Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello everyone back home!!!! Hope everybody is well and still enjoying your fantastic English summer! HA! HA! HA! We are now in Vietnam and seen as we've been here for nearly 2 weeks we thought an update was due, so here's Vietnam so far....
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) after yet another long bus journey and having to wait around at yet another border crossing!! The city was busy and like anywhere else in Asia the roads were full of people on bikes. We booked onto a half a day tour up to the near by village of Cu Chi. The village is famous for there 200km of underground tunnels the soliders from Vietnam used to hide from the Americans in the war. Some of the tunnels had been restored so that tourists like us could go play around in them. We both went in what can only be described as the smallest man hole ever and took our first look into a tunnel. It was sooooo dark and sooooo small you can't believe people could have been running around in these for years while the war was on. Our guide showed us examples of some meetings rooms, health rooms, the kitchen and dining areas that had all been dug open so you can look down into them and walk inside. It was amazing because each room had a tiny hole in the corner which was the entry point into the tunnels if they needed to get lower down into the ground. Crouched down we ventured into a 30m tunnel and it was dark, hot and very cramped. Me beinging of a borrower size found it easier to get through it than Ian the giant. He literally had to crawl to fit through the tiny passage.
We eventually came to the end of the guided walk around the site to find a shooting range!!! On our tiny budget we have left Ian went and bought 10 bullets and I decided I would only shoot 1 and he could have 9. With his M16 in his hand Ian went first and the sound was so loud I thought I would be deaf for the rest of the day! After Ian did 5 shots I went up for my 1 and ended up shooting the 5 that were left!!! Opps!!!
Leaving Saigon we headed north and for the coastal town of Mui Ne. You can smell Mui Ne before you can see it thanks to the huge clay pots of fermenting fish sauce the town is famous for!!! Ummm lovely!!!!! It was really quiet here with only a few places to eat and the beach was slightly disappointing due to all the fishing crap that was washed up onto it! We stayed for 2 days then decided to head up to the central highlands to a place called Da Lat. The bus arrived to pick us up and it was a tiny minibus, a bit like a shed on wheels, that had luggage all on the back seats, they had to kick our bag into the hold under the bus as there was no room for it and then when we got on there were no seats for us 2!!!! The driver managed to move some luggage and squeeze me on the back seat with another couple and Ian got squashed next to a local! After about the third time luggage had fallen and smacked into my head I knew this was going to be an exciting bus trip!!! With the bus already full the driver continued to pick up locals from the side of the road and fill the isle with plastic seats for them to sit!!!! We eventually arrived in Da Lat safe and sound after a few near misses going up the mountain sides.
Da Lat is a town up in the mountains so we felt a shocking drop in temp. to 18 degrees when we arrived. It was beautiful in the mornings then at about 2 or 3pm the rains came and it was like being back in Pendle with rain and black clouds!!! We hired to guides called the 'Easy Riders' with bikes and went on a trip to find Elephant Waterfall. The guys were so nice they took us to see flowers and coffee plantations, silk worms and stopped the bikes at every little stop for us take photos of the gorgeous, lush countryside. The waterfall was amazing!! One of the guides who was about 60 took us to the waterfall as he said it is dangerous without a guide!!! We soon realised how dangerous when we found ourselves scrambling down slippery rocks to reach the base of it. It was worth while as the view from the bottom was fantastic with tones of water pouring down over the top of it. We went in behind the waterfall to a cave and could hardly see from all the spray of all the water, as you can imagine we got drenched wet through! Next to the waterfall was a temple we went to look around and out the back in the grounds stood a huge fat budda statue with the biggest smile I've ever seen, it was so cute!!! Getting back to the hotel we took off our sunglasses to reveal the biggest panda eyes you've ever seen!!! Forgetting to put cream on while riding around on the back of a bike in the sun for 3 hours is never a good idea!!!!
Well finally we're in Nha Trang! We've been here for 4 days now and it is like a holiday town with a gorgeous long beach. While being here we managed to meet up with another couple we met in Bangkok which obviously ment a huge wreckage involving drinking drinks that when served came in huge jam jar glasses???? We move on today further up the coast to a place called Hoi An on an overnight bus that takes 12 hours, so we're really looking forward to that!!
Lots of love to everyone back home xxxxxxxx
- comments