Everyone was very tired today. This morning we went to a beautiful temple and also saw incense being made and a rice hat demonstration. This afternoon we had a coach ride back to Danang airport and then a flight to Hanoi. My first impression of Hanoi was that it was crazy. Different from Ho Chi Minh city in that its not as hectic it seems but on the map, its very hard to navigate around anywhere. I was scared of getting lost in my free time. Emmo gave us a quick orientation tour but it didn’t seem to help me much. There is a shoe street (where they sell just shoes) and a bag street, DVD street, etc. The group split up for we had a free night. I stuck with some of the girls and ... read more

Free day –so most slept in and relaxed but myself and a few others were up early for a boat ride to Cham Island. The speed boat ride out there woke us all up; was super fun! Had a 1 hour walking tour of the island to see the fishing village & a pagoda. Then onto our private beach which was total paradise! There was had a yummy seafood lunch. This was my first chance to sit and spend the day baking in the sun & swimming in the ocean. It was so hot you had to swim every 20 mins or so to cool off. It was a full day on the island, then back to the hotel. I had to go back to YALY to pick up my tailored clothes. Got take away food ... read more

Up at 8:30am with only 2 hours sleep. We had a party boat excursion today so I figured I could rest! Emmo cracked a beer at 10am so everyone else followed suit and joined in! Our first stop was snorkeling which I really enjoyed! Then I floated around in an inner tube. People were jumping off the boat and having tons of fun while we were docked. We then had a huge feast for lunch! The music on our boat was great – we played I’m on a Boat and all tried to sing it. Another tourist boat then parked up beside ours and some random boy band played for both boats. Next was the best part- there was a dude in a floating tube serving alcohol so everyone jumped off the boat and swam to ... read more

Showered, ate breakfast and lounged around in a hammock until we left. Boated back to the bus where everyone was tired from last night and we all napped on the bus. I slept on the back seat and loved it there! This afternoon we went to Cu-Chi tunnels. Had my 1st Pho soup for lunch! I didn’t go in the tunnels as I felt too claustrophobic. Felt lame with the snake thing yesterday and the tunnel thing today. Had free time at the hotel so I checked my emails, showered and actually blew dry my hair for once. Met up with some more newbies for dinner, then went to a beautiful park all lit up with tiny white lights and ate amazing BBQ variety of meats and all. Z & I even got chocolate fondue. We ... read more

Not in good form when I got up this morning. Up at 9:30am, ate breakfast and said our goodbyes to everyone we left at the hotel. Emmo was laughing at us all the whole morning as we were all very rough throughout the trip to the airport, checking in, etc. We just kept looking at our cameras, reminiscing with each others pics of last night, etc. Got to Ho Chi Minh City and Z and I are now roomies for the rest of the trip! We checked into our hotel and had free time until 7:30pm before meeting the newbies. I tried to sleep to feel better, but it didn’t happen. Went for a walk and realized this city is insane and so much for me to take in, especially hungover. The amount of motorcycles, mopeds, ... read more