Songkran and soul searching on Koh Samui

We arrived into Koh Samui over 24 hours after checking out of our last place and a gruelling 16 hour journey via all night bus and 2 ferries (and a 3 hour wait inbetween), so by the time we arrived at our beach bungalows we were shattered.

There wasn't much time to rest though as the owner was quick to brief us about the events thar would likely unfold the very next day - for the next day was Songkran, which is Thai new year to you and me.

This is a massively busy time here as it's traditionally when the locals take their holidays - which is why we had to take the hellacious bus and ferry route rather than the comfier train option as they'd all been booked weeks in advance - and for one day in particular barely anything is open, think of it like Christmas.

The owner Shahin (pronounced Sean) told us to not step foot outside unless we wanted to get wet, so any money we had needed to be wrapped in a bag and we shouldn't bring anything electronic as people will just soak us. You see, they celebrate songkran with basically the biggest water fight you've ever seen in your life, with the objective to spend all day soaking everyone and anyone.

Two people had a week before described the event to me in strangely similar words: "it's like call of duty with water pistols". And they weren't wrong...

Songkran

As we feared for our gear we didn't take photos during songkran, but this one here is exactly what it would look like if I did have one on the back of the pickup truck!

We awoke and prepared ourselves and saw nothing. Maybe it was all hype? So we laid on the beach for half an hour until we heard the neighbours pumping really loud music, at which point we thought we should check it out - particularly as I'd bought a gun the day before in preparation!

My gun for songkran, suffice to say... She didn't survive the day.

Outside there was a main road where dozens of cars and bikes were going by and the neighbours were soaking them as they went. The bikes were waved down so they could receive a face full of talcum powder as well as a soaking (dangerous? Absolutely, but that's not the point here!).

Soon enough we were invited to join the neighbours, drinking beers with them and eating some spicy noodles (so fresh) - whilst I also went the whole hog and ate chicken feet with them as Claire passed - I seem willing to try anything at the moment!
The hoses were constantly filling up buckets for us to reload, ice was brought out to give the victims a blast and powder was flying everywhere - it was SO much fun. One neighbour told us they call this day the "free day" where people just do things for free and grant things to others for free - hence why they wouldn't let us pay for the food and beer we drank, but I had my own beers which I did at least insist on contributing to the pile.

The fun then cranked up a notch as some of them were loading up garbage bins full of water (bins were clean) onto the back of a pickup truck ready to cruise round the island and do "drive-bys", which we had seen others doing all morning - and when the pickup trucks stop, that's when the battle really intensifies with everyone firing on them from all angles, but the pickup truck themselves have plenty more ammo.

Sensing an opportunity for more fun, I asked if we could join them to which they were glad to have us and off we went! We drove most of the island through maenam and chaweng (chaweng is the main town), during which the water fights really kicked up a notch! Standstill traffic, people of all ages soaking you and covering your face in dyed powder at every angle (they do lovingly put the powder on as they wish you new year, not just slapping at on you!) - it was absolute carnage of the like I've never seen in my life. I took great delight in flinging a bucket of water into someone's face as they scooted by - sounds harsh but they all knew what they were in for! And when else can you get away with that?!

We spent roughly 3-4 hours driving around doing this, filling up at places they had hoses - even using a fire truck's water to refill at one point. Come the end of it we were shattered having ran on adrenaline all day and having been sunburned and having sore behinds from hanging off the back of the pickup truck all afternoon. Everywhere we went, the party showed no sign of stopping.

When we returned we waves goodbye to collapse back at our bungalow while they went back to drinking - ableit more quietly. Man do they celebrate songkran hard out here and man did we have the time of our lives.

The rest of our time on Koh Samui
Having spent a few weeks on the road, spending barely a day in some places before moving on, we had long been looking forward to spending a week in one place to relax and above all else - fully unpack! With Songkran following the next day, we were then more knackered than ever come our 2nd full day in Koh Samui and more than ready to do sod all!

