Good morning Vietnam

So I got my first complaint about my blog, yesterday I received an email from my Gramps stating that him and my Nan have been checking for updates but they haven't seen anything since I wrote about Hong Kong (which was only a week ago). Well it seems like my group has crashed out for the night, so here you go. However I also have a complaint about my Gramps, who sent me the CORRECT address of his barracks in Hong Kong, yesterday...aka a week after I left Hong Kong.

Anyway, I didn't get quite as many touristy things done on my last day in Hong Kong as I planned. I did manage to loose my camera on a bus on the way to the airport though, so the rest of these photos are taken on my phone. So I will be putting more photos on my blog once I get them off people on my tour. I flew out of Hong Kong on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Vietnam to a gorgeous 31c....that's 71c warmer then I was a month prior to that whilst in Jasper.

My first night was OK, spending thousands and thousands on beer...it's actually really cheap. It costs about £1 for a beer (if that, I can't really remember now). After touring the city of Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon) for the day and bumping into an Aussie (Paul) that I met in the Vietnamese custom's the day before, I headed to the hotel to met my tour leader, Shane, an Australian who lives to travel, and it really shows, this guy really knows his stuff. I was one of two people joining the tour on that day (the tour started in Bangkok and ran through Cambodia) joining a whole mixture of nationalities and ages. Day 2 involved a tour around the forests where the Vietnam war actually took place, our tour guide, Mr Hai, was a veteran of the war. He fought for the South Vietnamese for 9 years, and was a translator for the Americans. I could honestly just write this about him, he was an amazing man, he's led an amazing if not horrific life, but what a character. Very open about the war too.

STA sorted me with a better room for my first night

Scooters really are everywhere

Course I found it!

There must be so much interference

My 2nd Hotel, Day ONE of my tour

Mr Hai - aka "Skinny Hai"

That night we hit the night train from Ho Vhi Minh City to Nha Trang. We got off the train at about 5 in the morning. Just in time to see the sun coming up.

Our room in Nha

After not really doing much the first day there, we were down the beach, with hardly any tourists (excluding us really) the next day. Worked on my English sun tan (my shoulders are are nice pink right now, and the rest of my body is still pretty white), also tried a bit of surfing, but there really wasn't many waves. We then got the train from Nha to Hoi An (where we currently are located). Had a tour of the town, and I went for a bike ride yesterday (first time since September when I was back in England), I got lost, which I loved, I found some really random and amazing parts of the city. We were out last night for a beach party, which was pretty empty. I got a lift home on a scooter which cost my 100,000 dong (aka about $5 aka about £3.50 (I think)), I asked if I could drive the scooter home, to which my Vietnamese driver replied "Haha, no no, you've been" (he pulls his hands to his lips to represent that I've been drinking), then I had to climb through the hotel gates when I got back in. Then today we had a boat tour down the Thu Bon River. there's also some amazing amazing local food here.

On the train ride

The room I was in last night and I am currently in

This was taking from my hotel, it's amazing how bad some people HAVE to live

Snakes in some sort of drink..I can't remember, but it tasted OK.

It says "Shane's big massive Asia tour Feb 20011"

I even got to see Arsenal loose last night

There you go Gramps, they have water with your name on it...well initials

Good on you mate - Shane providing the entertainment for today, beach party left overs!

Making our own spring rolls - Vietnamese BBQ, so good!

So we leave here at 9:30 tomorrow morning (that's 2:30 in the morning to all you back home, 10:30 in the morning in Hong Kong, 6:30 tonight in Vancouver, Washington (state) and California, 7:30 tonight in Jasper and 9:30 tonight in Ottawa and Rhode Island). traveling by bus for 4 hours to Hue which was once "the imperial capital."

Since I've been here, I'd like to say that I have tried a lot of Vietnamese food, which all pretty much tastes amazing, including frog, yes frog, it was nice, but there wasn't too much meat on all them bones.

Hope the grandparents are happy now.