Hello there!

I'm not going to bore you (yet) with the reasons why I haven't posted a blog for quite some time. I simply couldn't sort out the pictures for whatever reason.

So I'll continue from where I left off.

Sihanoukville was really rather good and the previous post should now include pictures of it to give you the evidence. From there we went back to the capital Phnom Penh, in order to get the 7 hour bus to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), in south Vietnam.

Saigon was fun times all round (almost), as we'd turned into a group of 6 at the end of Sihanoukville. We spent a couple of days checking the place out, then did a tour of the delta which also took a couple of days (Pic below shows Beth holding a massive killing machine). The War museum in Saigon is quite horrific, giving detailed pictures of those severely injured during the war. I didn't realise until I visited the museum that the Yanks dropped something called Agent Orange, that left the children of those contaminated, born with stumps as limbs etc. Tough to hear about.



So now I probably need to perk you up a bit!

We'd heard a number of people slate Vietnam, but to be honest it's my favourite country so far on this trip. As a couple of the pictures shown from Mui Ne, the scenery is spectacular with the sand dunes and mini Grand Canyon. We actually got up at 5am to see the sunrise on the sand dune that day.






We then got a night train up to Hoi An, which is a beautiful colonial town from the days of French occupation (picture below). This is where I got the suit made, that you have probably already seen. It was a bit embarrassing picking it up to be honest. I was thinking to my self, 'Thank God the shop's empty'. At which point 3 girls walked in to see my hold this Hawaii suit. 'I've got a job interview coming up' I told them. I think I just about redeemed myself.






From Hoi An we stayed a night at a place that was boring, then got another night train up to Hanoi. This is where we stayed for a couple of nights at a friend of my brother's called Becca who, like him, is a Diplomat. Therefore she had a stupidly nice (large) 3 bed pad. The taxi driver looked a little confused when 3 backpackers asked to be taken to 'Mayfair Apartments'.

Becca is a legend for a number of reasons. Firstly, she'd not previously met any of us, but made us feel very welcome, giving us tips on where to eat or go etc, as well as the best nights sleep so far.

Secondly, she kindly offered to risk embarrassment (if searched at the airport) and take my suits back to England for me, which saved them getting lost in the post and and me postage money. (Thank you also to Thomas Spencer Archibauld Dover, for taking them off her hands apon arrival to London - a bear hug is on its way).

Thirdly, and if I'm honest, most importantly, Becca had an Apple Mac. Two days of a computer not telling me I'd performed an illegal operation simply by loading up any website was bliss.

Hanoi itself was an excellent city with a lot of character; we all felt we could stay there for a good while. A good reason for this was a particular crossroad section known as 'Bia Hoi'. This is where I paid for a round of beers (10 actually) and only had to hand over 60p >: )

I'll end this post and add another in a few days as I reckon the next stage in our trip is a good point to break it up a bit.