Claire awoke feeling poorly - the likely result of involuntary ingesting water during the water fights of the day before - so it took her a good couple of days to recover before she could fully relax herself.

The majority of our time here was spent like we would a normal beach holiday; reading, sunbathing, swimming in the sea (and freaking out at anything that touched us), having a brooski or two and writing. The weather held 99% of the time too so the week was total bliss.

The beach at bang po 

We did rent a scooter one of the days, which Claire drove as she used to have one and I have a history of breaking teeth on bikes! On this day we explored some of the island and took the chance to go shopping, plus Claire occupied herself while I had a long overdue haircut with a 3 week old kitten.

Claire gets reacquainted with riding a scooter

After a couple of days of recouperation, both of our thoughts began to wander to the future: as we know this amazing time will finish in August and we will return to the UK, we both began to think about life back home and more importantly: what we want from it.

I think I will return to the same line of work - marketing - but I'm going to aim to do it somewhere I can really get behind the cause and make a difference, like at a charity perhaps. Working somewhere I can work on campaigns with real motivation is what appeals to me and is exactly what I'm going to aim for. Beyond that we've both began to think further into the future: like saving for a house, pets, kids - but all in due time of course!
Part of me felt guilty for thinking about this stuff whilst in a paradise, but as I mentioned in my first blog - I came here to try and figure out exactly these types of things and I think that's what I'm finally doing.

I left so that when I return to the UK, I'll be ready to live there for the rest of my life without the need to break out like I did before - and I can certainly feel myself preparing for that mentally with each passing week. In the meantime there's still plenty to discover and experience, but this week on Kho Samui has been massively important for the both of us to not only have some of the best fun we've ever had, but to also search into our souls and figure it out for ourselves.

Next up - another week of beach bumming on Koh Phangan. Such a tough life I know!

Bangkok and a big Buddha

The gigantic reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Landing in the airport was actually quite welcome, it's big and commercial and when we got on the connecting train to the city it was using the same type of trains as the ones in the London underground - a bit of familiarality is great sometimes!

I'd heard many accounts of what Bangkok was like from many people who'd been there. The overriding opinion being that's it's hectic, crazy and that 2 days there is enough. With that in mind we had only booked 1 night there before heading south to Ko Samui.

Thailand is known for being the "land of smiles" and this much is true, however after experiences with taxi drivers, hotel staff and countless others, we began to give it our own phrase: "the land where they smile to you while they lie". I hate to say that but that's just kinda the result of our experience so far - not enough to put you off, but certainly enough to raise your blood pressure a notch or two!

The traffic was gridlock in the city, meaning if you're able to walk 30 minutes to somewhere then I'd suggest you do so to save time, money and stress.

In the day and a half we were there we visited the famous reclining Buddha at Wat Pho and spent some time around the famous Khao San road as well as the neighbouring Rambuttri road which we preferred (much cooler vibe there and a great place to sink a cheap beer and people watch), plus I took the chance to try a local delicacy of scorpion on a stick! (After being dared by my friend Jess)

Eating the scorpion was weird; it was obviously the crunchiest thing I've ever known but the taste was hard to put my finger on - I think it'd been smothered in soya sauce as it kinda tasted like that but with a twang to it. Overall it certainly wasn't the worst thing I've tasted by far in my life!

The Khao San road was something I'd long heard of to make sure I see. "If you can't get it on Khao San road, you can't get it anywhere" - and it seemed this was true to an extent with booze, food,  clothing, a boots store, books and much more all on offer, but what was on offer did seem mainly like your bog standard holiday tat: especially clothes where it was either something with a motif you could buy anywhere or something with Thailand on it. There's some good stuff there for sure, but nothing really looked individual enough for our liking though. I'd expected the road itself to be a lot bigger, but it was still impressive enough as a hub of activity.

