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Liz: So we crossed the border into Vietnam pretty smoothly. This was because we had to all put a dollar in our passports as a bribe for the border officials. Anyway, we got through quickly and that was the main thing.
We went to a stopover town called Chau Doc. Our Hotel was horrific. I got in my room and something scurried down the wall. I don't want to know what it was. Steve was pretty happy because he got the bed with the Hello Kitty bedding!! (There's photo's on fb)
That evening we went on a motorbike ride up a mountain to watch the sunset over Vietnam, while chilling in a cafe full of hammocks. It really is a hard life!!! We all had drivers. Mine said his name was Ivan, but I'm not sure that's right! The ride up the mountain was hilarious! We went up in convoy and everyone was chilling, holding onto the back of the bike, taking photos etc. Steve was clinging onto his driver for dear life! He wouldn't let go!
The next day we made it to Ho Chi Min City or Saigon! It's such a cool place! It feels pretty European because all the architecture is French. It was really busy. In Vietnam everyone has mopeds not cars. There's just people chilling on street corners offering to take you somewhere on the back of their bike. When you're crossing the road you've just sort of have to step out and hope they all drive around you and not into you!
Anyway, we went on a trip to the cu chi tunnels which was a battlefield from the Vietnam War where the locals who were fighting against the Americans built an entire village underground and lived there for 20 years. It was all connected by tunnels (obviously) and there were loads of booby traps the tunnels were so small even though they'd been made bigger for us fatty western tourists.
We met the new people on our tour! There were 2 kiwi girls, 2 British girls and 3 Swiss girls! We had to say goodbye to the Norwegians! It was so sad :(
Since the start of the tour we've been developing a problem........his name is Daniel (he spells it in a weird Norwegian way!) The girl he's traveling with hates him so he's decided to try and latch onto us and he's sooooooo annoying. At first we thought it was a sort of culture difference and things were just getting lost in translation, but we were talking to the cool Norwegians about it and they said that he was just strange. We've concluded that he has some social problems.
Our next stop was a beach town called Nha Trang. This is where Dave our tour guide lives. He took us to a beach that only the locals go to and it looked even more like paradise than the island we sailed to in Cambodia. White sand, lush green mountains, clear blue sea. It was unreal!! We had the best day bumming around. We headed off home where we were going to go have a pamper at the mud baths until I realised I'd left my purse at the beach! I really am the worst traveler! I just loose everything! Steve now checks up on me whenever we're leaving somewhere to make sure I haven't left anything, a bit like a child!
The next day we went on a boat cruise. We were with other people so it was really nice to not be stuck with just our group, especially Daniel. We went around a few islands and did some snorkeling. It was brilliant, at lunch we met up with 2 other boats and the crews got together and performed as 'Vietnam's best boy band'. Their drum kit was made out of a tin symbol and plastic drums. The singer fancied himself as the next JT or something. At one point one of the men came out in drag and sang a song. It was all very bizarre but hilarious!
After Nha Trang we went to a town called Hoi An. It was really pretty. It's one of the only parts of Vietnam that wasn't destroyed in the war. We did some shopping and decided to rent bikes and cycle down to the beach. We were all ready to go and just leaving the hotel when Daniel creeps up on us! We pretended we were in a rush to leave and gave him vague directions to where we were going, then legged it out of the hotel so he couldn't find us. We managed to successfully navigate our way to the beach, cycling on the wrong side of the road. We parked our bikes up and headed towards the sand when bloody Daniel the stalker pops up again! So we had to spend the afternoon listening to him talk about Bergen in Norway, where he's from, as this is the only topic of conversation he is capable of!
That night we had to tell Daniel we wanted to go out as a three as he'd invited himself along to our dinner! It was really nice to get away and we went to this nice bar and had mojitos. While we were there we got talking to this crazy American called Robin. She had a really strong New York accent. A 6 year old Vietnamese girl came in and tried to sell her some bracelets and when she started talking prices Robin just kept saying 'Giiiiiiirl, you to expensive for me!' (You have to imagine it in the accent).
Hue was our next destination but there wasn't much to say on that. The highlight was getting a pedicure for 60p.
We made it up to North Vietnam and went to Halong Bay. This is where they filmed some of James Bond, Tomorrow never dies. It was really beautiful. We rented kayaks and went exploring around all the caves. I was with Cat, but Steve got stuck in a kayak with Daniel who decided that he would take pictures and Steve would be his driver! Randomly when we were kayaking Steve saw Robin again and she just went 'I told you I'd bump into you in some freaky cave!'
Not surprisingly my entry is a little bit longer than Steves (sorry).
Tomorrow we're getting on a plane to Laos where we've got Cat and Steve's Birthdays to celebrate!
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