Same same but different

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As I write we are eagerly and over excitedly awaiting the arrival of Amy and Emma, can't believe the time has come again for us to amazingly catch up with people from home, we feel very lucky and are so excited. We've still got the rest of our adventures in Vietnam to fill you in on before we head off to Bali tomorrow.
I'm not sure Tom and I have fallen in love with Vietnam but we've definitely had a great time here and there's plenty of funny stories to make our trip here more than worthwhile. The country is a lot different to what we were expecting but still like nothing either of us have ever seen before. It's been a weird mix of crazy busy head spinning cities and completely sleepy and relaxed wee towns by the beach, showing us a little more of the Vietnam we thought we would find, rice fields, conical hats and the likes.
Our first big trip in Vietnam was heading to the Mekong Delta for a few days and I think it was here that we realize we have been so spoilt by all the amazing things we have seen and done and we had to keep pinching ourselves to make sure we weren't getting complacent. What was a really great look into rural life in Vietnam at times for us felt like just another boat trip but on reflection it was really lovely to see and even though a huge portion of the day was a sales pitch seeing the huge floating market and traveling around in traditional wee canoe's was great. The day wasn't without its randomness though as Tom held a bee hive at a honey farm and I thought it would be fun to get up close and personal with a python!
The morning we were due to leave Ho Chi Minh city Tom headed to get his hair cut which gave me a perfect opportunity to sit and watch the world go by from the balcony of a wee restaurant. This place will never stop amazing me, the lengths people must go to packing up and setting of with their mopeds of a morning. Piled high with all sorts and filled to what looks like the impossible. A family of 4 picking up the 5th member from school and all squeezing on, 6 baskets worth of chickens or ducks hanging from anywhere and everywhere, 2 guys balancing about 15 grates of eggs precariously as they duck and dive through the madness. Huge pains of glass, tree trunks, thousands of bags and boxes, tires, a broken down moped strung to the front of another. Tom's best spot was the morning of the United final against Barcalona when he was walking home at 4 in the morning no-one else around cos its stupid o'clock in the morning (not the most supportive girlfriend I know but the game started so late I left him to it) when around the corner came a guy on his bike with 6 or 7 dead pigs straddled across his bike-madness, the list goes on and has to be seen to be believed its incredible. As we had booked both our flights in and out of Vietnam from HCMC we decided to fly up to the north and slowly make our way back down so we started with Hanoi.
After watching the madness of mopeds in HCMC we had both decided taxi's or walking would be the best option throughout our time here, this decision was soon to be taken out of our hands though as we arrived at our hostel in Hanoi. They apparently had 2 buildings and we were at the wrong one, 'it's not far' we were reassured 'we'll bring you over there...on bikes!!!' So not only did we have to join the chaos of the world of mopeds but our first time doing it was set to be with huge back packs as well. So I scrambled on the back with my huge rucksack on my back, my day pack attached to my front and held on for dear life-it actually wasn't as bad as expected....well for me anyway I think Tom's driver was more than happy to have arrived safe and sound as his larger than average passenger, complete with 20 kgs of luggage wobbled from side to side for the whole trip. Tom however did manage to calm his nerves later that evening as he found his first bia hoi (fresh beer) at 15p a glass-happy boy. Our first morning in Hanoi came complete with blasting music from a huge speaker just across the street from our room at 6.30 in the morning-a very unhappy Tom went to inquire only to find a laughing receptionist who told him it came on every morning for an hour...it may be a tiring week here.
We spent a few days mooching around the city, dodging bikes, sampling local food (which much to our disappointment was ok but nothing to write home about...which for us is a big deal!). Tom squeezed in his late night football watching and we managed a trip to a water puppet show which was yet another random experience but very traditional entertainment for here so a must see. Then came our long awaited trip to Halong Bay,we'd been hearing such great things about it and were really excited to get there. We however made what proved to be an error in judgment by booking a one day tour and finding one of the cheaper options instead of paying a little more to get a better deal. Lot's of confusion, time wasting and very angry travelers (not us) made for a stressful start but the day wasn't a complete right off as the Bay is completely beautiful and the caves we got shown around were incredible, I've never seen anything like them-amazing. Our lasting impression of the day though was more our fault than anyone elses. The previous day we had got all our washing done for the first time in Vietnam and we hadn't actually checked it when we got it back, so alarm went earlyish to get ready for our pick up and it wasn't until we were about an hour down the road that we realised our newly clean clothes were far from it. They didn't look dirty but as the day wore on it became more and more obvious that the lingering stink we usually blame on animals or food today was actually us....not cool. Our clothes absolutely stank, I'm not even joking it was totally the stuff therapy sessions are made of. Tom of course wasn't fussed but I felt like the smelly kid in school and was doing my best to keep us away from the group not very successfully though and at one point to my horror when I turned around an old chinese couple were holding their noses as they had come a little to close to the polluted area-devastated. All clothes from now on are being checked thoroughly before any outings!!
From Hanoi we headed to Da Nang and decided to do it by train as one of the must do traveling options here. An overnight sleeper cabin made for a comfy enough journey and the scenery on the way down the next morning from Hue to Da Nang was beautiful, plus by then we had been joined by the cutest little kid and his Mum-it was his first time traveling on the train and excitement had defiantly got the better of him as he continuously chatted away to Tom in Vietnamese regardless of Tom's lack of understanding. We only stayed in Da Nang for 2 days and it was more than enough, with very little to do a beach stall that couldn't sell us drinks cos he had no key to his own fridge, a steak sandwich that was smallest little burger inside covering about a third of the bread-no steak in sight and a chicken salad that was actually 1/4 chicken with 3 slices of tomato and 3 slices of cucumber-very random. The beach was gorgeous though and our hotel was pretty fancy for really cheap so it wasn't all bad.