The hive of activity that is Khao San road

The next day we went to visit the grand palace and the reclining Buddha, but the palace didn't seem open (and the entrance fee seemed steep anyway) so we just headed to the Buddha temple - despite a man on the road trying to convince us it was closed, funnily enough he knew of a sight that was just as good and he could take us there himself! Such a nice man to tell us this eh? That would've saved us such a journey etc etc. Yes as you can guess, this random helpful stranger was also smiling as he lied, but we saw right through it and carried onto the temple which was open after all (shock).

The temple itself was beautiful and had quite a few parts to it, but the main section was the most impressive. We had seen a few ruined temples so far but it was great to see one in all its splendour, as it's meant to be, to get a full understanding and experience of what takes place there. The reclining Buddha is enormous and a sight to behold, and if you can shut out the sight and sound of tourists taking selfies then you can get a real sense of peace in its presence. There's also a section where you can put pennies in each of the 108 jars alongside the Buddha and say a prayer for each one, so we took the chance to pray for our friends and family.

Saying our 180 prayers

The rest of the day was spent poolside at our hotel after checkout until we had to catch our bus to board the ferry to Ko Samui, little did we know that ahead of us was a 16 hour journey that would exhaust and frustrate us!

In all, Bangkok wasn't quite as bad as I'd allowed other people to make me believe and I don't want this to sound too negative. Perhaps thanks to how Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) made me feel at first it meant Bangkok at least didn't seem as bad in comparison. And there's certainly more to see there than we managed to. As we've since found, the annoying aspects don't just apply to Bangkok but all of Thailand that we've seen, plus maybe being on the road has begun to wear on us in terms of tolerance, but I WOULD come back to Bangkok. I'd at least come here en route to another destination or for a couple of days as part of another holiday, but for now I can atest to the advice I was given that a couple of days there is enough.

Cambodia: discovering the ancient temples of Angkor Wat

After a month of constant traffic and noise in Vietnam, Cambodia's streets felt like a calming tonic for our ears. We flew into Siem Reap airport from a very small propeller plane and the airport is relatively new and therefore has very limited but good facilities visas were only $20 dollars each, which wasn't too bad and the process was easy too.

We were greeted by the tuk-tuk driver recommended by our hotel, whom we had booked for airport transfers as well as to take us around Angkor Wat, so it was nice to have a really friendly and personal service.

Siem Reap itself was gearing up for their new year celebrations so the place was looking close to its best with cute lights adorning the riverside to give the place a really romantic feel. We had dinner at a place by the river and I had something called Luk Lak - with beef - that was absolutely incredible, whilst also taking the chance to sample yet another new local brew in the Anchor beer (as well as Angkor beer).

The next day we headed to the temples of Angkor Wat - the whole reason we had come here - at 5am as had been recommended by anyone who'd been before so that we could watch the sun rise.

The early start was certainly worth it though as the view of the sun rising over the stunning towers of the famous old temple was a real piece of beauty to behold, whilst hundreds of people jostled for positions by a little pond to get a perfect reflection picture, we sat away from them determined to keep the focus of the view with our eyes rather than our lens.

The temple at sunrise - an amazing sight.

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon visiting all of the temples of the site, climbing high over crumbling stairs and through collapsed doorways. Each temple seemed to have something different about it whether in its structure or its surroundings (the place was built over many years), but each one continues to attract your gaze.

We both drew similarities from our trips to ancient temples in Egypt and Mexico due to the symmetry in the architecture and the way that you could tell that they were all colourful at one point before the elements stripped them of it - which only piques my interest further to contemplate how they must've looked when they were in use.

Some temples had beautiful lakes beside them, some had been overgrown with mighty trees that only served to make them look even more impressive and wondrous (these bits were used in the first tomb raider film).

This awesome looking section was used in Tomb Raider

The heat was staggering so we both drank every complimentary bottle of water our driver gave us, in all neither of us could recall drinking so much water in one day. You certainly need a driver to take you around the temples as they are quite spaced out.
Along the way we saw elephants being used as rides between temples which once again made us a little sad as they're clearly being exploited (although they are dressed magnificently) and those animals should be treated better, so although Claire really wants to ride an elephant, we both agreed only to ever do it if they are well treated.

