Around the world in a daze

Europe part 2

sarah153 — Mon, 5 Oct 2009 19:25:00 GMT

After a whirlwind tour of some of the major cities in north Western Europe, we headed down to the south of France for some R and R.

Louisa and I arrived in Bordeaux feeling exhuasted and not wanting to do much, as a result spent most of our time sitting in the park eating pate and cheese with bread. Pretty nice!

The main tourist attraction in Bordeaux is to take a wine tour with the grey haired tourists and sample wine by spitting it out, at a huge expense. We decided it was far better to buy the same wine from the supermaket around the corner for under 3 euros and drink it at the hostel with other backpackers – and we certainly did not spit it out!

After two nights it was time to move on again to the seaside town of Biarritz, right near the Spanish boarder.

The sun was shinning and it was actually warm enough for us to get in the water, something we hadn't felt like doing since Asia. Most of the locals decided it was too warm to even wear clothes. The beach was filled with elderly women, the colour of tangerines, wearing noothing but a g-string.

After that sight, it was time to leave France and cross the boarder into Spain. We headed to San Sebastian – also a seaside resort. Unfortunately the good weather did not follow and although we enjoyed some nice relaxing walks along the beach, we didn't feel compelled to get in the water again.

We did, however, sample some of the fine local cuisine. In the Basque part of Spain, instead of tapas they serve pintxos. Basically you walk into a bar and there are platters of food such as small open sandwiches, seafood skewers and chorizo sausages. The barman gives you a plate and you fill it up with as many goodies as you want then show him and he will charge you. The idea is to have a few at a bar then head on to the next. It is also important to sample the local drinks. We really enjoyed the kalimotzo – a mixture of coke and red wine, which sounds disgusting but is actually delicious and tastes similar to sangria.

We also tried sangria and tapas a few days later in Barcelona, as well as a yummy paella. Barcelona was a fun city. We saw a couple of Gaudi's pieces of work, including la Sagrada Famillia, which has been a work in progress for about 100 years and is still not expected to be completed till 2030. it was impressive but i was left wondering whether it was all worth it. We also had a walk along the fake beach, with sand imported from the Sahara for the 1992 Olympics. We managed to make it up to the highest point in Barcelona – it is 16.9 metres high!

But time was running out and we had to meet Andy and Blake in Switzerland. Unfortunately the trains weren't running as we planned – one was full, one late, one not running on a sunday, etc... and we didn't arrive in Sion, our meeting place, until 2am, by then the others had gone to bed. We had to find accomodation for the night quickly and because we were not willing to pay 100 euros for a hotel each, some taxi drivers agreed to take us to a stadium, where we could camp in the car park, beside the horse stables – an interesting night!

Luckily we found Andy and Blake first thing the next morning and they took us in their car to a campsite in Interlarken, where we had a luxurious night in comparision. We spent just over a week driving through Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. We went to such places as Grindalwald, Lucern, Vaduz and Salzburg.

We would have two nights free camping, in a park, truck stop or forest, then one night in a campsite to shower and do other important things. It was great to be out of the city and have the freedom of the car. We had many excitements along the way – mostly including food or supermarkets and freebies.

We discovered the joys of the Coop and its version of Home Brand, Prix Garantie. Our proudest moments included drinking Prix Garantie Hell Blonde beer and melting the Prix Garantie chocolate down into a chocolate fondue. In Austria we tried apple strudel, schnitzle sandwiches and both sweet and savoury pretzels.

After all the camping we lived the life of luxury for 3 nights in Munich. We had a hotel booked with a free buffet breakfast. The four of us were in heaven and ate about 4 courses each and managed to pilfer bread rolls, tea bags and sachets of Nutella for lunch. Jef came from Sheffield for the time and was shocked by the amount of food we manage to fit in our stomachs and bags.

The main reason we were in Munich was not to eat, but rather drink. It was the last weekend of Oktoberfest and we were ready to party.

We found a seat in the Hofbrau tent early on the first day and had a lady carry over our steins and plop them infront of us. it was a struggle to lift just one, but some of these ladies were carrying about 10. We had 3 each as the crowd around us got rowdier and rowdier. People were dancing on the tables and chanting and cheering.

We went back agin in the evening of the second night, which happened to be a public holiday in Germany and the second last day of the festival. There were people everywhere and spew all over the ground. We sat and had a beer on the grass and watched people pass out.

