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We had an amazing plan for our arrival in Hanoi - since we were landing at about 4am and the lonely planet had made us think that it wasn't safe to get in a taxi from the airport at that time, we thought it would be a good idea to sleep in the airport for a couple of hours (sorry we fibbed to you mum - we hadn't really booked a hotel!). When we arrived at 1am and saw that Hanoi airport has less there than Southampton airport we started to realise our plan sucked!! Luckily for us we had met a very loud, drunk scouser who was going to Hanoi to meet a friend from home and they offered to taxi us into the city. Even luckier, the friend was moving house and was staying in a hotel and arranged a room for us at this early hour! It turned out to be the best first night that we've had arriving in any country thanks to the very friendly Mark and Ian!!
We spent our first day wandering around the lake in the old quarter of Hanoi, sampling the local food including some unknown dish that we ate in a random woman's house (see picture of me eating in front of a washing machine). We spent another day in Hanoi doing not much other than visit the Ho Chi Minh museum and riding around in rickshaws.
Leaving Hanoi we went on a trip to Halong Bay (like in the Top Gear special) and we went out on a big junk boat, spending one night on the boat and another on Monkey Island (there were monkeys there (obviously) and one tried to attack another of the guys on our trip). We also visited Hospital Cave on Cat Ba Island, where a big cave was transformed into a hospital during the war. The trip was amazing and Halong Bay looks even more amazing than it did on the telly!
We spent another couple of days in Hanoi, not doing much other than seeing a water puppet show and going for a massage - they made us strip down straight away even though it wasn't one of those places and sit in barrels and baths. It was an awesome massage though! Finally leaving Hanoi for Hue, we boarded an overnight train and were stuck with two bloody top bunks! We did some sightseeing for a couple of days visiting the Citadel, various temples and tombs by river, and ate some brilliant Vietnamese food in a little family run café that was recommended to us when we were in Hanoi. By this point we'd realised we really do like Vietnamese food!
We took a crappy bus to Hoi An, enjoying the views but not the aircon! Back to food on arrival, we went and tried (and loved) the local speciality Cau Lau. With our stomachs full we went off to get measured and order some clothes! Before collecting our new clothes the following day we borrowed some bikes and headed off to China Beach, which was apparently a favourite place for GI's to take their R&R during the war. When we picked up our clothes Lois wasn't too pleased - her happy pants were more like sad pants (she really looked like a clown in them)…. But not to waste good money (and thanks to the crazy sizing of the sad pants) I'm the proud owner of some sad pants!! At least Lois hadn't chosen pink material! Before leaving Hoi An we did a half day cooking course and learned to cook some amazing food, had some more clothes made (Lois was happier this time), and visiting some of the sights in the old town. Looking back we both think Hoi An was our favourite place in Vietnam - it's a pretty little town with a nice beach, amazing food and a very relaxed atmosphere.
We doubled back up the coast to Danang so that we could catch another train. In our short time there we made a visit to the Cham Museum and saw lots of sculpture from the region. Then we spent a whole day on the train to Nha Trang, where once we arrived at 10pm we found our hotel of choice to be full. Luckily a guy who claimed to be called Bruce Lee showed us to a decent hotel that was near the beach! We spent a few days on the beach, took a trip to the cheapest water park in the world (less than £3 for both of us), and did some snorkelling (unfortunately there were lots of jellyfish around and they do sting!).
We got carried away in one of the tour agencies in Nha Trang and booked ourselves on a 3 day Easy Rider tour to Dalat (basically we would tour around the central highlands on the back of motorbikes). On the first morning we were picked up by our guides, Dui and Mr Hai and met another couple, Matt and Steph, who were also doing the tour with their Easy Riders Dou and Thi. We spent the day covering lots of kms, seeing the little villages on our way. In the evening we went to dinner in a local restaurant and were the only non-Vietnamese there… the food was amazing and our guides were crazy (especially Duo who ate a gecko off the wall - we have the video to prove it)! The highlights of day two were swimming in a waterfall, visiting a minority village and having a ride on the back of an elephant!! On the second night Dou managed to get a random drunk English guy to eat a gecko - I wasn't that drunk! On our last day we seemed to be in a rush - they went really fast!! To make matters more interesting it rained! Lots! We arrived safe but wet in Dalat and said goodbye to the Easy Riders who were riding home that same day. The Easy Rider trip was fantastic - definitely something everyone should do when in Vietnam.
There wasn't much to see in Dalat as we'd already seen lots of the surrounding area so we got on the slow bus to Saigon the next day. We spent our time in Saigon sightseeing - taking in the very sad War Remnants Museum, the Vietcong tunnels in Cu Chi, and the Reunification Palace (where the images of the tanks crashing through the walls at the end of the war come from). The Cu Chi tunnels were amazing, we got to crawl through about 100 metres and that was enough for everyone - it was small and very hot! Our guide on that day gave us little insights to the war and told us that he had been a translator for the US army during the war. The bonus of our visit was that I got to fire an AK47 (like a pro!) - Lois didn't want a go after she'd heard how loud it was!
When we left Saigon we headed up the Mekong to Chau Doc, where we visited some fishing villages and a Cham village. Finally our time in Vietnam was over (it was an awesome time!!) and we headed up the Mekong to Cambodia.
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