Phwor, What a couple of weeks I've had since my last entry!

Although I've uploaded some photos since then, I really haven't had a chance to keep a blog or even write journal entries. After some confusing shenanigans at the border I finally arrived at Hanoi... at 5:00 am in the morning! I dropped my bag at a hotel and went for a walk, and I think I got a completely different first impression of Hanoi to most people! Of course by 9 in the morning the streets were full of mopeds and people eating, drinking and selling! But for a couple of hours it was a peaceful cool place, with just a few people around playing badminton and doing aerobics (!).

I spent a couple of days wandering around by myself, and drinking lots of iced coffee. But on the 29th of July I joined up with the Intrepid tour, from Hanoi to Bangkok, via several places in Vietnam and Cambodia. In fact, here's the list:

Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Pehn, Siem Reap, Battambang, Bangkok.

When I booked the tour I don't think I appreciated how whirlwind the whole thing would be, as there are only 2 places that we spent/spend more than 2 nighs at - 3 nights at Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon, as many prefer to call it), and 3 at Siem Reap in Cambodia, which is the nearest town to Angkor Wat. Of course the tour has organised a lot of activities and some really good guides, and there are many things I wouldn't have seen if I had been travelling independently, and things I wouldn't have learned without the guides. However, there's not been enough time to actually experience the places for what they are. For example, we only spent 2 nights in the historic trading town of Hoi An. We had one afternoon wandering, and a day snorkling at some reefs nearby. If I had been by myself, I could have easily spent 5-6 days there, as there is a lot of history in the town and nearby, good water for diving and snorkling, beaches to relax at, and the whole place retains a kind of faded elegence (I probably stole that soundbite), making it a nice place to chill out.

Fortunately I get on with everyone on the tour, and the majority of us go for a drink after dinner, so there's a really good social atmosphere in the group. However I don't think I'll be doing a tour like this again - it's good fun, but I think independent travel suits me better... ah well, I know for next time.

Here's some highlights of the tour so far:

Sunset and seafood at Ha Long Bay; A moped tour around Hue, seeing places as diverse as a Buddhist nunnery, a hat making shop, and an emperor's summer palace (among others); Snorkling over reefs near Hoi An (and near the infamous China beach); A tour of part of the Mekong river; The genocide museum in Phnom Pehn - one of the saddest places I've ever been to.

Tomorrow we're on to Siem Reap and the temples at Angkor - so the next chance for me to update will probably be in Bangkok. I'm looking forward to a day of chilling out (although I don't know that Bangkok is the best polace to do that)!