Just like back in 'Nam

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Southern Vietnam

Hello Dear Readers, hope you're all well! As I right to you now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Hoi An, Vietnam at 8 in the evening, still feeling a bit worse for wear following my birthday celebrations last night! Thanks to all those of you who send my a birthday message, as always I'm trying to write back to everyone who bothers writing to me, it does mean a lot and always cool to hear from anyone back home...can't believe I've been away 8 weeks already.

So, having spent the last couple of weeks in Vietnam and having been through quite a few different places, think its high time for an update! Our first stop in this new country was Ho Chi Minh City, (aka Saigon, which is what the locals still call it now although it was officially renamed some years ago) If I thought Phnom Penh and Bangkok were crazy, the volume here really got turned up to 11. There are more Motos than we had seen anywhere else (4 million in a city of around 8million people) and they all drive in every direction without signalling, stopping, or giving any indication of what they will do next. Put plenty of push bikes into the mix along with a few high speed trucks; and crossing the road turns into an experience which drastically reduces your life expectancy with every attempt. The only way to do it is just to step out and hope they don't hit you and it works surprisingly well, the only time you're really in danger is if you panic and stop to let them go in front of you (like you would back home) as they don't expect that and unfailingly swerve towards where you have halted, expecting you to have carried on. Its a unique experince and one which would be just as safe if you did it with your eyes closed (Don't worry mum - I haven't actually done that) but I'm just about used to it now and have somehow avoided any serious injury.

Anyway, sorry for that detour but I felt it needed to be said. To hurry things on let me summarise quickly the rest of Saigon. Beautiful city (although mental as described above.) We went to the old jungle tunnels (which are unbelievably tiny) used during the civil war/war with America and some other war museams which were all very interesting and we also took a trip to the Mekong Delta which was pretty but fairly boring compared to most of the other stuff we had done. After 4 nights there we too a bus to Mui Ne, which is home to a lovely beach and some amazing sand dunes, where you can pay/get ripped off to rent a piece of plastic and try to slide down them with zero success and look like and idiot.

Moving on from there we spent 2 nights in Dalat, an old town way up high in the Mountains where the Temp is about 10 degrees lower than everywhere else and is home to some really nice waterfalls which we took a trip to in the rain. Very beautiful there! Even journeyed over a very dubious wooden/wire suspension foot bridge, a piece of which fell off in my hend as I clutched at it for stability in the pouring rain, amazing! After Dalat we headed to Nha Trang, Vietnam's main beach resort. Huge waves, loads of sun, lots of chilled out bars and nice food and I also too a snorkelling trip to the local coral reef which was awesome! Really liked this place dispite having heard mixed reviews about it and could have def. stayed a bit longer.

Following Nha Trang we took a 12 hour night bus (which much to our surprise had actual beds on, not just chairs, which we weren't eligable for on our ticket. We kept quiet and got away with it, although to be fair the "beds" were a decent size for a smallish midget so they had the last laugh really.) to Hoi An, which as I said is where I am now. This place is BEAUTIFUL. The whole town, which is fairly small, is a World Heritage site, built on a river and all the buildings are very old fashioned, colonial style and very well preserved on the whole. Here we celebrated my birthday. Went out with Rick, Lisa and a couple we had met called Neil and Naomi. Won't go into too many details but all in all a hazy but great night. Went to Hoi An beach as well which is lovely and tomorrow were and continuing north to teh town of Hue.

Right *pause for breath.* I have just typed that all very quickly and def been a bit lax with my grammer/spelling, but after my initial meander I have tried to be as concise as poss. although I had a lot to catch up on as still seem to be doing so much and not staying anywhere for too long. As always thanks for reading, whether you ploughed through the whole thing or just dipped in an out. Your messages are always read and appreciated!

Thanks again and speak soon,

Andy!

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Comments

[Joe]

Aww man, i didn't realise that it was your birthday! Apologies! Hope you had a good on! Booked Canada the other day :) Its gunna be SWEET! Sure, x