VIETNAM

Arrived in Vietnam late afternoon, where I almost got attacked by about 8 dogs while trying to cross a wooden bridge to get to the toilet! (Decided to hold it in) Did the usual passport control formalities then on to Chau Doc for a one night stopover. Enjoyed some local cuisine with Rolf & Sidsel (Norwegian couple) & Rory then back to the hotel.

Following day we made our way to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where Ben and I explored the Ben Henh Market and watched the locals playing Gow and women doing aerobics in the park. There must have been about 200 women all getting down to a giant speak situated in the centre. Ho Chi Minh City has over 7 million motor scooters on the road, no traffic lights, so it's a slow walk crossing upto 5 lanes, no sudden movements (and the bikes should just hopefully avoid you) It basically scares the living s*** out of you every time you cross the road hoping and praying that no one will hit you! But if you stand and wait for the traffic to die down you will be waiting all day, the roads are always jammed packed!

Jimmy, Ryan & Lara were finishing the tour today so we went out as a group for their last supper! We have been joined by 3 others though, Heather & Shannon from Canada and Jon also from England. We visited the local market for some street food, which is all prepared and cooked in front of you! 6 of us continued for drinks after; visiting a bar with live country music, fire shows, cocktail shows. We then tried teaching our tour leader Fon how to play Darts and Pool in the next bar, more practice required!

A visit to the tunnels at Cu Chi followed next morning, feeling pretty grotty from the night before, didn't really fancy crawling through tight spaces! The tunnels were the underground home of the Northern Vietcong Guerillas and the Cu Chi villagers until the end of the war in the late 1980's. These tunnels stretched over 250km from Saigon and helped to keep the Americans at bay. Our guide, Tin who was a former occupant of the tunnels stopped us half way into the woods and began to talk about how to get into the tunnels. He reached down and exposed a secret entrance point simply covered with leaves, a wooden hatched door right below us. We took turns and climbed into the entrance lifting the lid and closing on top; it was pitch black and the air was pretty stagnant. Ben decided to try and find his way to the exit point situated about 5 meters away, he soon got lost due to a T-Junction and Tin had to find him and lead him to safety. We viewed the sickeningly and brutal traps that the Vietnamese set; none of which was to kill their victims immediately, but for them to suffer the horrid consequences. The multiple sharpened bamboo spikes and sturdy mechanical functions were pretty impressive. We tasted the local tapioca with a nutty salty sugary dip, quite bland but there wasn't anything else to choose from!

We boarded our first overnight train which was part of the famous Reunification express from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang. Boarded around 7pm due to arrive at around 5am. The cabins were pretty good, two bunk beds, a table for drinking and a few games of cards. We stocked up on Vodka and beer and started to play cards, Jon was the first to pass out; so Anton and Jez decided to draw on his leg, Jon snapped and the handbags were soon flying. All forgot in the morning! Arrived extremely early in Nha Trang were we treated ourselves to a mud bath and spa massage, costing a messily 4 pound for an hour full body. We then entered the giant bath tub filled with a greeny, browny runny pretty smelly sort of mud, bathed for a while, sunbathed for a while, washed off and a mineral soak, very relaxing. We had dinner on the beach followed by a few buckets; met loads of English and Irish people, including the reserve goalkeeper at Weymouth, first name John, 22 years of age. So if someone can confirm to me by looking on Champ Manager 08/09 that would be great.

Took a boat trip to the fishing island just off of Nha Trang, a tour around the fishing village where the locals didn't seem impressed we were their. Back on the boat for a seafood lunch, snorkeling and a trip to another island for some volleyball and swimming. Only problem being it was a pebbled beach, so not much swimming and not much volleyball. A good day though.

Next was our second sleeper train from Nha Trang to Da Nang then a short drive to Hoi An. This train was definitely a lower class than our first train. We boarded our carriage for the night, Ben, Rory, Jon and I just as before but soon noticed our carriage was riddled with cockroaches and all kinds of insects and bugs. We did what we had to do by fumigating the place with 100% deet spray and also managed to get our hands on a hammer located in the hallway. So the bugs were soon being splattered. One good thing came out of it, i finally got to sleep in my mosquito net that i purchased before coming away, into the sleeping bag, mosquito net, them bugs weren't coming near me!

Arrived into Hoi An to the array of suit shops! I spent the day getting measured up for suits, so watch out Vietnam! Following day i took part in a cooking class at the Red Bridge Restaurant and cooking school. We had a tour of the colorful local market picking up ingredients for our days cooking and also trying some of the local fruit and veg. A short boat trip up the Hoi An River followed, rain clouds brewing in the distance. Reached the Red Bridge, tour of the herb garden then into the cooking school to learn how to cook Vietnamese style! Our Chef was fantastic, continually cracking jokes and mocking most of us, which did make the experience much more enjoyable. He demonstrated each dish and then we returned to our individual stand to repeat. Fresh rice paper rolls with shrimp, crispy pancakes filled with pork and shrimp and Vietnamese eggplant in clay-pot with veg. Ive got to say the food was delicious, so if any of you are lucky enough i may cook for you on my return!

Returned to the Tailors to pick up the new suit and for good measure i decided to get a coat made, taking a record breaking 2 hours! We all went for some pizza then off to our very own Karaoke bar! We had an entire room to ourselves, kitted out with sofa's, drinks, food, tv, 2 microphones and thousands of songs to choose from! For those of you who know me well enough i haven't got the greatest of voices so lucky enough for 2 microphones, one of the others could drown my voice out. We spent the next 3 hours singing, dancing and drinking the night away, Jez was doing stand up comedy between songs, which was gradually getting worse and worse as the night went on! Anton pulling his moves out on the table, the rest of us having a great laugh! Glad the general public didn't see! Or did they.... We got a few funny looks and laughs when we went downstairs... There were a few tv screens behind the bar, so maybe the locals had a good laugh at our expensive viewing us from downstairs!

