Our vietnam experience didn't start exactly as planned.......

Remember we were meant to leave Vientiane via air for Hanoi on Wednesday 15th. We checked out of guesthouse and arrived at the hotel only to find that the three of us, ( Tara, me and Sarah - the irish nurse) were not listed on the 4pm flight with Vietnam airlines! So we kicked up a but of a fuss only to find out that we were not flying with Vietnam airlines but Laos airlines and we should have been on the 2pm flight!!!! Drama drama drama! The other Irish guy we were travelling with ( long story, but lets just say, we parted ways) had the travel documents and there wasn't anyway we could get them. We thought we would have to forfeit the flights and pay again, but no, Laos airline come to our rescue and transfer us onto the Vietnam airlines 4pm flight free of charge! Result, i don't think you would catch the likes of Ryan air or Easy Jet providing any such service! So we think we are incredibly lucky, jump up and down and have a celebratory "team STV" hug right before the pretty young girl behind the check-in desk informs Tara and I that our Visa's are not correct! Yes believe me..... it is true and it did happen! The entry and exit dates are incorrect because of the whole India fiasco! Its the national holiday here ( i cant remember if i told you in my Laos blog or not, the annual celebration of when Laos became Free from french rule) but basically everything closed down for 2 or 3 days and we would have no hope of getting our visa dates corrected until Thurs morning! So we wave Sarah off on the flight, and Tara and I leave the airport with our tails between our legs. We check back into the same guesthouse and go back to the same bakery for yummy bagels to cheer ourselves up then retire to the room for dubbed America movies. We wake up at 7am and head straight to the Vietnam embassy to be there when it opens at 8am. We were the first to be seen and got a telling off from a grumpy guy telling us we should plan our next trip better than this one! Anyway we get the 2pm flight and arrive in Vietnam at 3.30pm, so i couldn't go screaming 'Good Morning Vietnam' at the top of my lungs outside the airport, well i could but i'd look pretty stupid, actually i think i'd look even stupid if it was the morning! Anyway we got a ride to the place Sarah had booked into the night before, where the other Irish gang were already! So we had a nice meal out and decided to splash out on a 2 day boat trip the following day (fri &sat) to Ha Long Bay. I mean, come on, i haven't been on enough 2 day boat trips recently have i !!!) But to my surprise it was a brilliant 2 days. Ha Long Bay is a cluster of over 3000 islands and is a Unesco World Heritage site. We had a gorgeous boat which was perfectly clean and comfortable, and there was only 14 of us on it! and as we went with the 'original irish lot' there were 7 of us! It was a very relaxing 2 days where we sunbathed on the roof (is that what you call the top deck of the boat...actually top deck sounds better - that's what it is. *side note, Don't you love it when you answer your own questions!*) taking in all the picturesque views of the boats, rocks! and eagles. (well a big bird, there were discussions whether they were eagles, falcons or hawks). Anyway i snapped away and took loads of pictures of us all on top deck - So I'll bore you with them I'm sure.....It was Mary's birthday on the Saturday so we had a wine for the second time since leaving at dinner and we loved every single drop as it cost $36 a bottle!, of course we got 2! But backpackers shouldn't be spending $36 on anything!!!!!! But it was a special occasion and we were on a boat, what else were we supposed to do

We had a sleeper train booked for the saturday evening to take us the 12 hours to Hue. The train, as most of you know from me telling you already was amazing! it was 1st class, and when i say 1st class i mean UK standard first class! Heaven, but I'm starting to think that i need to live more like a backpacker, because I'm sure this isn't what everyone does..... oh well you lot call me the champaign backpacker anyway so i may as well live up to my name (mum, dad - i might me needing an early christmas present at this rate! actually, why am i limiting this to mum and dad, duh....)Maybe I'll start cutting own on a meal and only eating twice a day.....

So we arrived in Hue at 8am and got a cab to another lovely guesthouse...(! pattern setting in here, maybe we need to go for the not sop nice places) and then set out to explore Hue via taxi cab rather than a tuk tuk driver. There wasn't much to see here but it served as a good stop off point for the long journey down to Hoi an. So we made the most of it, i.e. put opur laundry in ( there goes one of '!' those again !!!!) We saw the Citadel - the imperial city, the Royal Tombs of Emperor Tu Duc - the lake here was pretty, Thien Mu Pagoda - Very famous in Vietnam, it was the home pagoda of Thich Quang Due, who publicly burned himself to death in 1963 in protest the policies of the president and the local market. There wasn't much else happening here in Hue so we arranged the for the bus to Hoi an for the following morning (Mon).

The bus we boarded was the 'sleeper bus' and was very comfortable so we decided that from now on where we can we would get the sleeper bus as apposed to the 1st class train we have come accustomed to but can no way afford on a backpackers budget! We arrived in Hoi An at 11.45 this morning and are just going out for dinner (well my second and last meal of the day) so i'll tell you about this place probably when we're in Nha Trang relaxing on the beach in a few days! On a new number now until back in Thailand mid Nov 01694629425. Iv been away a month today and it seems like 2 weeks! Write me and tell me how you all are and how your enjoying ( or not) my blogs lotsalove to you all xxx