It's the eve of Halloween and I'm now in a place called Hoi An, an old fishing port near the sea. The last time I wrote to you I was in Dong Ha and we were about to leave for Hue the following day.
That has now 'been and gone' and it was an interesting couple of days. Hue is the ancient city of Vietnam and it’s divided by the Perfume River into two parts – the North and South bank. On the North bank is the Citadel ('a fortress in a commanding position in, or near a city') and on the South Bank is the main city, which like Hanoi, comprises of tourist shops and restaurants. We spent the first day here just mooching around the shops and the local market which sold anything and everything – all for dirt cheap prices. We got roped into having manicures and pedicures here, all for a mere GBP 2 each and they did an excellent job. After being pampered we headed back to our 'plush' hotel for a night of R&R. Our room was stunning and only cost us USD 30 between us – imagine if hotels were that cheap in the UK – we'd all be having weekends away all the time! After our 'chilled night', it was time for yet another early morning, for a day of culture and history – we seem to be having quite a bit of that here! We had opted to go on a group tour of the Royal Tombs and the Citadel. The tombs of the rulers of the Nguyen dynasty (1802 – 1945) are extravagant mausoleums that were constructed along the banks of the Perfume River. They are situated between 2km and 16km south of Hue, so there was a lot of traipsing on and off the bus. They were all so peaceful and grand – it would be great if you and I could all get buried somewhere like that! Think it would take up a tad too much space though, don’t you?
 | | Nay with a group of orphans |
Then came the time to leave our lives of luxury – boo hoo – and off to Hoi An we went - and that brings me up to date. We have been here for two days now and it is truly a shopper's paradise. You can get any type of clothes, accessories, shoes, etc made here from scratch to your exact size and design! It's fantastic and so cheap as well. I've been a bit naughty and purchased a flowery skirt, brown cotton shorts, black linen shorts, brown linen trousers and a green silk top - and it's all marvelous, as it fits like a glove. The best bit about it is the fact that none of the items cost more than GBP 10 – bet you'll all be off to book your flights here now. When your choosing your designs, they have endless catalogues and magazines for you to look through and they all have a good eye for what will suit you and won't. The choice of material is endless – that was one of the hardest parts – deciding which material to use, but I got there in the end and now have the perfect clothes. Many of Hoi An’s older structures exhibit features of traditional architecture rarely seen today. Some of the buildings' roofs are made up of brick-coloured 'am and duong' (Yin and Yang) roof tiles – so called, because of the way the alternating rows of concave and convex tiles fit snuggly together. Apparently during the rainy season, the lichens and mosses that grow on the rooftops, spring to life and turn entire rooftops bright green. That would be a dazzling sight to see. We will be leaving here tomorrow to head for the beach resort of Nha Trang, a ten hour hour journey south. That will just be Nay and I, as my mum is heading back to Hanoi tomorrow as she flies home on the 3rd – which by the way is my 24th birthday. So tonight we are going out to celebrate early, as mum won't be with us on my actual birthday. We are booked into this gorgeous restaurant down beside the river called 'Mango Rooms'. The menu looks divine and the decor is cool and chic. After the birthday meal
 | | Rachael spent her birthday at Nha Trang |
Well, what can I say - the meal was simply gorgeous. It had a Mexican theme to it, but wasn't heavy like Mexican usually is. I had a delicious tempura vegetable starter, followed by Red Snapper grilled with the tastiest sauce ever. And the cocktails, well - pure heaven. All of this for a mere GBP 8/9 per head and that's expensive for Vietnam. This was our last night in Hoi An, the next day Nay and I left for Nha Trang and Mum went back to Hanoi to fly home. It was a tearful goodbye with my Mum, as I won't be seeing her for a long time. It was great to spend the month with her though - thanks Mum! Our trip to Nha Trang was a long one - a 10 hour train journey, but surprisingly it went ok. They even gave us free food! At first I thought 'oh yey' but once I got it, I had a change of heart. It consisted of luke warm rice, some 'over cooked' fish, a meat that I couldn't place - and some strange soup - which I didn't even taste as it smelt so bad. When they came around the second time later in the journey, I declined the offer. When we eventually got to Nha Trang it was about 11pm, so we hopped straight into a taxi and headed to a hotel that had been recommended to us. We were greeted by the sleaziest man ever when we arrived, so that wasn't so good, but the room was very clean and only cost USD 4 each a night. It was straight to bed once we were booked in, as we were both knackered. The following day was my 24th birthday. And I was able to celebrate it in the sunshine for a change. Nay and I spent the day relaxing on the beach and Nay took me out for a slap up meal at the Nha Trang Sailing Club, the most beautiful location right on the beach. The night was spent in the bars having the odd drink or two, or possibly more - I think I may have overdone it though, as the following day I had a hangover.