There was also a hairy moment as at one temple Claire wasn't allowed in unless she wore trousers instead of a skirt - luckily the hotel owner had warned us of this and we'd packed accordingly - and when she went to change by a nearby tree, the second she showed any skin she seemed to be attacked by a hoard of massive red ants! She got a couple of bites (she's fine by the way) but they clung onto her clothes like nothing I've ever seen, so it was a scary moment trying to keep them off her as they were everywhere!

After spending the whole day in the sun, clambering around and waiting for other tourists to take pictures (Japanese and Koreans particularly taking FOREVER) we were worn out upon our return around 4pm having been there since 5am so we just chilled at our hotel and took stock of everything we'd witnessed.
The next day we were on the plane to Bangkok having had a very short, but brilliant stay in Cambodia. I personally think that once we'd seen the temples there was not a lot else to stay for in Cambodia and I was glad to leave with that thought rather than staying longer and getting bored.

But the temples really are one of those few places in the world that has the ability to leave you in awe at their splendour, and it's for that reason in particular that it really is one of those places to visit before you die.

The first month in review

So our first month of travelling has passed (5th March - 5th April 2014) and it's all been spent in Vietnam. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the month from the lows of our disappointing experience teaching in the Mekong Delta, to the highs of the incredible sights and atmospheres of the old town of Hoi An and Ha Long bay's majestic scenery.

I've learnt and experienced so much during this time already so I thought I'd give you a quick roundup:

• Taught our first lessons as English teachers 
• Quit our jobs as English teachers
• Ate dinner with a district chief
• Jumped off a boat
• Saw an elephant
• Climed a mountain
• Trekked through the jungle
• Cruised through the Mekong delta backwater
• Rode an all night train
• Drank beer for 15p
• Drank cocktails at a floating bar in the sea
• Walked on stairs that went over a roof and had no railings
• Slept on a boat in amongst a thousand islands
• Explored caves
• Kayaked in near silence while eagles stalked their prey

The bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Enjoying the pool in Mui Ne

Just one of the crazy walks at the crazy house in Da Lat

At one of the beautiful assembly halls in Hoi An

And here's a snippet of the fun we had kayaking in Ha Long bay:

There's much more, but that's just to give you an idea of the journey so far. We've both found inner strength to even set out on this adventure, let alone face and deal with what we've been through so far - the language barriers, the logistics, the exhaustion, the heat and particularly in our decision to leave our jobs and decide to spend a shorter time on this adventure just travelling, but making sure that we have a good time, rather than a long time.

At the time of writing, the next month is already in full swing and takes in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia - so there's plenty more in store in the short term, let alone the rest of summer!

Cruising on a junkboat in Ha Long bay

The stunning Ha Long bay

We were picked up by minibus from our hotel for the 3 hour drive to Ha Long bay, where we'd be spending a full day and night aboard a boat to cruise around the famous islands.

The boats all have to be painted white due to some regulation here (except one or two that probably paid to flout the rule and be different), and the boat itself wasn't too bad - it had a nice upper deck and overall didn't look as bad as others we saw en route to it!

Soon we were deep into the bay with a picturesque view from any direction you looked. This was always meant to be one of THE things to see in Vietnam and we weren't disappointed one bit. The islands have always been famous for their stunning views - made all the more famous for the setting of the villains lair in one of the Roger Moore James Bond films (the man with the golden gun I believe - the Roger Moore films are not my strongsuit with Bond knowledge).

After some lunch onboard we were out kayaking through caves and into secluded lakes within islands where we could see eagles stalking their prey before swooping into the water for the kill. We really savoured the scenery as well as the fun of kayaking - although we were in a double kayak and Claire wasn't doing a very good job as the 'steerer', meaning I had to put a double shift in as the 'driver'!

Kayaking in the bay 

Once back on board we were drinking complimentary red wine; the local wine from Da Lat which is the worst I've ever had, but I drank it anyway because it was free wine! Vietnam has a lot to learn in wine making. During this time drinking and taking in the view as we strolled by we got chatting to other couples on board: there was a Dutch couple of Portuguese descent, Belgians, Americans and a Vietnamese couple.

