Hoi An....Central Vietnam

Hoi An has been awesome. Its much of the same chaos but a more organised kind! Was nice to have a base for a few days to catch up on ourselves. Lots of exploring on foot, ate some lovely "White Rose" Dumplings....only 2 families in Hoi An that make these and supply the whole city. Didnt make it to the famous Ms Vys Morning Glory but did head out to An Bang beach for some just caught Calamari and Coca Cola! We were at the river last night for the full moon celebrations that happen every month. More of the same hassles with kids and people selling shit, ripping us off etc but we are becoming more and more seasoned everyday! We met a lovely man...Mr Phong....he will get his own post though! heres some pictures xxx

More from Hue in a day...

A Day In Hue (hoo.way)

From Ninh Binh to Hue...we sat on a train for 12 hours...well more like 14...they are packed full of people! its certainly an experience, the people who arent in a carriage thats classed as a 'soft seat' are literally packed in like sardines in crazy heat...we had soft seats so that was great but still makes you realise how hard the daily grind in for so many Vietnamese people....you can buy allsorts of food, boiled eggs, sweetcorn, rice, meat on a stick....what is so random to us is so normal here...its like noodle soup for breakfast!

After a late night arrival at a wonderful wee guesthouse, we had a big sleep, the best yet I think for us...we spent the next day on a wee cruise down the famous perfume river, visited a big Pagoda and  visited several tombs.

Trang An, Temple Stairs & The Holy Goat

We set off from our hotel in Ninh Binh and got taken to a beautiful Pagoda...to get there we had to freaking climb a million steps....like goats! So that was legs for the day....pretty amazing workout and so happy we were there at 9am....had the place to ourselves and caught up with 2 cool frenchies, Julia and Mary who were at breakfast with us! Vietnam is small on the tourist front....we have run into and caught up with many familiar faces along the way!

We went from here to a cool boat trip up the Trang An river, was pretty cool, went through caves, did some rowing....bloody hot!

Afterwards was GOAT for lunch...not for me!

Sharts & Giggles....

Hey....sorry we have been out of action for a few days but we have covered some distance and have both been pretty crook! Sharting our way around Vietnam! Steve is the one eating all the crazy stuff but I have been suffering quietly and feeling better today...have somehow managed to get a cold & lose my voice in 39 degrees! homage to my friends and family in winter xxx

We have had some cool days being tourists and soaking it all up. Vietnam is a crazy place and we have very quickly learnt some of the lingo to downplay the harrassment and begging as much as possible. It becomes very tiring and very disheartening....but its all part of how it is over here....hard to explain but a real eye opener...man we are sooooo lucky!

Anyway, happy looking....we are tucked up in Hoi An for a couple of days and off to organise a couple of scary bus trips south....Much Love Us xxx

Ohmmmmmmmm......

We have left the chaos of Hanoi and found a cool weeplace called Ninh Binh. its a little inland and only about 100km south of Hanoi. We jumped on a train we had organised a couple of days ago and that was all pretty straight forward until the train ran over a man in his scooter and killed him. Pretty horrible, didnt see anything but we were up and running again after a short while...Arrived in sweltering heat and went on a mission to stay somewhere and found a cute hotel that was full but the owner put us on the back of his scooter and took us to another one....sweet as! We decidied to go and see a big buddhist temple...Chau Bai Ding...11k from town but more like 20km...far out was it worth it though! the taxi we took waited for us too. Starting at the bottom you slowly walk up 5000 steps past various temples containinig various deitys to the top where the biggest pagoda in Asia is being conistructed. So far its at 10 years....probably another 10 I reckon!

Heres some pics x

Ha Long Honeymoon....

We went away last night to Ha Long Bay. Picked up at 7.30 am from Hanoi and a cruizy but crazy 4 hours drive away! To Ha Long City....It was amazing and so great to see but made me realise what a special place Doubtful Sound is....Ha Long and Bai Tu Long are stunning but worlds apart from our own 'untouched' Fiordland. Just life here though, fishing villages, people living from generation to generation....not so much now though. The government has forced the true fishermen away now...very touristy, very busy....but still beautiful! We spent one night with some Aussies and frenchies and it was pretty cool....