 | | Angkor Wat in Cambodia |
So seeing as I spent one day of my time here in bed, it meant that we only had today left here. And what a great day it was - a leisurely breakfast and then to the beach for the rest of the day. The beach here is so long, it goes as far as the eye can see and is lined with palm trees all the way. It actually feels like you're in America here. We are leaving here tomorrow to head through the Central Highlands for three days on motorbike. There are a group of people here called the Easy Riders and you hire them and a bike and they act as guide and driver. Apparently it is the best way to travel to the Central Highlands, as you get to see everything, and there are no windows obstructing your view. The Easy Riders Xin chao everyone! (Hello in Vietnamese) Here I am once more to tell you all my tales! The last time I wrote was three days ago, before Nay and I set off on our motorbike adventure and what an adventure it turned out to be! We got picked up early on Monday morning from our hotel in Nha Trang by Anh and Cook, who were going to be our drivers and guides for the three days to come. They wrapped our huge backpacks in plastic bags and these then got strapped to the back of the bikes, so that they acted like a back rest for us. At first I found it very comfy, but believe you me, your bum doesn't half get sore sitting on a bike for three days and covering about 500 km +. On the day we left the sun was shining down on us and the warm wind was blowing in our hair – it was such a fantastic feeling cruising along on a motorbike – you feel so free! On the first day we got shown many interesting things such as; a shrimp farm, coffee plantation, climbing pepper plants, a brick factory and for the second time on this trip, rubber trees.
 | | Nay enjoys her tour by motorbike |
Once we'd seen all of these sights, it was time to start the ascent into the mountains. The scenery here was breathtaking, the rolling hills and mountains were green and luscious, and completely un-spoilt, apart from where there had been 'Agent Orange' poisoning from the war. This had killed many acres of soil – so now nothing can grow there. But where that hadn't hit, the red volcanic soil is perfect for growing all kinds of crops – from tea to rice. On our first day we stopped in the main City of the Central Highlands– Buon Ma Thout. I don't think that many Westerners visit here, as whilst Nay and I walked around the local market, everyone stared at us in amazement, more so me, as Nay is half Chinese and blends in with the Vietnamese. I couldn't help but keep laughing because I knew that there were so many eyes starring at me. On the first night we stayed in a small complex of bungalows which were situated by a rampaging river and waterfall. This was the first night that either Nay or I had spent out in the jungle, so we kept getting freaked out by all the noises that we kept hearing. Luckily we had been supplied with a mosquito net that night – so none of the horrible creepy crawlies could get at us whilst we slept. On the second day we went to visit some huge waterfalls – they were amazing; the force that was pounding them into the water was tremendous! There was one 'let down' on this day – rain. It decided to pourÌý down, we had rain coats on but we still got soaked and we were freezing cold because of the wind as we zoomed along the roads. In amongst the rain we visited a noodle factory. This is all done by hand and the noodle mixture is pushed through a machine and it then oozes out below in long strips. The workers then have to cut it into smaller strips and hang it out to dry. It's amazing what you see it drying on the roadside here – outside nearly everyone’s houses there will be some form of food drying. Usually rice, coffee or noodles!
 | | A Vietnamese sunset |
For our second night we stayed in a long house in a minority village. A long house is funnily enough, a long house that is up on stilts so that the people’s animals can live underneath it. What a clever idea hey? It protects them from flooding as well.
