Ok, so I left Cambodia and headed for Vietnam!!!!

The bus ride was pretty uneventful (which made a nice change) and after we all successfully made it thru the border, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), where the traffic was just as youd expect - MAD! I had decided to stay only one night in Saigon, and head for Mui Nue the next morning. So had a couple of drinks with an Aussie girl i met on bus and then it was an early night.

After a 7.30 start and then driving around the block about 3 times until the driver was sure that every seat and space was taken (they have to make sure there are no empty seats) we started the next 7 hour trip to Mui Nue (a beach town- yay!). I didnt realise it was more of a kite surfing beach though, so the wind was pretty strong and i spent a bit of time hiding under my sarong. The hotel was nice and they had a very cute pet monkey ( who later bit me - and was not so cute anymore). I decided to do a few touristy things, so jumped on a cyclo (motorbike taxi) and off we went to the Red Canyon and then to the Sand Dunes where i paid my 8 year old guide to take me to the top (after a few rests for me along the way), after making it to the top (i was happy just to do that) my guide prepaped the plastic sheet which i was gunna slide down on - so he loaded it with sand and then threw more sand down the side of the drop and told me to get on.....so i did as i was told and laid down on my plastic. He then pushed me over the side! before i knew it i was already at the bottom and he was there beside me asking if wanted to go again...one look at what i had to climb back up and i was satisfied with my one go.

After Mui Nue I headed for Nga Trang and another beach where i spent days sunbathing and politely turning down everything and anything that the locals were trying to sell me and avoiding the cyclos calling out to take me everytime i stepped foot on the path.  While I was in Nga Trang is was the New Year, so i made an effort and went out for a few drinks with some random ppl I met at the bar.  After recovering the next day I decided it was time to move on and packed up my bag and headed for Hoi An.  The bus was full and in true Vietnamese style they pulled out the plastic chairs for those not lucky enuf to get a real seat and everyone settled in for the 12 hour journey.  After arriving in Hoi An I met up with the Australian girl who i met in Saigon and after wondering around the small town for a bit I headed for the beach (suprise suprise).  Another day in Hoi An and I was ready to leave so back on the bus and off to Hue, where I spent another few days wondering around the town and trying to fill my time.  I had booked a sleeper train to get up to Hanoi, which was a mission in itself, so as i waited for my train one afternoon I sat in the park, where a vietnamese girl in her 20's decided to join me.  After making what small talk we could she invited me for lunch- which i had to decline as I had a train to catch, but before she left she pulled a ring off her finger gave me a kiss on the cheek and put the ring on my finger before running away waving (for all i know, im now married, lol). 

After surviving the overnight sleeper train and being woken up every 30 minutes or so with ppl coming in and out of the 6 berth cabin and where at one point there were 8 ppl in there I arrived at Hanoi, only to be bombarded with motorbike taxis asking me where i wanted to go at 5am in the morning.  I had decided to head to Halong Bay straight away where I had heard about a boat cruise which was supposed to be worth doing.  So after negotiating a price me and my bag were put on the back of a motorbike and taken to the bus station where we had a 5 hour trip with the smell of fish for the whole trip at no extra cost!  After being dropped off next to the highway me and my bag again boarded the back of a motorbike before finally arrving in Halong Bay.  After several locals tried to rip me off by wanting to charge $75 USD for a one night boat cruise I finally settled on one for $35USD and the next morning I was dropped at the pier with the hundreds of other ppl and joined a group which appeared to be mostly couples- great!  Once we found our boat and climbed across several more to get to it (with our backpacks on) we settled down and thats when I met Jen and Jo (whom i now refer to as - the britz).   The cruise was def no party boat but it was good all the same - but one day was enuf and the next day we were heading back to Hanoi.

Jen, Jo and I managed to haggle the price of a room and are all staying in …what I can only describe as a shack?! We aren’t actually in the hotel, we are up a further flight of metal stairs outside (which I almost slipped down)...in a room, which is made of plastic panels. The roof in the bathroom leaks and the walls would fall down with a tiny bit of force! It’s a laugh though and we all just about squeeze into it! oh and cant be bad...we have cable tv! woooohooo!!

Hanoi hasn’t got the greatest weather at this time of the year and has been raining, so when we got here yesterday at 4 there wasn’t much else to do apart from start drinking! Was such a funny night, not knowing the layout of the city at all we ventured on a slight bar crawl…only to get caught in a rainstorm...wearing our shorts t-shirts and jandals!  After trying to avoid the rain by hiding under canopies we gave up and walked through the streets saturated! Eventually we reached a friendly bar and had a few more drinks…when we left the barman was nice enough to give us all ponchos! While Jen and I managed to put ours on without any problems, it was a bit of a struggle for Jo (she said hers was faulty) but I think alcohol may of been a contributing factor!

After walking the city lost …we reached another bar and met some cool guys, later we all ended up drinking on little plastic chairs at the corner of a road…and the local beer was being served up in abundance by some jolly Vietnamese woman for literally about 20 cents!!!

After taking an exhilarating ride on a motorbike taxi we ended the night at a Vietnamese Club! The vietnamese werent the best movers and shakers but it was good night out and we all felt a bit worse for wear the next morning.  We chilled for the rest of the day and then next day we were all on the same flight to Bangkok (which could be my second home) where we were supposed to part ways........

All in all Vietnam was kool and def has some great beaches - I give it a 6.5 out of 10