Oktoberfest was amazing and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. and it is a beautiful city We all separated again after Munich. Jef went back to Sheffield, Andy and Blake drove off into the night aiming for the Czech Republic and Louisa and I are taking it easy in Cologne. We'll meet up with Andy and Blake again in Berlin in a few days time.

Europe part 1

sarah153 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:24:00 GMT

The speedy part of our trip has begun. In the past 8 days we have been to 4 countries and are off to a fifth in a few more.

We arrived in Copenhagen on September 2 and met up with Jo again. We had just one night in the new home of Our Mary, but we manage to see pretty much all of the sights. First up we decided the best way to tackle the city in such a short time was by canal tour, unfortunately the boat was open topped and the rain poured down – similar to Ireland really - and we spent most of the day looking like drowned rats. But we did manage to see Mary's palace, the sculpture of Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid, and some beautiful old buildings.

One of the highlights was not on the usual tour guide. We had an hour spare before getting the night train to Amsterdam, so decided to go to the Ice Bar. The entire bar is made of ice, including seats, walls and the glasses themselves. You have to dress in a thick, blue cloak and gloves and your lips go numb when drinkign from the glass. It was an amazing experience and made the weather outside seem so much warmer! And the alcohol made the forthcoming 16 hour train ride seem less daunting.

We arrived in Amsterdam feeling exhausted ajfter little sleep on the train. I had decided early in the morning I was going to get more sleep lying on the floor than sitting in my chair, and as a result I hurt all over the next day. But that didnt stop us. We set out walking around the city – we did the Sex Museum and the Anne Frank Huis – both very confronting in very different ways. And had chips with mayonaise from the original chip stall for lunch.

The next day we took a free walking tour around the city and saw a lot more and learnt about the Dutch way of naming things – as they are. There was the Old Church, the New Church, the New Market and the royal Palace. Then came one of the highlights – a trip to the Heinekin brewery! yum yum!

Day 3 we decided was time to get out of the city and we headed to the Hague and Delft. We saw the Escher art gallery and lots of Delftware pottery! We also snackked on pancakes. In the evening we went on the Red Light District pub crawl – which was fun, we think.

Holland was great but like Copenhagen, it rained a lot, I was worried this would be the case with all of Europe. Also I couldn't find a single Ollibollen in all of Holland and we didn't see any close up windmills – very dissapointed.

In Bruge, Belgium, the sun finally came out. We had just half a day in this beautiful town to explore and reminisce about scenes in the movie. The hardest bit of the trip was trying to have all the traditional Belgium foods in just one afternoon, but we managed it – chocolate, waffles and chips.

The sunshine continued into Paris and we enjoyed 2 toasty warm days exploring the city of love and eating cheese and baguettes. Jo left us today and we are now on our way to Bordeaux to sample some wines and work our way towards spain.

The Motherland - England, Scotland and Ireland

sarah153 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:17:00 GMT

The past month has been a whirlwind of sight seeing, visiting family and friends and eating, lots of eating.

We arrived in London at the start of August to stay with my cousin Kate and her fiancee Paddy. We had almost a week there indulgining in those things we'd missed in south east asia – baths, newspapers, doonas and being cold enough to wear jeans. When plannning our first few days in the UK, most of the things we wanted were to do with the food we'd missed in Asia – roast dinner, spag bol, curry, fish and chips, etc...

When we weren't eating we managed to fit in the sights such as Big Ben, Tower of London, Greenwich, changing of the guards, a west end show, and even a night in Brighton (unfortunately jet lag prevented us experiencing the legendary night life and we were in bed by 9). The weather was great and Louisa was convinced all those people who had been warning her about English weather were lying.

After London we headed to Oxford to stay with my Auntie Adele and her family. It was good to get out of the city and spend sometime relaxing, having a bbq and attempting to punt. We got in a good walk around the countryside, pub meal, a look around the university and the Harry Potter movie for a bit of culture.

From one university town to another. We headed to Cambridge after a few days to stay with my Uncle Tod and his family. It was at this stage the English weather finally started living up to its reputation. We saw the city in the rain, which is probably the way it should be seen!