Chilling out on deck with the other couples from around the world

Just before we had our evening meal on board of local fish and other assorted cuisine we stopped at an island to climb to the top and admire an impressive view of the whole bay.

The boat then parked up in a spot with all the other boats in an area that had big 'P' signs on the islands surrounding us, which I found quite funny to think of this place as a kind of car park with matching signs, but this is one car park where I didn't mind sleeping in the car!

We spent the evening chatting away with the other couples about our experiences so far and life back in our respective countries, we spent the most time in particular with the Americans as one grew up in Reading so we had a few things in common to talk about.

We slept brilliantly that night, the room onboard was nicer than we expected and obviously had the nicest view of anywhere we'd had so far!

The next morning we visited the 'amazing caves' after breakfast and we were all intrigued as to whether they deserved such a title. There were a lot of other boats around so a shed load of people visiting them at the same time (one of the main stopping points in the morning clearly). Each cave turned out to be bigger than the last, with the last one being absolutely huge - justifying the title 'amazing' in my eyes. There were some side attractions highlighted inside like the rock that looks like a lion, the one that looks like a turtle and the one that looks like.... A penis (gotta laugh). But the caves were impressive and certainly a worthy stop.

The biggest chamber of the 'amazing' cave

The last thing on our trip as we headed back to the bay was to learn how to make fresh spring rolls - something I'd looked forward to as I LOVE spring rolls. They were a lot easier than I thought apart from the actual rolling bit and I can't wait to practice when I get home for some lucky friends.

Learning to make spring rolls

Before we returned we had to sit through a very brief but heavy storm, which I thought was awesome but the girls on board were a bit frightened so we played some uno to calm everyones nerves before disembarking.

The drive back took longer than expected due to the road not being fully built and traffic. As well as this there was one final talking point as the driver hit two cyclists! I was JUST falling asleep at the time but awoke to the sound and we slowed down to see two people on the floor, one grimacing and holding his arm - to our disbelief, the driver drove off when he saw someone attend to them without even an apology! We couldn't believe it and felt terrible for the people hit but that just seems the way they are here as even our tour guide seemed to brush off the incident. That aside, the staff had been great though!

In all we had an amazing time onboard and could easily see why this is such a big draw for Vietnam. You just can't get such scenery elsewhere, which makes it such a unique place to visit. And doing it on an overnight boat tour is the best way to do so as you do it in style and comfort. This was pretty much the last thing we did before ending our month long stay in Vietnam and it had been thoroughly worth the wait, if you're ever in or even near the country I'd tell you to get yourself there if the weather's good enough - you won't regret it.

Hue, Ha Noi and another change of plans!

This is a bumper post today because we didn't spend much time in either place!

Hue - 3rd April 2014

Another 4 hour coach trip from Hoi An and we arrived. We nearly got ripped off by a taxi trying to get to our hotel only a couple of minutes away but after settling in and taking a 25 minute walk, we were soon there and in the imperial city that Hue is famous for.

It dates back to the Chinese rule and took massive damage during the war with America but is slowly being restored. There is a main gate with 3 entrances, the middle only for the emperor, the others for his servants.

Once through there (about 220,000 dong for the both of us) we were in front of the 'forbidden purple city' which is basically only for the emperor. The inside of his palace had little decoration thanks to the French getting their mitts on everything when they took over, but the architecture was still impressive enough, especially with the red painted columns and gold Chinese writing on them.

The tourism boats in Hue

The Emperor's palace within the Imperial citadel

Within the Imperial city

Cool gazebo in the Imperial city

We explored the rest of the imperial city, of which there isn't tonnes of due to this being an epicentre of conflict, but the restoration projects taking place since have given an insight as to how it looked before. Which as you can imagine is very grand indeed.

Getting close with the locals

After looking round all there was to see we set off home and ate in the backpacker district - having a cheap and cheerful pizza near our hotel.

