Vietnam

What can we say about Vietnam, other than that it is stunning? Halong Bay was a few hours drive from Hanoi. After a little wait, we boarded our Junk Boat, our home for the next night. As our Junk departed we enjoyed a delicious fresh seafood lunch the first of many yummy meals. We sailed around some of the most incredible scenery we have ever seen. (one of the many 8th wonders of the world we have seen) There are hundreds of Limestone Islands, many fishing villages (their villages are in the middle of the bay floating on the water) and many great swimming spots. We also stopped at some incredible caves. Later in the evening we stopped at a small fishing village where we got to do some Kayaking. This was a great way to explore the little caves where the boats were unable to go. Unfortunately Kats Kayaking buddy lost half a paddle which made for a very long trip back for the two of them, followed by an argument about not paying for the loss of a dodgy paddle. Half way through said argument we noticed the arrival of the last of the Kayakers from our boat. They suffered the unfortunate fate of capsizing, lucky for them there was a nice lady who rowed them back to the boat. Needless to say a good tip was involved in the end. Not long after we anchored for the night and were able to do a bit of night swimming before another fresh seafood dinner.
The next morning we sailed to Cat Ba Island where we did a 3 hour walk........... Telling us that Jandels/Thongs/Flipflops were ok for this walk was the wrong answer to our question. After being told that the hard way was pretty easy we set out on what we thought was a leisurely walk. About 10 minutes into our walk we came across our first hurdle...... Mud puddles where our shoes would get stuck and we would have to fish them out. Kat at this point decided to turn back. Nat and I continued on and came across hurdle two....... Rock climbing in slippery mud covered Thongs/Jandels/Flipflops. We tried to do as locals do and just hop from rock to rock like little monkeys but we are not quite as graceful as the 9 year olds that passed us were so went back to being a typical tourist and taking our time. We finally made it to what we thought was the top when we came across hurdle three........ A rickety old tower that looked like it would fall down in the next wind storm. We climbed to level two and decided that was high enough for a good photo or at least an average one. We started our descent where hurdle four was an obvious one......... What we thought was tough going up was made to look like a piece of cake compared to going down. Once again those graceful 9 year olds showed off their skills and put us to shame. We finally made it down where we were greeted by a man selling ice cream and coke. We bought two ice creams and a coke. Nat however handed over what she thought was 50,000 dong (USD2.50) The man selling us ice cream became very friendly and offered a seat and put a fan directly towards us to help cool us down. We thought all part of the service.......... Later on when doing a count for the day we soon discovered that the 50,000 dong was actually 500,000 dong. Two Ice Creams and one coke ended up costing us USD28. Needless to say Nat took the title of the spaz for the day.
We found Kat at the bottom and noticed she was a bit dirtier than when we left her a few hours ago. It turned out that just after turning back she fell in one of those great mud puddles and was covered in dry mud :) For some reason everyone wants to take photos of us so we went through yet another photo session and through the normal questions..... Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? How old are you? Do you want a boyfriend. Then it was back in the bus to check into our hotel. That afternoon Nat and I went on another Kayaking adventure to Monkey Island. It was true to its name and there were plenty of monkeys to be seen. We enjoyed some time on the white sand beach and a long swim. That evening was spent relaxing. The following morning it was back on the boat for some more cruising around the bay and then back to Hanoi. Overall an amazing few days and would recommend it to everyone.
Once back in Hanoi we boarded an over night sleeper bus (a bus with beds only somewhat comfortable) to Hoi An the home of custom made clothing. This was a great experience for everyone (including Nat who hates to shop). We only had about 20 hours here but managed to walk away with some very full packs. We all had some dresses, skirts, winter jackets and many other things made to fit perfectly. While waiting for our final fitting a drink was in order. We ordered a cocktail which turned up in a 1lt bucket with three straws. A grand total of USD3. Hoi An was a very nice place to spend a few days but we were back on a sleeper bus to Nha Trang. Nha Trang was where we thought we could spend a few days relaxing on the beach and doing not much of much. Unfortunately this was not to be none of us were very impressed with Nha Trang. We went down to the beach and from the moment we sat down people/children where there trying to sell us stuff., trying to get you to have massages and threading, giving you food leaflets and just never leaving you alone. The children were very persistent and would sit there and wave there hands in front of your books and insult you when you say no. So after one day we decided to book the sleeper bus to leave the following night. The next morning we went out on a boat to do some snorkeling and Scuba Diving. The first snorkeling was a little unpleasant as there were Jellyfish everywhere. We got out of the water and had been stung about 100 times each. The stings went away after half an hour or so. The second snorkel was great, no Jellyfish and great visibility made for a great experience. Kat was the one who was Scuba Diving and after gaining her confidence again had a great time.

The next sleeper bus took us to Ho Chi Minh City. I somehow managed to catch a virus and found myself in bed for a while while Katrina and Nat went out and explored the city. We decided that because we were running out of time that we would only spend the night there and would leave for Cambodia the following day.

Vietnam was an amazing country, so much more to see which means that we will definitely return for another holiday.

We are currenlty in Cambodia and will hopefully update again tomorrow night as it is time for sleep now.

Two Kats and a Nat