Vietnam (Part 2)

... it's been a while since the last blog, and in all honesty, apart from just namedropping where we have been we have actually done very little! We have chilled, chilled and then chilled...

It all started with a not-so great time though. We headed out to Dalat, which was meant to be this great cultural place full of things to see and do... except there was nothing to see or do... we couldn't even find a decent place to have a brew! Gutting! We spent about 10 hours on a really dreary coach journey only to arrive in rain (which persisted for our whole stay!) and be dumped in the middle of a pretty bleak hole! Eventually, we got to our hotel and it was OK... no great shakes or anything, but OK... that is until we were awoke every morning by the loudest group of Chinese Tourists and Schoolchildren(!) who seemed to use our corridor as a place to scream, shout, play games, play the drums... OK, so the last one was a lie but you get the idea that they made a lot of noise.... It wasn't even us being lazy either, because we checked the time and it was 5am!!! My God! We had to leave... we cut our stay there short and got away as fast as we could book the coach and do one!

Next stop was Nha Trang... the beach destination of Vietnam. We loved it! It was such a lovely place with loads of chilling to be had! It had a paradise beach about 6km long (so plenty of private chill space), loads of ace restaurants and bars (ask Trace who is the World Champion at Pool? hehehe), good shopping, a quiet hotel and even a rather splendid waterpark! Yep, we had a great time in Nha Trang just dossing about really :)

However, we chilled just a tad too much and suddenly realised that we had spent longer than we should have as we only had a limited visa of 1 month... so, we had to cut out a little bit and decided to fly straight to Hanoi.

... and we were dead organised and everything. We booked a hotel and even a taxi pick-up from the airport... oh, and how lovely did our hotel look on t'Internet! Plush as you like with ace reviews!

However, the taxi dropped us off outside a right hovel with about 100 kids playing on the entrance steps. 'Oh well' we thought, 'it may be nice inside'... hmmm... it still looked a bit of a sh*thole once we got in as well actually... still, the room might be really nice- just what we need after a horrible flight... Somewhere to chill, have a bath, watch some TV... um... well... it was awful! This was not the place advertised on the Internet at all! It was a dump... in fact that is a compliment! It was so bad it made bad look good! So, in no uncertain terms we told them we were not going to be staying there as it was not the place we had booked and we picked up our bags and wandered the streets of Hanoi (just like the littlest Hobo- except he wasn't under threat of being eaten) to find somewhere new... we did, it was nice and we enjoyed Hanoi thoroughly! It's a great city full of fab buildings, nice cafes and lots of artsy little things to do, like the Water Puppet show, which was a good chance to hear Vietnamese music and see the crazy instruments they play! One such instrument plays one chord only and can only be played by men as it does funny things to women- who are also not allowed to hear the instrument until they reach a certain age or else they are bound to fall in love with the player... !!

We also walked around the lake in the Old Quarter (which was on BBC World today!) and visited the Pagoda there too... yep, we had fun and chilled a lot in Hanoi :)

Vietnam (Part 1)

Leaving Cambodia was really sad and although we managed a couple of lovely relaxing days in Sihanoukville by the beach, we could deffo have spent longer there! However, Vietnam is a country quite strict on its visa policy and we gave the date of entry as Aug 1st and so had to either be there by then or start losing days of our one month allowance. So, to Vietnam it was...

Getting through customs and the journey were really painless for once (except a 45 min wait in a mentally humid room!) and we got to Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) early afternoon- just in time for a brew :)

We originally booked to stay here for 5 nights, but after falling in love with our cushy hotel and the area, we have eventually stayed for 8 nights :)

In all honesty, there hasn't been too much to do here, but we have enjoyed the relaxing and messing about because we know that on the next leg of Vietnam we have quite a lot of ground to cover in a pretty short amount of time. However, we have been up to a little bit...

It all started with a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were fab! I'd read about them in a book I stole in Malaysia so knew how invaluable they were to the Vietnamese during the war against the US. We had a great guide for the day who explained loads of stuff about them, and we even got to crawl through some... well, we tried... Trace kinda flipped out and just couldn't get her head round why they didn't have any electric lights in them... LOL! But, they were pretty darn scary... and considering they had been enlarged slightly to about 80cm wide by 120cm high, they were still a VERY tight squeeze. And, they were very dark (the old couldn't see your hand in front of your face jobby), very hot and sticky and apparently sometimes full of mozzies or even snakes! We managed to do 30 metres out of a possible 100 metre tunnel before exiting at the first opportunity!