Tod also took us to Norwich, a very pretty town, and Great Yarmouth, a very ugly town. Great Yarmouth is an English seaside town. Unlike in Australia, where the beach is enough for a seaside, the English add amuusement parks, jumping castles, horse and carriage rides and bars along the road next to the beach and even on the beach itself.

Next stop was to visit my Nanna in Matlock. We spent four days trapessing up and down the Derbyshire Dales and surrounds. It was great to get back to my “second home” and explore all the old areas, including the hotel I used to work at.

The next stop was Sheffield to visit Jef, a friend from home. We had a few days exploring the city, and its night life – including a pub quiz, where we lost almost as badly as we do at home!

It was great to get to see everyone again and it seemed so strange to get back into the habit of backpacking, but we weren't on our own for long.

After Sheffield we headed to Edinburgh, where Jo met us. We had three nights in the middle of the city during the Edinburgh Festival and we made the most of it. We saw some brilliant acts including a musical improvisation group, Facebook the musical and some great stand up comics. It was very hard to leave Edinburgh!

Inverness was next, where Jo left us for a week and we explored Loch Ness for a day, but didn't find the monster. After a day we flew to Dublin to meet Malcolm and Leanne, Louisa's parents.

Inverness was cold but Ireland was even colder. I kept thinking I should return to Ireland in summer, until I realised August is summer there.... I wore my scarf, jumper and raincoat most days, some days I even put on my thermal top! But we deicided the scenery was best viewed when it was cloudy, to keep it authentic.

We had a day looking aruond Dublin at churches, the castle, a walk along Temple Bar and the Liffey. In the evenning we saw an Irish dancing and music show while eating Irish stew. The next day we hired a car and headed south. We spent about 4 days driving around and saw just about everything south of Dublin. It was a great trip and good to see Louisa's parents again too.

On to Europe main next for 2 months.

Thailand - farewell Asia

sarah153 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:15:00 GMT

It's amazing to think our three months in asia are almost up. We've done so much but it has gone way too fast! and we are about to leave the world of tuk tuks and elephants for black taxis and double decker buses.

We arrived in Thailand over a month ago and headed straight for Khao San Rd in Bangkok. Talk about a culture shock. We'd come from the quiet streets of Phnom Penh and walked into the street of neon lights, our first mcdonalds, drunk westerners and pad thai stalls. It had this crazy festival feel as every one was just there for a party.

We spent 2 days in Bangkok, which was long enough to learn not to trust tuk tuk drivers, sample some longer food and attend a buddist festival, enttirely by accident. One of the temples we visited had a huge festival for the junior monks who were about to go to Chiang Mai to finish their trainign. One woman got us dancing in a parade with all the locals and fed us free soup and soft drink. It was amazing.

After finding our way back to town, we hopped on a bus to the South and a town called Krabi. Spent a few days there going to the beach and kayaking - it was so beautiful.

The next three weeks was a series of island hopping and lying on the beach. Phi Phi Island was the first. We spent a lot of time at the beach, which looks amazing but is not practical for swimming. You walked out for 100 metres and were only uup to your waist and the water was so hot, it was hardly refershing! The snorkle trip was amazing htough. We went around the islands near by and saw the beach where the movie "The BEach" was filmed. The beach parties at night were also amazing!

We stopped in Phuket for a night on the way to Koh Samui, where we chilled on the beach for 3 straight days.

The full moon party was fast approachingso we set off for Koh Phangan. The party was fun, but not all it was made out to be. Just 6000 drunk people on a beach, not doing much.

Koh Tao was a completely different experience, we stayed at a resort on the sheltered side of the island where we could climb into the water from a ladder under the deck and snorkle. Very few people around. Beautiful.

But time was running out, we had to get to Bangkok to meet mum and dad so only had about 3 days there.

The islands were amazing but all the beaches were a touch too hot, or shallow, or deep or polluted and it made me realise just how amazing the tassie beaches really are - even if it is too cold to swim.

We met up with my parents for a weekend, which was great fun- we subjected mum to a tuk tuk ride and took dad to the biggest shopping mall in south east asia. But after a shot while they headed off to different parts of Australia and we were on our own again and heading North to a volunteer program in Chiang Rai.

We've spent the past week working with the Akha hill tribe people. We've hoed fields and planted herbs, made bamboo cups, had traditional saunas, anelephant ride and drank far too much akha water (whisky)! I now have so much respect for farmers in this part of the world. we had to walk up hill for an hour to even get to the field, then the work itself was so physically demanding and it is well over 30 degrees. WE were so hot, we had sweat puddles form in the bottom of or lovely purple lace up gum boots.