This is a great place to visit, don't get me wrong, but coming from Hoi An it didn't quite compare. Perhaps going from north to south gives you a better mind set for this place!

The next day was spent waiting for our 9pm train to Ha Noi and we spent the time booking other travel and accommodation arrangements ahead of us (see update below).

We then shared a cab with a Brazilian and a Lithuanian who both live in Germany and talked about all sorts, whilst our train was delayed we also got talking to some dutch travellers and one crazy German - we really felt part of the crowd at last!

Ha Noi - 5th March 2014

We chose the soft seat carriage for the overnight 13hr trip to Ha Noi, whilst our friends all had beds. I wondered if we'd made a bad choice and I was proven right. Unlike our soft seat trip from Nha Trang to Da Nang this was more crowded and full of weirder people, including a lady opposite who kept eating corn then throwing it up half an hour later.

We both got some very intermittent sleep and arrived in Ha Noi - as I'd heard it was just like Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), but slightly nicer. There is a lake in the main part of town that's the main attraction and it was a tiny bit calmer there than the rest of the bustling, noisy capital.

We were here for 2 days with a break inbetween to stay in Ha Long bay on a pre-booked tour (more on that in another post).

The hotel was nice enough but was in a really busy part of the 'old quarter' - a place I found fascinating because each street had shops that seemed to specialise in selling just one thing: there was clothes street, metal street, food street, baby supplies street, sweets street and our street: stationary street. At least here if you need anything you know what street to go to!

We didn't explore too much of Ha Noi, mainly due to a bit of exhaustion from constant travelling over the last few weeks coupled with a sense that this place, like HCMC wouldn't have loads to offer compared to other places we had visited and will visit.

We left Ha Noi and Vietnam on the 8th of April and were very ready for a change of scenery at this point, on the way we got chatting to an American girl who'd had some near misses with muggings so we felt that as we hadn't been ill (not badly anyway) or mugged etc, we kinda got off lightly here! Still, you never know how It's going to go I guess!

In all, Ha Noi was ok, but I personally don't like the big cities here in Vietnam (I say Vietnam, but I doubt the cities throughout the rest of Asia are any better personally). Which is why we didn't really explore more, but it certainly wasn't the worst place we stayed in.

Another change of plans!

So as you can guess, we've now left Vietnam, we didn't fancy living there in the end so our job search went further afield to Thailand and Bali etc.... And whilst we had a few job offers to work there we both did a fair amount of soul searching and came to an ultimate decision: whilst we love travelling through Asia, we just don't think we would settle anywhere to live, no matter what the job or location.

As we as this, this is the first time we've ever had the freedom in our lives to choose not to work and we've really enjoyed that, so we both decided that rather than take a job to "see us through", we'd rather just travel while we can.

So we turned down all of our job offers in favour of simply travelling! The plan is now this: we travel from Vietnam to Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia before boarding a flight in mid May to Rome via a day in China. Once there we are touring Italy for a month (It's our favourite country in the world) before spending the majority of the summer living there with a family near Turin, who we've agreed to become au pair's for their children during the summer holidays Italy.

So it's another big change of plans but one we are really excited about and probably sees us back in the UK around august time. The teaching career isn't put to bed completely, but we've just decided not to do it in Asia for now, and having our meals and accommodation paid for in Italy for the summer was too good an offer to turn down. It's always been about Italy in our minds and knowing we are going to stay there the longest gives us so much excitement.

I'll fill you all in on more details as we go along, but that's the gist for now, in the meantime it's off to Cambodia to see the legendary temples of Angkor Wat!

Hoi An - an enchanting taste of the old Orient

We left Nha Trang not by coach for once, but by train, leaving at 5:30am (horrendous time of day for anyone!) and settled in on a 'soft seat' carriage for an 8 hour train journey to Da Nang. The journey was much smoother than the road and for the first time ever I managed to get some sleep on transport! When I wasn't dozing, I was marvelling at the stunning scenery through the window as we whizzed past mountains, beaches and rice fields.

