Hi Guys,

Firstly before I begin I would just like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, whatever you are up to and wherever you are!

I am now in Hanoi, having just finished my 4 week tour through Cambodia and Vietnam. I now have the some-what tricky task of summing up the last few weeks, which may be a bit tricky, so bear with me!

We started off our tour of Vietnam in Ho Chi Min City, which is a crazy city full of millions and milllions of motorbikes! My favourite thing about this place was the pleasure I had when crossing the road, whereas back home you would litterally wait for the traffic to clear, in Vietnam you just have to go and the bikes will 'swerve around you'! Anyway, we stayed in this city for about 3 days, taking in the local markets, museums and temples and I recall even being taken to a post office, an apparent attraction according to our tour leader!

After a few days we caught a night train to Nha Trang (no idea if this is spelt correctly), anyway, this place is a small beach resort north of Ho Chi Minh. The night train was a lot of fun as we all decided that the best way to sleep was to simply get drunk! So we managed to cram 13 people into a tiny cabin and bought a massive bucket full of ice and beer - nice!

Upon arrival at a very early 6am, we were able to check into our hotel before going out on a fantstic boat trip! Which enabled us to see a really picturesque fishing village/island, and do a spot of swimming before finishing up with a two hour snooze on the beach! It was just what the doctor ordered after a pretty uncomfortable nights sleep!

Anyway on the second day in Nha Trang we all had a bit of a 'girly day', we went to a mud bath, which was just hilarious followed by a... massage! As you all know, I am a not really a touchy feely sort of person. I was slightly dubious about having a massage, as I am such a whimp, and I have heard that massages can be quite rough! Well anyway, after it must have been no more than 5 seconds the massouse (no idea how to spell this word) had both hands round my neck! I had to grin and bear it - I HATE having my neck touched, anyway she slowly moved down my body, which included jumping up and down on my back and bum! Now, this was agony as for what my lady lacked in height, she more than made up with in width! Lets say she was a little on the plump side, and it was pretty painful! Anyway, after a very long hour I was relieved to get out of there! I am glad I finally plucked up the courage to have a massage and I was pretty pleased with myself for not being the wimp I was expecting!

Anyway, after this day we boarded another night train to Hoi An, which is a pretty little town with cobbled streets and old colonial buildings. The main attraction fo this town was its tailors, and most of the group with the exception of me for obvious reasons, bought new clothes! However, one activity I particularly enjoyed here was a cooking class! Whilst I do not pretent to be a Jamie Oliver I do actually enjoy cooking, so it was great learning to cook a few local dishes! I just hope I remember them for when I am home!

After Hoi An, we moved onto Hue which was a bit of a weird place and not much really to see other than the nearby DMZ area, for which we did a tour of the war attractions! Although I did find it all quite interesting I think a lot of it went over my head slightly, despite Manny's best efforts to simplify the events of the Vietnam war!

Anyway, after Hue, we boarded our final night train to Hanoi. We had pretty much a free day here to explore, before most of us went onto a 'snake' meal! Yep, thats right! The leader asked who wanted to try some snake, and as I had already tried spider and scorpian, I thought why not! What I did not realise was that it was like snake tapas with about 8 different dishes, which included amongst other things, snake skin, snake balls, snake spring rolls and even snake soup - the last one was particularly foul and made me feel slightly naucious!

Anyway the next day we left early for Halong Bay, which involed a boat trip through an area of hundreds of little 'rock islands'! I am not really doing well in explaining it, but it was so beautiful and my highlight of the trip so far! After the boat trip we arrived in Cat Ba Island, where we all tried some of the local seafood before going to a Karaoke bar! Now, another thing that I do not do is Karaoke, but I am pleased to say that I gave it a go! Aparently I was not too bad, but that is probably due to us all having to listen to about 8 songs from Pete (aka Jim from American Pie) - I don't think Jim would mind me saying that he was awful, so yes compared to him I probably was not that bad - hehehehe (sorry Jim)

Anyway, after our night on Halong bay we went back to Hanoi and had a nice dinner together for the last time! It felt slightly strange for me as everyone was all excited about going home for Christmas! However, after 4 amazing weeks I am quite looking forward to doing my own thing for a while!

Anyway, as it is now Christmas I have decided to stay on in Hanoi until the 28th, where I then fly onto Vientianne for new year!

I hope I have not bored you all too much!

Take Care

Jon