Vietnam!!

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Night train down from Kota Baru was suprisingly nice, I'm now a convert to night trains. We got a top bunk each and although some slightly loony Malaysian boy kept talking to me (when he couldn't say it in English he said it loudly in Malay instead - didn't really make for a constructive conversation). Even managed to get some sleep and watching the Malaysian countryside zoom past first thing in the morning was really nice.

Singapore was Singapore, enjoyed the first day there, we went to the cinema and round some of the big plazas (shopping centers) on Orchard Road, (like Oxford street or Knightsbridge in London, i.e. way out our price range!). Decided that I like the orchard road area and the quays, they had a buzz to them particularly on Saturday night - loads of people out shopping and walking around.

On our last night we went to the long bar at Raffels hotel to have a Singapore Sling (very touristy but a must do! - and it was a really nice cocktail). Really liked the long bar had a great feel to it, very colonial and had these acient style fans on the ceiling. Glad to have left Singapore though, it is beyond humid, not necessarily as hot as some of the places we've been to, but if your not in airconditioning your literally dripping with sweat after 30min and I ended up taking 2 or 3 showers a day!

Soo in Siagon (or Ho Chi Min City, although I keep calling it Hanoi - gets very confusing) now, really loving it so far, prefer it to Malaysia, it's quirkier and very much has a sense of it's own unique culture. The people are nice (not as nice as Malaysia, but I think Malaysia might be the most friendly nation I've ever been to) and they, like the culture are quirky and much louder than anywhere we've been up to now!

So done some of the sights over the last 2 days, the war museum, which was a good reminder of what I'd forgotton from history A-level and had some really interesting (if slightly grusome) photography displays. We're ripped off by a cyclo driver, but being peddled around town was really good, and a great way to see the city, even if he did charge us way to much. The currancy here is a bit of a nightmare, there's 25000 dong to the pound, but prices are more often quoted in US$, but it works out cheaper to pay in dong. There's 17000 dong to the US$ which is a nightmare mental arithmatic sum.

Today we went to the Reunification Palace, which they've kept in a 70's style - I think it's the most 70's building I've ever been in. The underground rooms where the secret service (I think) operated out of were interesting. It's still hot here, slightly less humid than Malaysia and possibly hotter. It's pretty unpleasant to be in the city as like in Singapore you are dripping after an hour or so. But it's the rainy season here, meaning we've been getting 2 heavy showers a day. They are very heavy and the city comes to a bit of a standstill (except the traffic!) but a blessing as it cools down afterwards for the rest of the day.

The traffic here is slightly manic. I think the city is quite pretty (in comparison to many places we've been to) you get a sense of the French influence and there are a lot of big trees planted in the pavements down the street which are nice. Unlike anything I've ever seen, the overhead wires (phone wires I guess) are a crazy random mess, can't really describe it! The traffic is unreal, there are about 100 times more motorbikes here than cars. Cars tend to drive (relitively) slowly and the motorbikes just fly all over the place!! Very much organised chaos, we've taken motorbike taxis, and they don't feel as mad as the Ugandan ones so they seem to all know what they're doing! Crossing the road is interesting, everyone you talk to and the guidebook say the best thing to do is to just cross (there's never a break in the constant flow of motorbikes here) slowly, just not in front of a car, and the bikes swerve around you. Well it turns out to be completely acurate and although you sometimes feel your walking out to certain death, we're both in 1 piece so far!

There are a lot more backpackers in Vietnam than Malaysia, mainly English! Has been nice to meet people and find out what's worth seeing etc and have been planning our trip up to Hanoi over the next month.

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