We arrived in Da Nang just before 2pm and hopped onto a local bus that took us to Hoi An. On the way through Da Nang we crossed a large river that displayed many bridges with stunning designs-all modern too, one was particularly impressive looking like a giant golden dragon was flowing under and over the bridge.

When we got to the hotel, we did our usual: dump the bags and head out to see what we can find. After a walk of 20 minutes or so we hit the main area and were harassed constantly by people trying to sell us suits- I'd love to if I could but I'm on a strict budget here!

Then we stumbled across the first of my new-found wonders: a bar that sold glasses of beer for just 5,000 Dong- that's 15p....15p!!!!!!! So naturally we had a few. After leaving, we walked just one street down and were left feeling like we'd instantly gone back in time. The old town of Hoi An is completely protected by UNESCO as it was occupied under the Chinese dynasty and unlike many things in Vietnam that have been ravaged by multiple wars, this place had remained intact.

I've always loved places that have a lot of history, character and meaning and this ticked all of those boxes thoroughly. It was the first time since we've been out here that I'd been awestruck- and I was so glad it finally happened! I came in search of places of beauty and I could finally say that there was no doubt this was one you could never forget.

In the dusk light, the different coloured Chinese lanterns that were hanging everywhere gave it the most atmospheric of glows, whilst you could hear authentic folk songs being practiced in the street.

The next day we woke up eager to see the place properly in the daylight and headed out straight after breakfast. We went to all of the biggest sites including the assembly halls, old houses and the most famous of all - the Japanese bridge. Each time we admired the places in silence to fully take in the beautiful surroundings we were in. In one of the ancient houses, they had a board with souvenirs left by previous visitors and one had a Southampton fc badge on it! Like this place could wow me anymore!

The entrance to one of the assembly halls

But wow me further it did; before heading back to our hotel for a few hours, we stumbled upon a little place that served tea in the classic old style and we couldn't possibly miss out on it. We both had a redbush fusion tea that was good for your skin as well as your stomach and while we sat in silence we came to learn that the place was actually run by a charity for the visual and hearing impaired - so communication with waitresses was done via lip reading or pointing to signs on the table such as "more hot water" and "bill". The tea was served by serving into a tall jug and then pouring into a smaller cup which was all wonderfully quaint, plus it tasted great too. Yet another thing we'd wanted to do out here successfully ticked off the bucket list and another reason to fall deeper in love with Hoi An.

Having a real old fashioned cuppa!

We returned in the evening to eat (we had a great meal including a local speciality called 'White Rose' which is a kind of dumpling - which was awesome!), drink more cheap beer and continue to admire the place before leaving early the next day. We'd planned out our onward journey already unfortunately, so couldn't stay any longer despite wanting to. In a way though, Hoi An followed the old saying of "always leave them wanting more".

Just one of the many beautiful buildings in Hoi An

This was the most beautiful place I've visited in some time and I already know this'll be high up in my rankings when I reminisce about my travels. Personally I'm not sure if anything else in Vietnam will beat this - only Ha Long bay has the possibility to come close. If you ever come to Vietnam yourself, get yourself to Hoi An, there's places we've been that are good and places that might be able to leave off but this place is an absolute must for any traveller. If you were to come here without seeing Hoi An, then I'd say you may as well not bother coming at all.

Next up: more old sights in Hue as we visit the Imperial City!

Island hopping in Nha Trang

We arrived after another 5 hour coach journey and we couldn't find our hotel to begin with, the street numbers were confusing but after nearly half an hour of walking around we eventually found it.

The woman at the hotel was really friendly and helpful and when we mentioned our next destination was Hoi An via the train, she offered to sort our train tickets for us to which we gladly accepted to avoid the hassle!

Nha Trang itself is a real beach destination, unlike Mui Ne it has been receiving tourism for a lot longer so is a lot more built up. As a result, there's a superb selection of places to eat and drink there, by far the best range we've seen so far in Vietnam. The beach itself is relatively clean and the sea is a little cool, but when your used to the English channel then it's positively balmy! There's a real beachfront vibe here too, with parks just off the promenade and watersports on offer.