When we arrived here Nay and I went on an elephant ride – something that neither of us had ever done before. It was so funny – just getting on it was a mission and a half! They had strapped this chair onto its back, so that Nay and I sat either side of it and the driver (if that’s what you’d call him) sat on the elephant’s neck! I’d never felt an elephant’s skin before: it’s so tough and has all this short spiky hair all over it. It was a weird motion when it walked; you kind of wobbled ‘side to side’ on each step. It also went very slowly. We had been told that we were going to go through some water and then through some jungle. But when he said some water, we weren't quite expecting as much as we got! We actually walked all the way across this huge lake – the water came all the way up to our feet at one point. You should have seen us, it was such a sight. The elephant had to keep bringing up its trunk for air as it walked – I do hope that it doesn't mind doing it – it didn't seem to grumble, so let's hope not. Then it came to our last day (which once again brings me up to date). We set off for Dalat, a city high up in the mountains, 1475m high to be exact. On the way here we stopped to look at a silk farm and I learnt something new – the fact that silk comes from a worm. I think I 'kind of knew', but had never given it much thought – so when we went there and I saw some weird maggot looking things poking out at me, I was a bit shocked. It was a very smelly factory and it seemed very fiddly work having to thread the silk onto the reels. From here we came to where I am writing now – The Dreams Hotel in Dalat, which luckily has free internet, so I have been able to get up to date with my diary. The day we had in Dalat was really nice as the temperature up there is very similar to ours back in Kernow! Something that I must admit I’ve missed. The sky was a wonderful bright blue, with lovely fluffy white clouds!
 | | A waterfall in Dalat |
The Dalat area is dotted with lakes, waterfalls, evergreen forests, gardens and moutains - a place I think that would appeal to my Dad, Martin. The weather here makes it a perfect place for a cool getaway from the hot cities throughout Vietnam. When Nay and I were exploring Dalat for the day we got a very good workout, as the city is very spread out and the terrain is hilly. To add this exercise, we walked the 7km circumfrance of the Xuan Huong Lake. We also visited the tacky and commercialised Hang Nga Gallery and Guesthouse, known as the Crazy House to the locals. Entering here was like being Alice stepping through the magic door into Alice and Wonderland. The architecture is extraordinary, there were concrete tree trunks with various styles of bedrooms in, a giant wire spiders web and even a concrete giraffe with a tearoom inside! All very odd, but it was a good laugh! That was pretty much it for Dalat - it was then a six hour overnight bus to HCMC and what an experience that was! I managed to sleep pretty much the whole time, with the add of ear plugs and an eye mask, but poor old Nay was awake throughout. We arrived in HCMC at 4.30am and the city was already awake and definantly alive. I thought that Hanoi was a big and busy city, but it's nothing compared to HCMC - it wins hands down. Everywhere you look there are people, motorbikes, restaurants, shops, bars - you name it and they've got a million and one of them! There were many exhibitions - hundreds of photos which had been taken during the war, some of which I found quite disturbing. Some of the worst photos taken, were those of the people affected by the aftermath of the bombs, I had never fully explored the effects of these horrendous chemicals - it was an upsetting sight for me. On our third day Nay and I went on a one day tour to the Mekong Delta - that was fun day. We vistied some minority villages on some small islands in the Mekong Delta, went to a coconut candy factory (yum yum), crusied through some narrow waterways with coconut trees and tree ferns towering over us and listened to some local folk music. One really cool part of the day was when I got to hold a python snake - it was huge and very heavy. On our final day in HCMC, which is today, we really felt like getting wet - so we went in search of a swimming pool. After a half hour walk, we found one - it was great. It was outside in the sun with sun loungers all around the outside, a cold water jacuzzi in the middle of the pool and a bar which you could swim up to - now aren't you jealous! So my dear readers - once again I have come to the end of another entry and the first chapter of my trip is finished. It's 'Goodbye Vietnam,' 'Hello Cambodia'. Cheerio folks! x | 
