Hello,

So firstly the boat trip was amazing. Ive never been snorkelling before, but it was a good job Esther had because there was the usual lack of instructions or safety talks. Was amazing to see the coral though, and all the colourful fish that didnt seen at all bothered by our presence. I have got rather sunburnt though on my back which makes carrying my rucksack rather painful. I promise i was blathered in suncream but itll be from when i was actually snorkelling in the water. Its fine though we still have plentiful supplies of moisturises so all is well. I was amazed by my swimming capabilities though, my recent swimming exploits have involved more drowning and doggy paddle than actual swimming, but i was rather good when strapped into a pair of flippers and a snorkel!

We met some nice people on the boat too who said that if we hadnt been to the hot springs we should definately go before we left. We thought this sounded like a good plan because we had checked out of our hotel so had no way of washing the salt out of our hair. So for just over three pound we bathed in a mudbath, had a hot mineral water shower, had a hot mineral water bath, stood under a hot mineral waterfall then swam in a hot mineral water swimming pool. Surprisingly enough we gave the cold swimming pool a miss. It was rather amazing and we felt thotoughly refreshed afterwards. The mud was so weird though, it must have been quite dense because we floated in it, very strange but good for the skin apparently.

We got to the bus tour office thing a but early, our bus was meant to leave at ten and we were there for about half 8. Its a really good job we were though because we had booked our nha trang to saigon bus ticket in hoi an, and apparently the message hadnt got though so there was no room for us on the 10pm bus, Luckily they could fit us on the 9pm bus though, and we had much better beds this time, on the top tier but further down so they were separated beds. Much less of a personal space invasion which i was very happy about. I even managed to get some sleep!

We arrived in Saigon (HO Chi Minh City) at about 6am and after minimal wandering found our hotel which is lovely. We have just been to the reunification palace and the cathedral and now are considering some lunch. think we will hit the big market for a spot of last minute shopping in vietnam (i still need to buy a conical hat!) and then we will have an early night.

Were booked onto a bus to Cambodia for tomorrow so should arrive there at about 2pm. Cant believe im nearly into my last week and ive still got a whole country to do yet.

Really looking forward to seeing you all again,

love form beth

xxxx