I must update this more regularly!
Soooo it was Deepavali (Diwali) half-term back in October and I took myself off to Vietnam for a week. I met up with my mate Pedro (Pete) in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon and we explored the city. I LOVE HCM! Such a beautiful, busy and bustling place! Stayed in a colonial style hotel where Graham Greene wrote his 'The Quiet American' - culture! I mainly wondered around the city taking in the sights, it was strange seeing U.S helicopters just on the corner of the road! Did the traditional rooftop bar which was great albeit with questionable entertainment. Some call it professional singing, I call it karoake (not as good as my Ricky Martin 'She Bangs' if I do say so myself).
We met up with an old friend (Brooke colleague and from Uni), Amy and her husband Brad (and their adorable girls). I had not seen her for over a year so it was wonderful to catch up. They took us to this great Craft Brewery - Pasteur Street Brewery Saigon...needless to say we were there a long time and memories became blurred. We then went back for a BBQ to eat ALL the meat in Vietnam I beleive lol!
On Tuesday, after realising I had booked the wrong flight and quickly booking another (bargain at 20GBP), we flew down to Phu Quoc island. Only an hour away and interesting cabin crew outfits from VietJet Air (think 'The High Life' from the 1990s) we arrived A fantastic hotel and because we were in low season, there were few customers. Nice little bungalow, pool and resort overlooking the ocean - bliss! We were lucky to have great weather too as it had not been predicted!
Dawn (Brooke) flew from UK to join us on Wednesday and we mainly sunbathed and made the most of those bars you can swim up to! We were there for hours and clearly entertained the locals with our drinking habits and photo posing lol! We went out for some nice meals and worked on topping that tan up. I am not coming back to the UK without a tan at Christmas!
We all left on Saturday and me and Dawn flew back to KL, before heading to Mantra Bar that night...this great rooftop bar.
In the last few days we went to an amazing crab restaurant (chilli crab - yum!) with Dawn's old work colleague, hawker centre opposite my condo and Korean BBQ - food much!? I was sad to see Dawn go, but a Christmas catch-up is planned!
I loved Vietnam so much that I am going back in the first week of December before coming home to UK for Xmas.
Troy :)