However, the highlight of the tunnels for me was getting to do something I had been quite excited about... firing a gun! I had heard that you got the chance to fire an AK-47 or M-16 or even some full-on automatics at the tunnel grounds... However, as we were doing our tour and I could hear other people shooting... I actually started to get quite nervous! The sound was really like nothing I'd heard (or felt before)... It's difficult to describe, but it is a powerful sound if that makes any sense....

... and as we got closer, it just got scarier, louder and more powerful...

So, I started to prepare for bottling out and talking about what a rip-off it would be (hehe)...

Then we got there and it was literally deafening every time a shot was fired from the range. The cost was $1.3 per bullet and you had to have a minimum of 5... I was ready to forget about it (not the cost, I was really, really nervous!)... but Trace wouldn't let me.... and the old male ego took over...

So, I paid and picked the AK-47... we headed to the range, with my 5 bullets in hand (which I'm sure can't be that safe for a clutz like me!!!). And, it was ace! It was really scary- I had the bullets put into the magazine by my own little personal soldier dude and he pointed me in the right direction... So, I pulled the trigger and had no idea where the shot went! It was so frickin' loud that you are deaf for a second or two after firing! Even with the mufflers on, it was scary! Then I had my second shot and started to relax a bit... and this time I could see where the bullet went... wide of the target, but not too far off... same with the third too, but I was getting the hang of it! On the fourth and fifth shots both hit the target and my little soldier dude kept telling me they were good shots! Wow! It was an amazing experience but really scary too...

As our last blog mentions, we also celebrated our first year on the road (thanks for the comments and emails!) and so knew that a drunken night would be in order! Luckily, it was also the same day as the Community Shield and we got a chance to watch United beat Chelsea... YEY!!! (Sorry Gary!) Then, we stayed at the bar, drinking, eating pizza and realised that the music being played was on a PC a bit too close to us... so, feeling leery, we grabbed the mouse and started changing the tracks being played... before you knew what was happening the bar was being bombarded by classic tracks from Alice Cooper to The Beatles! ACE! We ruled the roost... people were making requests and everything... we were right little DJ's...

Next day, we recovered and did very little... except, I finished the last Harry Potter book... wow! I was and still am so sad when I think that it is all over..... Trace is reading it at the mo, so I won't say too much.

Then, it was time to become tourists again and so we headed out the the War Remnant Museum, which had some amazing photographs from the conflicts and also some awful ones of the victims of Agent Orange.

... and that pretty much brings things up to date... we leave for Dalat tomorrow, which is supposed to be lovely and full of waterfalls and walks. So, we're looking forward to the waterfalls... :)

Oh, and a final pic just to show you that we get rain out here too sometimes... :)

Happy Birthday to us...

... well, its been a year today since we hit the road and started this travelling stuff... and I'm not sure quite where it's gone... that is until I read through some of the old blog entries and realise its been a pretty eventful year.

Its been a really strange, but amazing experience. We've missed a lot of things about home and there have been times where we have both been really pining for just being back. But of course this is balanced by the times when we just don't want what we're doing to ever end. It isn't always as easy as it sometimes sounds on the blog, and what occasionally gets a brief mention in an entry is sometimes a really stressful time. Albeit a stress not like any we have ever had in our UK lives. Travelling is a false reality and we both appreciate that- its not like selling a house, studying to pass your degree or raising a family... But obviously, everyday isn't roses and there have been times when we have felt a bit low or wondering where we will ever fit back into the UK... but the one thing that has helped us and reminded us that we do have a place is when we hear from anyone back home. We love getting the emails and catching up with what everybody is up to. Its a nice feeling to know that when we get back there is a place for us. And, its just nice to know that we are in your thoughts. Thanks all who have kept in touch you really have made us realise just how lucky we are to have the family and friends we do.

Also, another great help in the travelling has been the people we have met out here and on the road- we really have made some great friends who have helped and augmented good times and experiences. We hope you have enjoyed the shared times as much as we have. Thanks :) and we will be in touch for a long time to come yet! You will never get rid of us gypos.....

Please do not think that we are saying travelling has been bad or anything- we have loved it! But, we just thought that it should be mentioned that travelling is really different to having a holiday. And, after all, we have now been on the road for 1 year, which means travelling has become our job. We catch buses, planes, book hotels etc... for a living... weird! But awesome!

We have seen 7 countries in the last 12 months and as the blog shows we have done things ranging from walking on glaciers to visiting orphanages. I'm not trying to 'big us up', but it is an amazing feeling for us because we are so proud of everything we have done. And, we've enjoyed sharing it in the blog. We hope you have enjoyed reading it, and thanks to all those who have taken the time to comment or again keep in touch through it.

... and, finally, I (Matt) would just like to say that after 12 months of being with the same person day in and day out, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... I love you Trace, more than ever :) x