Yes it is true, we are billionaires here in Vietnam! We have both achieved what Travie and Bruno could only sing about... shame it is dong and not pounds though. Anyways, so it is my turn to update our blog and tell you all about our adventures in Vietnam. As many of you know I was a tad ill (sob sob) so some of these mini adventures are just from Miss Vas I did not do some things and laid in bed feeling sorry for my self (sob sob some more.)
So Vietnam started of in an interesting way of having to bribe the officials to speed up our crossing! Whilst waiting for our passports to be stamped I was stroked on the arm by a local lady - amazed at my height and white skin. At the time I thought ahhh how amusing, little did I know that this was just the beginning of the stares, stroking, laughing and being pointed at! Lou braved the toilet (squat loo) and in her words 'the worst toilet ever seen in the whole entire world!' This was not helping me overcome my fear of using a squat loo, as I still hadn't used one!!
So we arrived in Saigon after a short bus journey (only an hour) and went on a tour of the fishing town which is built on the river. We stopped at one of the floating fisheries and saw how they go about their daily lives. Both Kerry, one of the girls on the tour, and Louise tried to catch the fish with their hands (the local way) but just weren't quick enough. We also stopped of at one of the villages and had to climb a rickety bridge to get to it - a tad scary. They keep a pole which shows how high the water gets during the floods, in 2000 it was higher than me!!!!
The next day we arrived in Ho Chai Minh the capital. I have never seen sooooo many motorbikes in all my life! There don't seem to be any road rules here at all - just alot of beeping! When crossing the road me and Lou even held hands, the best method was to walk slowly and keep looking straight and let the bikes swerve round you, and what ever you do DO NOT RUN! We went to the local market and did what we do best - shopped! Lou bought some shorts, but had to change behind a small blanket thingy in the middle of the market held up by me - very funny experience, especially as other tourists stopped to have a look!
So by this time I was suffering bad with my tummy (I know I may of mentioned this once or twice!) but decided I wanted to go with the rest of the group to go and see the only remaining tunnels from the war - bad decision on my part as I spent most of the time in the loo. So Lou and the rest of the group had the chance to crawl through one of the tiny tunnels used by the soldiers, apparently you had to crawl along on your knees and it was v hot and claustrophobic - can't imagine what it was like for the soldiers who had to live underground during the day. That afternoon the group went on a tour of HoChai Minh, but Lou was a bit vague about what they saw, so I don't think I missed out on too much!
That evening we took a night train to Nha Trang. It was Emma's birthday (another girl from the tour!) so we decided to celebrate on the train. I for some reason thought the alcohol would help my tummy and was quickly convinced by the others to join them in the celebrations! Vaughn our tour leader managed to bump us up to 1st class so we were travelling in style, sort of! Our cabin became the party cabin and needless to say alot was drunk, cake was eaten, rice wine was tried, songs were sung and confetti was stuck to our faces - kindly licked by Louise!!! Around 3 in the morning after about an hour sleeping I heard banging and shouting and was convinced we were at our stop, so I woke the cabin (Lou, Emma and Lorna) and we all got ready really quickly and in a panic.... that was until Lorna pointed out it was 3 in the morning and we weren't arriving in Nha Trang till 5. Let's just say the girls still haven't let me forget it yet. oops!!
Once we had actually arrived in Nha Trang sleep was in order. Once we were all refreshed we decided to go to the mineral mud baths for some pampering. This was amazing and refreshing - though trying to clean mud out of your bikini in a public shower is not for the shy! After our lazy day we decided to go and sample the local night life. We ended up in this bar called Oasis, where Lou and Lorna played pool with a local woman for agggeeess - the cheap alcoholapparently made them pro pool players! So about 2ish we decided to head home, but Jaff (our only male on the tour at this point) pointed out that while we had been busy dancing the night away the road had turned into a river. Somehow he managed to convince us our only option was to stay at the bar and continue with the dancing and drinking. Eventually we headed home about 4ish when the road was a little less like a river.
So the next day was a bit of a washout and was spent at the beach and in the pool. generally recovering from the night before antics. That evening we boarded our second sleeper train, but we were not in 1st class this time and we sure noticed the difference! Beds already been slept in, stains we rather we didn't see and bugs. Luckily we didn't see any bugs in our room, but we heard many a scream from the girls next door! Needless to say we all started to creep ourselves out convinced bugs were going to attack us in the night. The night was spent looking like a mummy wrapped in our sleeping liners and spraying bug repellent! An experience yes, one we want to repeat... no!
So I have been waffling on now for aggeeeess and still haven't told you everything about Vietnam so stay tuned for the next installment tomorrow and hopefully some more piccys uploaded onto facebook! We hope everyone is good at home and we both love getting messages so please keep them coming :)
Till tomorrow, much love
Steph and Lou x x x x
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