News from Hoi An

Ive been a bit useless with keeping my blog up to date. I have traveled from Ho Chi Minh to Mui Ne which was a very sleepy town full of Russians. I found it a bit unfriendly at first but started to enjoy it come the end. I only spent 3 days and managed to sample some crocodile, fresh squid, watch the kite surfing and eat kebabs every morning!

Yummy Crocodile

We then took a sleeper bus to Nha Trang (5 hours) thought the bus was really nice and there was a really cute little guy who took an interest in me Sarah and Kirsty. Nha Trang was again very touristy and pretty much advertised booze cruises everywhere you looked. Me and Sarah went and did a mud bath which was great fun and we finally got to do a bit of sunbathing. Kirsty sadly left us and me and Sarah spent the night eating chocolate and wearing face masks to commiserate.

We then took another much more shabby (no toilets on board) sleeper bus (13 hours) to Hoi An. We arrived in Hoi An on the 20th at 7am. We had to wait for a room to become available at our hotel and luckily we were welcomed in with open arms to Madam Fuong's breakfast bar just over the road. She even gave us free fruit if we promised to visit her restaurant in town (we still havn't lived up to this promise but hopefully will). We have sampled lots of the local cuisine (taken on the back of an electric bike to a back alley shack) some of the best food I have had. I have even eaten winkles or what we think might have been winkles, using only a thorn to get them out.
Today me and Sarah hired bicycles from the hotel and cycled to the beach. It was a bit overcast today and windy but it was the first proper beach we have been on in Vietnam so it was good. We then rode back into town and stopped at a few temples and an ancient Japanese bridge (plus did a bit of shopping of course!)
Tomorrow is the full moon festival and we both love it here so much that we have decided to extend our stay so we can see the festivities. Apparently no electrical lighting is allowed in the old part of town and only bicycles are allowed on the roads. The whole town is lit by candle light. Im really looking forward to it!

Winkles?

Ancient Japanese Bridge

Sarah on her bike

Me ruling the roads

Windy Beach

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Happy New year from Vietnam!
We have seen lots of celebrations going on in the city over the last few days. Been to Nguyen Hue to see the decorations and flowers. Lots of dragon dancing had been going on outside the hostel in Pham Ngu Lao. Everything is so expensive here at the moment because of the new year holiday so we have had to miss out on a lot of trips around the city and surrounding area. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to visit the War Museum and a few other sites in the centre of town. Heading to Mui Ne on Wednesday so tomorrow will be our last day in Ho Chi Minh.
Here are a few pictures of the city in full bloom!

Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City

I have safely arrive in Ho Chi Minh City! I was pretty exhausted after 18 hours on a plane with 2 stops.  I didn't sleep much so the Jet Lag doesn't seem too bad. Flight went well, the last hour of the journey from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh was a bit hair raising as we flew right past a lighting storm, no one else on the plane seems as bothered as me and the elderly Vietnamese man next to me didn't look impressed thats I had disturbed his Disney Cinderella movie to show him! Arrived at Ho Chi Minh City at 9.30pm and was picked up my Isie outside the Airport. She told me it would be easy to spot her so I wasn't expecting the huge swarms of people stood behind barriers (apparently just watching people coming out as something to do...they were probably very entertained when they saw me stumbling out look pretty sweaty and disorientated!). Got to see a bit of the city on the way back to Isie's and was shocked at the amount of children around the age of 11 or 12 driving mopeds! Today I went out for lunch with Isie and baby Naya to a quite western bar along the river front. It was very pretty but the 30°C+ is getting to be. We then went for a walk around some of the smaller streets, lots of bumpy pavements and chickens roaming around everywhere! Going out for a nice Vietnamese meal tonight, I have never had Vietnamese food before so it will be a new experience. Wish me luck.

Isie and the gorgeous baby Naya

Ready to leave

Visa's all sorted bag all packed (all 16kg of it) and enjoying the last night on the sofa with my parents. Looking forward to starting my adventure now....I can't guarantee there will be no tears at the airport but I'm sure it will be worth it. I will be arriving in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday 5th of Feb. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Vietnamese will welcome in the new year. More exciting stuff to follow....