OUr last few days in Thailand will be spent doing all the things we have savoured until the end - like massages and cooking courses - in Chiang mai. The day before we leave we are stopping at a tiger temple to pat tigers as our big finale!

Asia has been amazing and I"m sad to leave but I'm looking forward to some of the comforts of England such as flushing toilets, hot showers, newspapers adn Nanna's Sunday roast!

Northern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

sarah153 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:46:00 GMT

The second month of our trip has been eventful. We've passed 2 borders, had 2 20 plus hour bus rides, seen a lifetimes worth of temples and are ready to hit Thailand. We spent over a week in the north of Vietnam basing ourselves from Hanoi and heading off on trips to Halong Bay and Sapa. Halong Bay is one of the main tourist sights for foreigners and Vietnamese alike, and for good reason. It is this amazing series of islands that jut out of the water. Only one island is inhabited – Cat Ba Island, a major place for locals to have boozy weekends away. Halong Bay is trying its hardest to become part of the new seven wonders of the world. We picked a 2 night trip. The first day was spent exploring caves around the islands - including James Bond Cave, where one of the films was made – by foot and kayak. IN the evenign all tourist boats (and there are a lot of them!) anchor in the same spot and float around, bumping into each other slightly. Most are party boats but the wildest ours got was a game of Uno on the top deck! In the morning those of us who were staying 2 nights were dumped on Cat Ba Island for a short walk up a mountain. There were two paths – adventure and normal, we thought we'd picked the normal one but realised when we were up to our knees in mud, it was actually the adventure track. Luckily we'd worn sensible shoes, not like the poms who were walking behind us who only had thongs. At the top of the moutain was a very high tower, unfortunately the top step was missing so you sort of had to leap onto the top and hope for the beest. All the photos i tried to take at the top are blurry thanks to my shaking hands due to the climb. We stayed the night on the island in a pretty awful hostel before floating back to the harbour in the morning and getting the bus to Hanoi. From there we booked a trip to Sapa, where there are many ethnic minority villages and great walking. As it is higher in sapa the weather is cooler, which is just as well as some walking was pretty steep. Thankfully you are followed by a black H'Mong woman who holds your hadn on the slippery bits and even offers to cary bulkythings like bottles of water for you. Of course they expect you to buy handicrafts from them when you stop. After Sapa we had a few days in Hanoi before heading on our first 24 hour bus ride to our first border crossing at Laos. A lot of peopole had described the bus trip to us as the trip from hell, so we were a little worried. Especially when we looked at the bus. Before we even left they were fixing the engine. The back 3rd was filled with boxes and luggage and there was no room to store our packs except for the roof. We couldnt recline our chairs as there was too much luggage and they kept stopping to add even more. It turns out there is no real transport system for goods between China and Laos so it is all done by passenger buses. As it got later the aisles were filled with bits and pieces. Then the staff (there are always about 6 people working on a bus) decided it was time to sleep and pulled their hammocks across the aisle, so there were not only obstacles on the bottom but also the top. But sayign all this it wasn't too bad, we did manage to get some sleeep and it was a great way to get to know the others on the bus, many of whomm we ran into again and again in Laos. We didn't spend much time in Vientiane the capital, just headed straight for Vang Vieng – the tubing capital of Laos. Tubing involves sitting in a tyre inner tube and floating down the river stopping at makeshift bars and drinkign too much free lao lao (whisky) and beer lao. The bars apparently washed away in the rain a week before we got there, and were rebuilt within a day. The shoddyness of the building was made perfectly clear to us on our second day on the river. We tried to walk down a set of stairs to the river bank, when it collapsed from under us. i was ok, just a bit bruised, but Louisa started spitting out blood and I started to think something terrible had happened. Luckily she had just got her teeth caught on her lip but it was still pretty nasty and we were put off tubing after that. So we headed south to Four Thousand Islands – a collection of sand bed islands on the Mekong. There is not an awful lot to do there but relax in a hammock. All the children on the island we stayed at seemed to do the work while the parents got drunk. We took a sunset cruise with a couple of Aussies, which was supposed to include swimming and a bbq. It became obvious -pretty early on that our guide was not all there and luckily his son had taken over driving the boat. They dumped us on an island for a walk, where the son would meet us at the other end and start the bbq. Halfway alogn the walk we realised our guide was no longer followign us and had to go back and look for him. we found him in a makeshift bar getting into the lao lao and left him be. the rest of the trip was “interesting” but we survived and the son cooked a great bbq chicken. We moved onto Cambodia soon after and met up with Andy and Blake in Phnom Penh. It was great to catch up with them as they are going the opposite way to us around South East Asia so we could give each other tips. We spent a few days in the south at the beaches with them, swimming in the morning, playing poool and cards in the afternoon and having a bbq on the beach in the evening, blissful! They are now in Laos and we have made it to Siem Reap. We spent 3 days riding around the temples in the boiling heat and are thoroghly exhausted now. Just a few more days in Cambodia before hitting the beaches of Thailand.

