Ok, i have changed my website as i can upload an unlimited number of photos onto this one so forget the other one i gave before!
I've been in Vietnam now since Wed 19th of march. Started in the capital Hanoi and stayed there for a few nights. We had an interesting introduction to the city, our flight was delayed so we didn't arrive until about 9pm and we were flung onto a taxi that we weren't sure if the driver knew where we were going. 45 mins later we arrive at a dodgy looking hotel with someone openeing the door saying "Welcome to Viet Anh Hotel" which was the hotel we asked to go to... but this one said something like queens hotel on the front! Luckily we didnt get out at this place and we told the driver to take us to the right hotel, and although he tried to pull the same trick on us again, third time of asking we did make it to the right hotel. The driver was a bit gutted that we didn't tip him though!
The traffic is totally mental in Vietnam, to cross the road you just have to start walking and make eye contact with the numerous vehicles heading towards you... the trick is to keep walking so they can swerve round you. So far, surprisingly no traffic accidents. Hanoi was good, partly because i bought a guitar for $9. I was getting some serious withdrawl symptoms but typically the next hotel we went to had a guitar in the lobby free for people to play!
After Hanoi was Hoi An (I know it sounds similar but it is totally different and really far apart!) and this place was far more chilled out. Although again the process of getting there was a flight, then a crazy taxi ride! We asked to go to the bus station as we flew into a place called Da nang which is about 30km from our destination. Our driver then goes pedal to the metal for a few minutes, then does a U-turn and chases a bus. We then have about 10 seconds to pay the driver and get on the local bus which was packed and we didnt even know if it was going to the right place. After some bumpy local Vietnamese transportation and a bit of a walk we found ourselves a nice hotel and all was well. Hoi An was good, it even had a section that motorbikes were not allowed into(a rare thing inthis country!) a few nice cafes and small enough to walk round.
Next stage was a night bus, one of the photos has me in my bed. Although im not the tallest i dont think this bed was made for someone my size, needless to say i didnt sleep! We were going to Nha Trang for the beaches but when we arrived it was raining and the place looked a bit rubbish.. so we got on another bus for 6 hours to a cool little place called Mui Ne. This had a beach about 20 m away from our room which was good to experience after the long bus journeys. We got up for 5am the next morning to do a sunrise tour, which included most of the scenic shots from my photos!
Yesterday (thursday) we arrived in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon). Didnt do a lot yest, but today we went to the Cu Chi tunnels which were used in the war. This was really interesting and I found out quite a lot about the war... plus i got to stand on a tank! Also went in a small section of tunnel which was really hot and not good if your claustraphobic! After that we did some wandering around the city which seems to be a fair mix of rich and poor.
I am out of time and leaving Vietnam tomorrow to go to Cambodia so will keep this website as up to date as possible.
Chow for now
