Hi!

were in vietnam at the moment! which means im almost up to date with my blog (gasp!) were only in vietnam until 16th when our visa runs out and then we move on to thailand and then laos! it'll be really sad to leave vietnam as weve had such an amazing time here.

getting into vietnam wasnt problematic but was long and frustrating. we got the bus from kampot to phnom penh and then the bus to ho chi minh city. we left at 7.30 am and got in at 10pm... the driving was fine though long but the border officers were really inefficient and it ended up taking more than 2 hours to cross a room about 10m long! we got there eventually though and really enjoyed ourdelves in ho chi minh city, exploring the cu chi tunnels, really interesting, the war remnants museum, the reunification palace, and spent time generally wandering and shopping and getting to know the city. james and rob didnt however, they were first to suffer with the food! rob actually had diarrhea whilst on the bus to ho chi minh! that cant have been nice! the cities in vietnam have been much like those in cambodia, or how cambodia would be with a bit of money. ho chi minh city had so much character and was, were felt a really bustling and exciting place.

our next stop was hoi an, we took a sleeper train which was pretty fun, though we had paid for a carriage by ourselves and we put in as a 3 and a 2, our room was for 4 and the final person was an oldish man who had smuggled in a puppy in a basket. i felt terrible because the puppy was really cute, but could barely turn around, the space was so small. he was given some egg to eat while we were on the 17 hour journey (which gave him eggy wind), but we didnt see him get any water at all.

hoi an was amazing. all of us loved it, so much so that we extended our stay. it was just so beautiful, a mixture of chinese, japanese and french architecture that awarded it a unesco world heritage site. they were so graceful and elegant, ageing gradually making the town seem all the more peaceful, almost lost in a timewarp. we also loved the boutiquey shops, ive bought so many souvenirs here! hoi ans speciality is tailor made clothing, which we all took advantage off. i now have a beautiful new hand embroidered dress, for us$20! on our final evening we saw the full moon festival where the whole of hoi an old town turns off its electricity, and sends lanterns down the river. we went along the river on a little rowing boat, so amazing. we made a wish and set our lanterns off into the river.

after hoi an, we went to hue, the old capital where we saw the citadel and had a cruise down the perfume river.

we then took the sleeper bus to hanoi. the sleeper bus needs some comment here. the bus had bunks on, 3 in a row and 38 in all! yet the driver crammed on maybe 43, seating people in the aisles... the sleeper bus was a real novelty and quite a fun experience in the end. definately not the place for a good nights sleep though, the beds were literally the width of a person so it was difficult to turn around, and half of ours were taken up by our hand luggage! none of us could straightened our legs!

weve just had our first day in hanoi, we got here at 6am after the sleeper bus so have had quite a relaxed day, i finally got to see a water puppet show which i really enjoyed, though it was in vietnamese it was still really funny, and i loved the way the puppets moved. the dragons even breathed fireworks and squirted water! we also saw the huge lake with the temple in the middle which had the embalmed body of a giant turtle on it!

off to halong bay tomorrow which should be really good, its lots of sailing boats called junks (think pirates of the caribbean 3) sailing amongst the many islands, should be good!

lots of love

xx