We drove along the Hai Van Pass following morning on our way to Hue, scenery was breathtaking, driving along windy mountain roads with shear drop to one side! Our journey took us to Hue where we enjoyed lunch at the Manderin Cafe before Ben, Jon, Rory and I explored the City. We walked over one of the most famous landmarks the Truong Tien Bridge built by the French before continuing onto the indoor market! We got some very strange looks from the locals, maybe because we were all about a foot bigger than anyone else, or maybe because Rory was wearing a huge coat in 25 degree heat, not sure! Onto Tran Hung Dao street where we checked out the display of old military equipment used by the Liberation forces and Americans during the American War. The Ngan Gate and ceremonial cannons and tanks were looking like they needed some desperate repair. We did what most boys do, play with the cannons and sit on the tanks! A walk upto Thung Tu Gate followed, which was one of the eight gates into the old walled city built by the Kings of the Nguyen dynasty in 1802. We climbed the stairs for a view over the City, overlooking the bridge and moat.

I treated myself to some local cuisine at a posh restaurant, set meal of Shrimp Soup, Pancake with Pork and Shrimp, Spring Rolls, Garlic Noddles, Rice, Mixed Vegetables, Fish in Tomato & Garlic and Fresh Fruit for a whopping two pound fifty! Bargain! A tour of the Imperial City through the Ngo Mon Gate where the Royal Family lived, although 90% of the City was destroyed in the War with the Americans. We viewed the Kings Palace, the library, the Queen Mothers house, the Kings room and learnt about the history of the Kings and their Congkebines! They are currently rebuilding the whole City which will take about 25 years, should look good when complete!

Boarded our third night train from Hue to Hanoi wondering if our carriage would be riddled with cockroaches once more! To our delight it was free! We had made an agreement that we were going to drink the cheap Whiskey and Vodka to help us sleep! We boarded at around 3pm due to arrive 4.30am, Ben, Rory, Jon and I got completed smashed, made fools out of ourselves while being filmed by Anton and Jez, passed out by about 10pm, but had a great 6 hours sleep. Bus straight from Ha Noi to Halong Bay!

Boarded our private Junk Boat for our afternoon cruise around Halong Bay. The weather was slightly overcast and a bit misty, which wasn't the best. We soon had a fresh fish lunch and then stopped for some diving off the top tier. Continued our sail around this fantastic bay which has hundreds of limestone islands. Such a spectacular place, even though the ocean was full of other tourist boats, and weather slightly overcast. We visited one of the many caves, which have been formed over the last 500 billion or maybe 500 million years, again amazing views. On our return to the hotel after dinner while walking back, Ben, Rory, Jon and I were continually being asked if we wanted "motorbike." You get used to this as you are continually being asked every 2 minutes by the locals. So we decided as a bit of a joke to take one of the local up on his offer and try to fit all 5 of us on his bike, then simply leave because we couldn't all fit. This backfired on us, as the driver called over his friends and we were soon surrounded by about 8 drivers all saying "bike" we continued to walk to the hotel trying to ignore them. Then the bike drivers continued onto "do you want Boom Boom, we get Boom Boom to your Hotel." No we didn't want any Boom Boom, all we wanted was a quiet night watching Beverly Hill Cop, so finally got rid of them when we entered the hotel!

We arrived back into Hanoi following day taking a walk through the market area and old quarter before a trip to watch the water puppet show at the theatre. Went to a Pagoda in the middle of a lake and had a Cyclo ride from the City centre back to hotel. We manged to get a good bargain from our driver, who is riding a normal push bike with Jon and I in a big basket on the front of the bike, tough work for him! We got a funny video of us going through the streets on Hanoi (hope to post later on) Went for a group meal in the evening of which both my starter and main meal didn't arrive until 15 minutes after everyone had finished, was not impressed! Something that did soon cheer me up was the local beer being sold on the streets, Beer Hoi, you sit with the locals on small tables and chairs on the street drinking their local brew by the glass which works out costing 10 pence a beer, and it actually tastes really nice! Went to a few local bars for pool and drinking before a motor scooter ride back to the hotel.

Up early for our final day in Hanoi, we went to see the body of Ho Chi Minh which was quite a serial experience. He died in 1969 and his body has been preserved for the public to view. The Ba Dinh Square was from here that Ho Chi Minh addressed half a million Vietnamese with his declaration of independence speech in 1945. Today it is a shrine and pilgrimage site. The Mausoleum contains Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body and is closely modeled on that of Lenin. It was heavily guarded and you were not allowed to take photos and were soon rushed through by the many guards. We viewed the Ho Chi Minh Museum and exhibition of his life, section on Vietnam land and the struggle and victories of the Vietnamese people, section on world historical events which exerted impacts on Ho Chi Minhs revolutionary cause and the Vietnamese peoples victory.

It was the final supper for Anton, Sandy, Jez, Sarah, Rolf, Sedcil, Diane, Kylie, Jon, (Heather and Shannon who shock failed to turn up) Our taxi crashed into a motor scooter on route, no injuries though! Had a really nice meal a few quite drinks after and a fairly early night due to an early start for everyone following day. Next morning Rory, Ben, Alison and I were off to Laos, the others all came to wave us off which was really nice!

And that was Vietnam!