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Published: February 4th 2009
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Much of the time since the last entry has been spent on transit. I'm fact we we even managed to call into 3 different continent in the space of just a week.
In mid January our party of 4 became 3 as we reluctantly said farewell to our dodgy haired companion rowan in cape town as he persued his love interest before going to oz in search of gameful employment. Kate hope you had a good time around the cape.
Meanwhile we flew east and wound up in Perth. We booked our hostel late and so got left with the dreggs as we set up base in the worst hostel we had seen so far (which also happens to have been the most expensive). Mourning the temporary loss of blue eyes Pearson and staying in a dump we decided we would spend as little time there as possible and so set about exploring the city. As soon as we arrived on oz shores, you couldn't turn a corner without hearing an irish accent which was a bit strange which included walking down a street at 3am and bumping into 2 guys from my class in college. We spent a
few days here checking out the city with a few israeli guys. We went out to freemantle and also met up with a girl from our travels in Africa and generally tried to get over our jetlag.
Before long we flew north to Darwin for a couple of days. It was a bit of a nothing town/city which doesn't have much to boast except for the fact you could drop a dress size in 15 mins with the amount you sweat in that heat. We checked out a salt water crocodile place which held a few 6m long crocs which were pretty impressive and for a lack of alternatives we went exploring the fairly bland history of the city.
We then flew up to Saigon (or HCMC depending) in Vietnam. We flew in at night over the water looking down on literally hundreds of fishing boats lit up like stars. Coming in from cape town and Australia, Vietnam was a great change from civilisation we had left behind, with mopeds buzzing everywhere and the city heaving. We arrived in just before the Vietnamese new year (called Tet) and so everyone was in great form and there was plenty
going on. We checked out the war remnants museum which was pretty harrowing and a big eye opener. We also did a tour around the Mekong delta where we went to little delta island and checked out a bee farm, a little coconut candy factory and borrowed bikes to explore. We then enjoyed the new yr celebrations with fireworks in the city and spent a few hours with a local family. at about 2 am we were out on the street when a guy pulled up and I just asked could I get on his bike. He said yes, so Ben hopped on to and before we knew, he was driving off (without Craig) as he passd a bottle of Vietnamese whiskey for us to drink on the journey. He ended up driving to his family home which was tiny and after retrieving Craig, we sat up with his family just eating and drinking as none of them had a word of english. The next day we went to the cu chi tunnels where the Vietcong dug 250km of tunnels in which they lived and fought from and this was pretty incredible to crawl down the tunnels and see just
how tiny and clostrophobic it all was. We aso fired off a few rounds with AK47 and an M1 on a firing range.
We then moved up to Nha Trang which is a beach town 10 hours up the coast. Here we went snorkelling around coral reefs and topped up our fading tans. Also, while walking home one night as we were minding our own business, Craig got set upon by 2 prostitutes on a motorbike who managed to drive up beside him, rob his money from his pockets before speeding off. Needless to say Ben and I found it hilarious but Craig not so much.
Again we moved up through Hoi An and also Hue where we again got involved inanything we could. We again got invited back to a local guys house to meet his family and have dinner and then he tok us out to a Karaoke bar that night. We also took a vietnamese cooking class so that I can give spring rolls and a few other dishes a go when I get back.
Sorry I've gone on too long so will leave it there.
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Daniel
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Ah the Karaoke! Tell me you did a Phil Collins classic to keep your family proud! Loving the updates Mark, keep em up