my medical bag in my little backpack which had all our immodium in it so 2 little miracle tablets later and a couple more bus stops and Boucs was fine. Felt so sorry for him but it was hilarious watching him run with all the necessities to the bus driver.

The crossing over to Vietnam was really easy and the bus drivers were really helpful and even filled out our arrival/departure cards. I cant explain this but as soon as we stepped over I fell in love with Vietnam. The surroundings arent that different to Cambodia but driving to HCMC and seeing all the motorbikes and shops and people gave me a different feeling.

Unfortunately as Boucs and Leena were on a tight schedule and Vietnam is a long country, they decided that they were going to go start heading north straight away that night : ( It was so lovely spending time with them, thanks guys! So as Boucs and Leena headed for a tourist info agency, Maz and I headed to find a hotel. After trying the one we wanted and finding out it was fully booked he kindly helped us to another one which was also fully booked but then they started calling around for us (all hotels were fully booked for some reason that weekend)! BUT how nice of reception. Everyone is so friendly here. EXTRA friendly. Finally she found us one and we headed there but we couldnt find it so ended up at another one which was a little above our budget. The room was good though and what we needed for a good night sleep. That night we just wanted so good solid food and there was a 'wild west' place serving good ol' fashioned food so we headed there and had lots of meat but we couldnt keep our eyes open. The waiters were really friendly and made conversation with us all night, asking us all types of questions and giving us some advice. We slept well that night!

The next morning we decided we couldnt continue paying this amount for the hotel so we went in search for the other hotel which they found us last night - which was opposite!!!! its name had changed. BUT the room is okay and in our budget so we took it. After we re-settled we found a vietnamese buffet restaurant where we tried an assortment of goodies and then started walking until we found a tourist agency - asiantourist. Our agent was James and we would recommend him 100% for his professionalism and help. It was the most amazing service we have ever received in our entire life. We couldnt stop praising him. So patient, informative and helpful. We ended up spending half the day there and he helped book our whole agenda for Vietnam. We originally wanted to spend 2 weeks here but we love it already so much and theres so much to see and do that we are now spending 3 whole weeks here! wahoo! We dont like the fact that we cant be spontaneous but because we are on a tight schedule (we could easily spend 4+ weeks here) we need to make sure we know what we are doing/where we staying etc etc.

After we did some sightseeing and went to the Ben Tham market which is pretty cool and you dont get harrassed half as much as anywhere else. Its pretty chilled actually.

That night we went to a restaurant called Bo Tung Xeo where Maz ate a Scorpion... yep he did - all of it (minus the poison bit in the tail which is cut off). There was this Australian/Vietnamese guy with a group of Vietnamese people on the table next to us who started talking to us and they gave us rice wine to try (OKAY ITS 40% and I hated the taste but Maz liked it - so strong)! and a pancake with snails which was really nice. In return Maz offered the guy one of the Scorpion claws. The guy sh at himself but Maz persuaded him and as the guy was drunk he did it. Me, I ate one of the lanky legs and gave myself a panic attack. My heart started racing well fast. Scorpion doesnt really taste meaty - its all about the crunchy shell. You have to eat it with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lime. Maz enjoyed it though. He was well chuffed. Unfortnately though the goat meat that he ordered came raw with a table barbacue which he ended up having to cook himself! He nearly cried. I also had my first oyster since Maz made me ill with them. Yippee! I also went to try and get a photo of the kitchen below us which would have been good but a waiter dashed over and started telling me off - oops!!!! He did apologise later though.

The next day we woke up early to the sounds of screaming Koreans, ping ponging of lifts and slamming of doors so we went for free breakfast which was Korean or steak. We tried some of the Korean which was nice but like having a full dinner.

At 9am we got picked up by a dirver and a tour guide (when we booked this yesterday with James we didnt realise it was a private tour) to go to the Ch Chi tunnels. Our first stop was at the rubber plantations and we saw how rubber gets collected which impressed us. It also stinks and reminds me of copydex - the glue we used at school. Then we saw the vegetable that the Ch Chi people used to live on during the war. At the entrace of the tunnels we saw a short documentary of real footage of the Ch Chi people and an explanation on the tools they used and the tunnels through a model. All very propoganda but they have alot to be proud of. This is one of THE most remarkable things that me and Maz have seen. Seriously. I still cant stop thinking about it to this day. Basically during the war the people of Ch Chi (Gucchi) dug themselves 3 layers of tunnels to survive the war. The first layer was where they slept, had meetings, cooked etc. They had booby traps down there, escape roots to the Saigon river and dead ends. 250,000 plus people had to live there and the tunnels were so long. To put it in perspective from the village to the cambodia boarder is another one and a half hours drive, the tunnels stretched that far! amazing! What was even more remarkable is when Maz and I went into some of the tunnels. OH MY GOD! They have had to open up the tunnels so westerners can fit in them - just about so you have to remember they were much smaller but we got a good idea. We went down 3 layers and had to crawl on our hands and knees. It was so hot and so dark - thank god Maz brought a tourch with him cos it got scary! How they survived in those tunnels is amazing. The tunnels still really low and tight - I even managed to scratch the mole completely off my back : ( Before we went in they found a scorpion, alive and well near the entrance of the tunnel so that didnt help with the fear in the tunnels and apparently they clean them every morning from snakes but going into those tunnels is a must and a true eye opener. We saw a picture of an American soilder coming out of the tunnel during the war looking petrified and I dont blame him! They obviously had to have air holes which they created by using centipides. So clever!

We also saw where B52 bombs were hit and how they used American weapons that they dropped or deserted to make rubber shoes, weapons etc. You can shoot AK47's again but still didnt feel right but you are so close to them and they are so loud and scary it makes the tunnels and why they were there all the more real.

After the tunnels we went and saw how rice paper was made and I got to make some with the mixture too. so cool! First they showed me and then I did one by myself which wasnt as good but they girl praised me anyway.

Our guide was really funny. He told us that he liked Karaoke so we asked him what his best song is and he said hotel california. We asked him to sing it for us and he acted shy for a split second and then started singing so we started dancing and singing behind him. we got some funny looks but it was so funny. Later in the car he got really excited and sang to us until he sang himself and Maz to sleep.

On our last day in HCMC we went to a tour at Mekong Delta. The driver picked us up at 8 and it takes 2 hours to get to the port. We opted to have a local guide which James said would help give back to the community. Our guide was a lady called Thina and she was so nice and funny. Our first stop was at Unicorn Island where we got to stick our fingers in bee hives with all bees swarming around and taste the honey and the pollen - mmmm. Pollen supposed to be good for diabetics so I bought some - watch out babbou (granddad) when I get back! Maz also went and had a picture with the massive python. Then we went and saw how coconut sweets are made and got to taste some. mmmm again and then saw traditional live music and got to eat lots of fresh fruit. On the next Island we got to taste more coconut sweets and went on horse and cart wearing the traditional cone hats to where we would get the canoe to go down to the river back to our boat. Thina explained that the cone hats are symbolic as well as very handy. They are made of 16 rings because the Luna is on the 16th of the month and they also say that girls are at their prettiest at 16.

The last stop was at an island where we had lunch, although for obvious reasons we didnt eat much - esp as Maz was really ill again last night from yesterdays lunch that the receptionist went out to get us tablets. : (

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