In the Middle (of Vietnam)

sarah153 — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:37:00 GMT

Well after a few tough days of lying on the beach, we continued our journey north to Hanoi where we arrived this morning.

This stage introduced us to sleeper buses, which are a Vietnamese term for sitting in the most uncomfortable seats you can imagine while the driver takes the bus around corners at full speed, into the ditch and up bouncing around on the pavement, while beeping his horn, talking loudly, playing incredibly bad music, putting the lights on full and generaly doing anything to stop you sleeping. So the day after is spent walking around in a zombie like state.

But it was worth it. After the first bus ride we made it to Hoi An, the town of 200 tailor stores. Most people get suits or dresses made for formal occasions but seeing as we have no formal occasions for the next year we decided shorts were the better option. It was lots of fun and they ended up being exactly how we wanted, not like some other stories we heard.

Hoi An is the most beautiful town we have visited but there is not an awful lot to do. We spent half a day touring the My Son Cham ruins and the other half hiring bikes to take to the beach, but felt there was not much left to do... other than go to a beach party in the night.

The next day we tiredly got a car to the Marble Mountains, where there are Buddist temples inside the natural caves, beautiful but the paths were very steep and it was about the hottest day.

From there we took the train to Hue because it was supposed to be picturesque, but unfortunately all the locals shut their curtains and we couldn't see a thing.

After a day in Hue it was time to get into the night bus again and head to Hanoi. We've had a day here and will go to Halong Bay for 3 nights tomorrow.

Heading North

sarah153 — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:35:00 GMT

We are now in Dalat – the honeymoon capital of Vietnam. most of the tourists here are loved-up Vietnamese couples who seem to have a strange sense of what they like to see. The region is famous for its waterfalls but most are decked out with fake plastic animals and cafes. You can get your photo taken with a Vietnamese cowboy and his pony. We even found a white horse with black painted stripes, attempting to look like a zebra.

But once you get away from the tack, it is actually a pretty nice place. It is up in the mountains, which is a nice escape from the flatness of the south and it also means the climate is cooler. I even had to wear a jumper last night!!

We spent yesterday exploring the town by foot. The first stop was Crazy House which Lonely Planet highly recommends but it is a bit of a let down. It is this strange house with rooms in weird shapes and very uncomfortable looking beds. Each room has a theme such as kangaroo, where there is a giant kangaroo in the room, with evil glowing red eyes. Guests have to be out most of the day so people can look around. But on the upside the honeymoon suite is available for 1,2 or 3 people???

next was camly falls, the capital of tack. The cable cars were over an hours walk away but well worth it for the view. You can see all over Dalat, even the Eiffle Tower shaped post office!

Today was the best day of the trip so far. Rot the guy who runs our hotel is very anti-Lonely Planet and keen to offer things not in there so arranged for his cousin and friend to take us on the back of their motorbikes to a local mountain for a walk. The walk was straight up and I struggled a bit – clearly boot camp didn't do that much for me!! - but it was amazing.

The views at the top were spectacular looking over a greenish lake, over Dalat and to the other mountains.

The way down was interesting. It is entering the start of the wet season so there has been a bit of rain, making the track pretty slippery. We had very dirty bottoms whenn we got down.

We both loved the motorbikes and are pretty keen to do another trip like that soon.

But for now it is off to Nha Trang. Here is apparently a really nice beach and we are both desperate to gett in the water away from the heat and after today, rest our tired legs!

