Vietnam

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6th March
Got up at 6am to start what turned out to be a 13 hour journey to Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City.
The first part of the journey dragged a bit especialy as we had no lunch. Once we changed buses and then crossed into Vietnam, the journey didn't feel as bad. A new country and its scenery to look at..
Checked into a guest house and went for food & beers with Joel (Canadian) and Kerry (American) who we met on the bus.
7th March - Early start, we went on a 1/2 day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, about 200km + of tunnels that the Viet Cong built to hide from / fight against the Americans. It was weird going under ground and seeing huge craters where B52's had dropped bombs everywhere. They opened up the tunnels for westerners and i guess portly Yanks, it was still a struggle going 30m never mind fighting from there.
8th March - due to a mistake by the owner of the guest house's mum, we ended up flying to Da Nang a day early rather than going on a boat trip on the Mekong Delta. We then got a taxi from Da Nang to Hoi An - shoppers paradise. We speant 4 days in a 4 * hotel enjoying a huge breakfast, sleeping, air con, hot water, shopping and sleeping. Jim & Anat who i'm still travelling with got clothes galore made for peanuts. I even did a bit of shopping..
12 March - We flew to Hanoi. We arrived in the capital to be greeted by Manchester style drizzle, a power cut and just about everyone trying to get you into their hotel. Eventualy we found somewhere to stay & eat (candle lit - how romantic !!).
The next day we had a wander round the lake and checked out the scenery. Hanoi has a very communist feel to it, very grey, very aggressive and no Macdonalds in sight !
We also decided to investigate a couple of trips - Halong Bay and trekking in Sa Pa. We had been warned that the trips can be hit and miss, just like the weather. At least being English, we didn't find it that cold. 19 degrees aint that bad !
We threw a bit of culture in, going to the a prison used by the French & then the VC, awfull piece of propaganda / nonesense ! After that we went to world famous water puppet show, where Jim and I got a good 30 minute kip in, it was warm in there ..
14th March - Got up early ish to be hassled by the guy to pay him some money for the trips & flights that we had booked, so off to the cash machine, or not. The night before i had got 2,000,000 Dong out the bank (70 pound !) and had not taken the card. They give you the cash then the card here... Brilliant ! Oh and my credit card had been blocked by my bank who didn't seem to quite get it, i guess it wasn't on the script they had learnt in the call centre in Delhi. Oh well, i had to borrow 5,000,000 off Jim. What's 5 million between friends..
We set off in a minibus to Halong Bay, then on to the boat. It was me, Jim & 11 girls, brilliant.. The boat was a traditional junk boat, with all the usual fun and games of trying to get out of the port without sinking. We spent the night on the boat getting plastered on wine, gin, smoking Vietnamese tabacco (legal !) and listening to our Vietnamese guide sing Love me tender on the Karoaki, we should have been drinking rum but what the hell !
The next day we went to see caves and listen to crap about Dragons etc, bless em ! With all trips, a bit padded out to justify the extra dollars. All in all, the trip was good, excellent guide, the weather was a bit moody though..
We got back to Hanoi with enough time time to have a shower before getting the overnight train to Sa Pa to go trekking. Lets just say the train wasn't quite like in the photo, shock !
We arrived in Lo Cau (i think) then got the bus to Sa Pa. The rule here is if you're driving and you beep the horn then they have to get out of the way oh and don't look out of window, the driver probably isn't ! We had a lovely breakfast before meeting our guide and set off down the road for 1/2 an hour. The guide was lovely, Mai, 19, all the usual q's and broken English, You Married ? No ! Where you from ? Manchester ! then you get the standard Manchester United, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo blah blah ! It was becoming quite obvious that it was going to be more of a tricky walk that a treck. Oh well i wasn't really up for for heavy duty trek anyway !

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Photos

Hoi An
Not bad view over lunch

Cu Chi Tunnels
American Tank stopped in its tracks thankfully !

Hoi An - Beach
You Buy from me ?

Cu Chi Tunnels
Bit tight...

MUFC Hanoi branch
Chelsea, Liverpool who ??

Halong Bay
Is it me or do most of the 2000 islands look like an animal ?

Massage in the boozer
What better way to relax after a long day doing nothing ....

Ha long bay
Misty boat trip..

Zi hill tribe family
My rice wine drinking adopted family for the night.

Hanoi - Take it easy
Why walk ?