Hanoi

Hanoi - the famous communist (sorry socialist) capital of the north was actually a joy to behold. Slightly smaller than Saigon and a tad less hectic it was my favourite of the two. Highlights included Little Hanoi restaurant (the food was amazing), beer corner 25p for a beer and everyone sits on the kerb - bit like Shoreditch in east London or Berlin. The people were pretty friendly too, which always helps. Learned how to say 'you are beautiful' and 'I love you' in Vietnamese. The only two phrases you need when you're me. Had a wicked time, nice way to round of Nam.

The Bay

Halong Bay is a town three hours north of Hanoi, and is steeped in Vietnamese mythology. The mountains are rumoured to be the leftover remains of dragons which came from the sky to aid the Vietnamese in their struggle against the Chinese. My guide told me the next day that a dragon had come into his bedroom the night before to tell him to thank us for visiting LOL.. I cracked that I've had a few dragons visit my bedroom too, but only when I'm wasted. The joke was lost in translation. :)

We only spent one day and night there, cruising the bay by day and visiting the caves and then we had a party in our hotel that night - everybody let loose the antics were untold. We played drinking games - one bloke had his girlfriend's dress on, another gave our guide a lap dance, and another still admitted to a foursome. Ahh, drinking games always bring out the best in people.

Biking in Hue

Another beautiful city, another beautiful experience. Coming home isn't an option. Yet.

French couture in Hoi An

Hoi An is an amazing city seriously underrated and unknown! It smacks of the French colonial times, and is a a city renowned for tailoring and high fashion. The architecture is also very beautiful as you can see... Two of the guys in our group had suits custom made there, the place is every girl's paradise with original and arty fashion and shop upon shop. Its what Paris used to be. Hoi An I love you. Xx

Beach time at Nha Trang

After Saigon and all the drama there, we departed for Nha Trang, which is a beach town about halfway up the coast of Vietnam. It had a few nice spots, one in particular bar called The Sales Club designed for all the Russian billionaires that holiday there. I wandered round initially looking for any girls my age, until our tour guide informed us Nha Trang comprised just Russians and old people. Oh well, at least the vistas were good!

We all hit the mud pools on the first day which was fun, and then had a 'party on the beach' with Sydney Dave on day two. Sydney Dave was a fat bloke from Australia married to a young Vietnamese woman and ran a beach business. We paid something like 10 dollars each to be transported to a nice beach where we could eat as much Vietnamese barbecue and drink as much Saigon beer as we could manage. Needless to say everybody consumed their money's worth (check out the fourth pic everyone looks mangled) - and we all passed out around six in the evening! Had a good laugh there...

Hoochie Cu-Chi tunnels

The Cu-Chi tunnels were used firstly by the Vietminh and then later by the Vietcong (VC) as a means of sneaking up on the American GI's and generally getting around... they were too small for Americans to fit into and were usually multi-layered with around three different levels of tunnels. I went through one and it felt pretty claustrophobic. The traps set were super gruesome too, with the whole village (men, women and children) making weapons and traps to eject the foreign body from their land! We all know the story so I won't go into it, but was really interesting to see the tunnels and museum in person, especially since I studied it in history. Although, the museum is mega one-sided but that's to be expected here in Nam.

Saigon

My first impressions of Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as its internationally known but no calls it that here), were less than favourable. I thought Bangkok was crazy but Saigon is literally teeming with people and traffic  like ants. It still has a bit of the 'French' about it so is quite trendy and chic, but one Australian girl was kidnapped and held for money in the taxi, another English boy had his money taken from the hotel room and the staff at the hotel just said they take no responsibility for any missing items, then said it was probably his girlfriend! Welcome to Vietnam. You have to be on your guard all the time, one girl handed over money for a drink then went to change the drink and when she came back the lady said she had never given her any money. Robberies/kidnappings are very common and the people here are very tough.

Apart from the that the place is beautiful, and I'm looking fiorward to seeing other parts of the country. We're making our way north, and will be visiting Nha Trang, which is a beach town full of Russians (there are direct flights from Vladivostok) and old people, Hoi An famous for its French architecture and tailoring, Halong Bay and finally Hanoi the capital of the north. Also, Facebook is super hard to access here as the government have strong censorship but there are ways and means!! :)

The Killing Fields and S21

Previously a Chinese graveyard regarded as a 'quiet' place to commit genocide, The Killing Fields was an area just outside of Phnom Penh where the despot Khmer Rouge and his henchman Pol. Pot slaughtered men, women and children no more than 40 years ago - people considered politically unsound or of a different viewpoint (sound familiar all good psychos think alike!). The place was disquieting as there were still bones in the earth we were treading and our tour leader had close family (father, brother and sister) murdered under the regime! His story was unbelievable and it was hard to think the atrocities had been committed so recently. Unfortunately, Cambodia's dark past is still widely unknown in the general world and I wonder why this is?

S21 was a high school coverted into a prison camp where the inmates were beaten and tortured to death. Many of the officers in charge were teenagers which had been brainwashed into thinking what they were doing was okay. They started by killing animals and then moved onto killing humans. Touring these places was very intense and it was a very dark day.

Angkor Wat

It's hard to get the sense of awe and wonder I felt from these photos but take my word for it, Angkor Wat was epic!!