So here we are in Dalat - its wet and cold here in the mountains - a contrast to recent days - but its great! The place has a really nice relaxed atmosphere, quite colonial actually and.... our hostel has hot running water!!! Have just had a really nice lunch - completely stuffed on noodles, apple pie, tea and hot chocolate, all for two quid!!!! Will hopefully go on a trek tomorrow as the scenery here is really beautiful - lush green rice paddy fields ...

So here we are in Mui Ne - the place where nothing happens!!! Restaurants don't serve food and internet places don't do e-mail!! Its rained a lot since arriving last night and is showing no sign of stopping. Was woken up at 2,3 and 5 am this morning...twice by the rats eating the coconut candy I bought yesterday and finally by preaching singing over a tannoy!!!!!! Will head to Dalat tomrrow for a spot of civilsation (hopefully!?) p.s might jus...

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Thankyou very much for all the messages and e-mails - much appreciated. Have had the most fantastic day! Went down the Mekong river in Southern Vietnam today. Visited a coconut candy factory (very tasty indeed!), sampled some of the local snake wine, honey tea and some local fruits (mostly nice apart from one called Durian - stay away it is not nice at all!!). Then held a python and took a rowing boat back dow...

Visited the Cu Chi Tunnels today - quite an experience! The tunnel network at Cu Chi became legendary during the 1960's for its role in facilitating Viet Cong control of a large rural area only 30km from Saigon. At its height, the tunnel sytem stretched from Saigon to the Cambodian border!! In the district of Cu Chi alone there were over 200km of tunnels - a truly amazing feat of inginuity, patience and intelligence. It is very hard to describe what the...

I really love this place - it has such a nice feel to it! The people are very friendly, even if they are not selling anything they still say hi and want to know where you are from. Their english is very good too which is making everything so much easier here than in say Thailand or Cambodia. The whole place is buzzing all the time with life and colour but it doesn't drain you in the exhausting way Bangkok did! Getting lost in the labyrinth of back alleys teeming ...