From there we headed an hour south to Hoi An-by far our favourite place here. It was such a nice wee town with lantern lite restaurants lining the river and a really relaxed atmosphere with of course the added bonus of really good food. A few Hoi An specialties renewed our love of food and gave us a wee break from rice and noodles. We also managed to treat ourselves to some tailor made clothes while here-the choice is overwhelming as this little town has more than 300 tailors all desperate for a sale in the down season but we are both really chuffed with what we've got-Tom splashed out on a few Armani look alike suits which look great and I got all sorts of things which will all hopefully arrive home only a few weeks after we do. Of course getting measured, trying on clothes including a winter coat in 35 degree heat has its issues but hey. Tom was remeasured 3 times to make sure all was ok with the 'biggest neck they'd every seen' they weren't really understanding as we tried to explain prop forwards and their usual stature.
We had some really good days on the beautiful beaches around the town and enjoyed bobbing around on our wee bicycles, after a really hot cycle home we decided for the next day we would go mad and try out hiring a moped...silly idea. Baring in mind I have bumped or scratched everything we've rented so far it was prob not the best idea. Feeling a little nervous I left all the driving to Tom throughout the day which worked grand, he knew what he was doing and it was easy enough for me to balance on the back...we should have quit while we were ahead. This time though I'm gonna have to insist on the 'it wasn't my fault' scenario as I decided on the way home I wouldn't mind giving it a try. All was going ok and I was finally getting used to keeping the bike steady with a somewhat wobbily and bigger than average Tom on the back when out of nowhere this guy just plonked into the side of us. Not a major bang infact neither bike even stopped but enough to make me uber nervous, pull up and hand the reigns back to Tom with my new found love of crashing any and all vehicles we are renting on this trip...all I need is a boat now and I've got a full set-gutted. Really wasn't my fault this time though!!!
Leaving Hoi An gave us by far one of our most interesting journeys so far throughout the whole 9 months we've been away. Waiting at our hotel reception knowing we would be picked up within a 40 minute window. The closer the end of that time the more unlikely it is we were going to get seats anywhere near each other which is never a good start to an overnight bus journey. My nerves were right our seats/beds were nowhere near each other but I def wasn't expecting what happened next. As we got onto the bus which was 3 rows of bunk beds across I could only see one bed available-as I looked around I was pointed towards a space on the floor...surely this can't be it. The ultimate same same but different. All the other chairs were for one person only, not hugely spacious but your own space all the same, as you move further towards the back they become a little less roomy. What I was left with was a slither of space right beside some old man and his wife-this can't be happening I am literally getting into a small double bed with an old married couple-not happy at all. Tom tried his best to offer alternatives, offering his spot for mine but there was noway Tom was fitting in that wee space so I got over myself and clambered in over the top of this couple into my little spot wedged between the window and the husband-this is gonna be a long night, made even longer by the weirdo that turned out to be the husband. Chatting away to me in Vietnamese for ages, his only english words turned out to be Queen Elizabeth...England which he just kept on repeating-I made a few attempts to tell him that was next door to Ireland where I was from but I wasn't getting very far as he continued in Vietnamese throwing in Queen Elizabeth every now and again. This was only the start as his wife continued to sprawl out he got closer and closer with his prodding and his poking elbows before he tried to force feed me whatever he was eating. All the while Tom is happy as Larry watching a wee film on the laptop in his luxury pent house bunk up the front. He finally fell asleep and blessed silence arrived...for about 25 seconds before he started wart hogging-the most horrendous snoring ever and neither he or his wife seemed to care that it was me now doing the poking and prodding-waking them was an impossible task so industrial earplugs came out and I finally drifted off. With still 3 hours to go I woke suddenly at 4.30 in the morning with my new found friend centimeters from my face, eyes wide open, staring right at me-freight of my life and def the end of any sleep I was still hoping to get-both eyes firmly open until we arrived safe and sound in Nha Trang ready to relay my tale to a very amused but somewhat sympathetic Tom-not one I'll forget in a hurry.
Onto Nha Trang with far less drama and we had a really great few days here, gorgeous beach, loads of sun, hostel right in the middle of everything and a theme park/waterpark on the neighboring island. After a slightly scary cable car journey over the sea we arrived at Vinpearl for a day of water park fun followed by and evening of arcade games all for the grand total of 11 pounds-brilliant. A basketball competition did however turn sour when Tom was loosing badly and was finally getting into it and getting close to my score when some random guy butted in and decided he wanted to help Tom-totally putting him of his stride and leaving my championship score well in tact-love it, didn't even need to pay the guy for the interruption. Nha Trang led us onto Mui Ne the last of our stops before heading back to HCMC. Really sleepy little beach town with an amazing hostel, room looking out to sea, falling asleep to the sound of the waves-perfect. Not as much sun as we had hoped but I think our tans are doing ok,well enough to make us browner than Amy and Emma for at least a few days! So from here we fly to Indonesia for 2 weeks, hoping to see Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands before saying our goodbyes to Amy and Emma and onto Cambodia, with only Thailand after that. This amazing year is fast disappearing. Until next time xx

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Photos

Any electrians out there
Vietnam would def give you something to worry about

Precious cargo
Only one of the crazy loads we've spotted

Any electrians out there
Vietnam would def give you something to worry about