we gotta get out of this place....

OMG! Saigon is truly truly addictive....and it is so hard to leave!

after 2 weeks of teaching i had met loads of other at the school and had loved it but i was ready to relax  and have some r&r time in the city. so i moved into a dorm room over the road...and this was to be my downfall! there is a coffee shop next to this hotel and there is a free cinema upstairs raising money for children still born with deformaties from agent orange, so i spent some time watching films and getting drunk on our balcony with the other dorm guests....the balcony looked right out onto the crazy main street of backpacker central in saigon, so there was always something to see and you could here the great music blasting out from go2 bar....anyway, the balcony of doom sucked us all in but especially myself and an australian chap. we got a little too close and due to extremely bad timing and a certain awful amount of communication breakdown the whole thing went from amazing to disasterous in a matter of days, forcing me to flee for the beach to recover. sam followed the next day. this however proved amazing. we met a great couple from blighty and had a tremendous host and a big familiy meal round the table making and eating spring rolls....then to fall asleep with the sea right outside my balcony - it was good for the soul!!!!

Back in saigon, ross finally got his arse there with his friend phuong (super cool nutter girl - we got along famously!!!!) and russ and elle followed from the beach so there was a good gang of us (although sam and i did not check back into the balcony of doom in the black hole of saigon!!!)...i would like to say i left things alone, but it didnt, i tried to fix them and made them worse, but still *sigh*....it was what it was and i have no regrets over it. now i just have to get out of this country. not so hard you would think, but it is proving to be!

Ross, sam and i heard hotel california all over the place in saigon and we called the black hole of saigon hotel california too, as the one morning after the night of disaster with the aussie i had tried to leave the hotel. i had packed and checked out, but was sat in reception folornly looking outside wondering what i was going to do when sam found me. you see, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!!!! (i got my own room and the next day went to the beach and we had a blast!!!)...so my plan was thus: i would get the 24 hour train to vinh (painful) and then the bus across the border to loas. i found vinh, found a hotel, found a bus over to the border, but: could not find a bank that was allowed to change dong into doller!!!! FUCK!

so, back on the train up north to hanoi and then i am getting another 24 hour bus into loas! i am actually pretty used to them now, i can sleep anywhere and as long as i have my ipod and book, i am cool baby! and it works out better. i can do the north, then the wildlife centre then travel south to meet mum in cambodia....

not too shoddy at alll....

and in the meantime, i would advise you all to stay off balcony with australians.....

love you loads,

xxxxxxx