Louisa and I were both desperate to get to Nha Trang because it was hot and we just wanted to swim. It hasn't disappointed, we've spent lots of time at the beach inthe warm water.

On Wednesday we promised ourselves a treat day to unwind from the stress of no work or responsibilities. But ended up being stalked by a taxi driver who set his bikie friends after us, eating a bowl of spinach and wallowing in mud.

We attempted to order a traditional vietnamese breakfast first thing of soup. Usually these come wiht a range of vegetables and noodles but this one was just spinach and some weird meat we didn't know what it was floating in oily water.

Never mind we'll grow strong like popeye. After breakfast we attempted to get a taxi but he didn't understand where we wanted to go so we walked off. He spent the next hour following us around tryingto understand where we wanted to go, we said goaway but he kept following. We tried going up back streets but he found us. Next thing his friends on motorbikes were following offering us lifts as well,to some unknown destination as it certainly wasn't the mud baths we wanted to get to.

WE eventually got rid of them, went backto thehostel and got them to arrange a taxi for us and our dramas for the day were over.

The mud baths were great, so relaxing. YOu soak in this pool of mud for 15 minutes, to which Louisa said "This is great, it'll get allthe dirt off our bodies"??? Then wash it off and soak in a hot tub before jumping in the pool. Unfortunately the cold pool was closed andthe 38 degreee one was a tad too hot, so we opted to return to the beach andhave a swim before sipping cocktails on sunbeds,life is pretty tough!

The next day we took a trip to 4 islands on a small boat with a bunch of other tourists, we went to a dodgey aquarium which looked more like a pet shop than tourist attraction, went snorkeling, danced on tables and sang waltzing matilda.

now for 2 more days lying on the beach before heading to Hoi An where we may get some clothes made up

Down South in Vietnam

sarah153 — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:33:00 GMT

Well we are a week in and despite what everyone predicted there have been no major dramas.

We arrived in Saigon tired and overwhelmed on Monday morning and mistakenly took the first taxi we saw. We thought he said it would be 50,000 dong (about $5) but he meant 500,000 ($50) – our first rip off.

The traffic on the way in was chaos. Motorbikes and scooters darted infront of the taxi and wove their way around other cars and taxis. Bikes carrying huge loads of food, plastic containers or people appeared out of nowhere. When there was no room they just rode up onto the pavement. I was sure we would die several times on the way, or kill a scooter rider.

But we made it to the hostel in one piece.

From there we spent the day exploring by foot. We found a map and managed to find our way around the city. We found the markets, Reunification Palace and a bunch of nice parks before settling in for an evening of water puppetry.

We also pretty much mastered crossing the roads, it doesn't sound like much of a chalenge but when you realise there are no real road rules and every scooter driver has a death wish it is pretty challenging. We learnt to just walk in front of them and hope they don't hit us.

Our first dinner was an interesting experience and we both expected to wake up in the night with severe food poisoning, luckily we didn't. Despite everyone saying there was food everywhere in Saigon we struggled to find any other than one man serving bits of meat and rice. We weren't exactly sure what the meat was or how long it had been there for, but it tasted good and we were starving having skipped lunch and spent the day walking. So we risked it.

Meals have since become easier and we are learning to be more adventurous.

Day 2 we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong lived during the war, pretty much the only way to get there is to go on a tour but our guide was really good so Im glad we did. He explained a bit more of the history of the war and showed us around the bunkers and tunnels. We headed down into one tunnel that has been widened for us fat lazy westeners but it was still pretty small, we could get through bending over. It ran for 100 metres but Louisa and i both decided to take the first exit at 20 metres. It was hot and sweaty and smelly underneath.

It was a great experience but kinda glorified the war. Great fighters were given the “American Killing Award”.

After this we jumped out at the War Remnants Museum, which was pretty gory. There were actual deformed foetuses in alcohol in one display as well as pictures of deformitiies from Agent Orange. But again it was interesting to read aobut the history of the Vietnamese, my memory from studying the war in college is very hazy.

We spent the next 3 days on a Mekong Delta tour. It was really relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Saigon and crossing roads was just that little bit easier.

We did a lot of boat trips, which were great, but a tad repetitive. All tours seem to include lots of side trips to people making rice paper, coconut candy and just about anything you could imagine. We were restrained and didnt by anything!