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Published: August 24th 2008
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at one with nature
'My Son' - temple site virtually destroyed by the Americans during the war From Hanoi i got a sleeper bus to Hue and got a motorbike tour of the city and its impressive Citadel. i then travelled further down the coast to the beautiful town of Hoi An. nearly every shop in this untouched (but not for long) town is a taylors, where suits and shoes can be made to any specification and made within the day. although a custom fit suit is only $80 i ended up spending way too much money on buying suits that i will probably never wear. i rented out a bike, but lost it at the beach. although the bike was falling apart they charged me $100 for it, so i refused to pay it and walked off. a few hours later they found me in town and the manager and a security guard escorted me to the beach where i lost the bike. luckily i found the bike - the police had impounded it for parking in the wrong place.
After a few days in Hoi An i moved to the popular beach resort of Ngh Trang. i got 7 more dives in and completed my advanced scuba qualification. it was an extremely cool experience swimming
rocks
they use the small hut for collecting the liquid at the bottom of the birds nest that they use for a strange drink. through caves at 25m underwater, swarming with aquatic life. on my last dive the police stopped our dive boat because i was sitting on the bow of the boat (which according to them is illegal), so the captain had to bribe them to let us go. we then saw the police boat stop and get bribes from all the other dive boats in the area for other made up offences. it seems corruption is away of life here - although the bay of Ngh Trang is a UNESCO heritage site, the illegal fishermen still use dynamite fishing and destroy the coral.
i met up with Ryan, my old physics teacher who had helped me plan my travel before i went - he is on his way to China via Cambodia and Vietnam. we went to a mud bath spa - the only attraction in town apart from the crowded beach.
i continued my travels to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) where i saw the preserved body of 'Uncle Ho', which looked more like a waxwork. i visited the Chi Chai tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the war, and had a very scary experience crawling through an
Ryan
aka 'Mr G' original pitch black tunnel (with bats inside) barely big enough to fit even my body through.
i embarked upon a 3 day Mekong Delta tour, but rather than experiencing a slow boat through the jungle like in Apocalypse now (the 200m stretch we went on was surrounded by farmland), the coach tour just went from one souvenir shop to another. i got fed up and left after the first night with some Sheffield lads to the island of Phoc Que. the island was peacefull and you could esaly find miles of deserted beach to yourself. we had a great time there.
After experiencing so much on my travels i fear the end is looming. as Asia is developing so rapidly i have decided to continue travelling for another year to see it in its full glory, before its culture is diluted and destroyed by Western influence. I'm not sure what i will do next or where i will go next. i will let fate decide.
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