We had 1.5 days in Nha Trang (half due to travelling from Da Lat) and the first day was spent getting our bearings, lazing on the beach and then relaxing in the hotel before some cheap eats.
The 2nd day was what we'd been looking forward to; we'd booked a boat trip to see 4 of the surrounding islands.

We set off with the sea mist still rising and our first stop was the worst - a tiny island where all there was to see was an aquarium. Annoyingly the price to enter wasn't included in our boat ticket price so we decided against going in and sat outside until it was time to leave.

The next island we didn't set foot on but we went to the diving village alongside it and did some snorkeling as there was a mini reef there. Not much other than some very little fish and one or two sea snakes but it was still nice to be in the lovely blue sea and especially to jump off the roof of the boat (something I always have to do!).

The next stop was a fishing village off another island where they had little enclosures for fish they'd caught that you could also eat if you chose. There were lobsters, cuttlefish, squid (hate those things with a passion!), little sharks, boxfish and more. It was great to see these fish up close and we watched as a squid was taken out to be someones dinner - I would pity it usually as it inked everywhere to avoid being caught, but as mentioned I hate squids so I had no sympathy I'm afraid, otherwise I'd feel very sorry for it.

We then had a veritable feast on board the boat and a French couple next to us almost ate their body weight in spring rolls and omelets. Afterwards we were all put on another boat to join another tour for 'happy hour' and that's when things kicked up a notch...

All of a sudden there was a live band playing in front of us, beer flowing and people getting up to sing from different countries (what did the English sing? Wonderwall of course!), the party had truly started! After a while we came to another island and loads of us jumped off the boat to join one of the crew in the sea who had set up a bar on his rubber ring! So we all swam in the sea drinking cocktails (massive measures too) and soaked up the rays before getting back on board and heading to the last island where we just sat on the beach for an hour or so.

We headed back to port having had a great time, although thankfully we weren't as worse for wear as most. We had to be up ridiculously early the next day to get the train for Da Nang so we decided to have an early dinner and drinks to keep the party going in the hope we'd sleep easily. It certainly worked, after more cocktails, beers, mains and pudding, we slept soundly when we eventually went to bed.

In all, Nha Trang has the vibe that anyone can enjoy, you could come here as a family and enjoy the beaches, you can also come here with friends and party your ass off (if you're after something Ibiza-esque, then you'll love it here). Due to our schedule our stay was short but sweet, but we definitely thoroughly enjoyed it here and would've gladly spent more time here.

Next up: a simple matter of a 5:30am train for over 8 hours to Da Nang and then a coach to the historical city of Hoi An for some ancient culture.

Jungle trek and a crazy house in Da Lat

We arrived around 5pm after a 4 hour climb in a sweaty coach up the steep hills, the scenery of green trees and the big lake was far from anything we'd seen in Vietnam so far. After checking in we headed out to get a coffee and see what Da Lat was like, by that time the sun was setting and by nightfall the place resembled most of the cities we've seen so far - busy, noisy and not a lot else. But we had come to experience the buzz of nature here that it was famous for and we certainly ended up doing that.

Feeling on top of the world... and out of breath!

We had 2 full days in Da Lat - a place described in our guide book as "petit Paris". The first day we visited one of the most famous attractions here - something called the 'crazy house', it cost just over £2 for us both to get in and I can definitely say it was worth it. It was somewhere that made you feel like a kid again with it's warped walkways, railings that would never pass health and safety in the UK, different sized houses and architecture of different origins. In some places it made you feel like a giant, in some places you felt small. It opened in 1990 and it was still under construction! It doubles as an expensive hotel too, which explains why they're constantly expanding it. There was plenty to see in there but in a short time there'll be even more so if you're ever here I'd recommend a visit.

Claire at the crazy house, where she was often just the right size!

In the afternoon we tried to find the flower gardens but went the wrong way and ended up walking all around a golf course before we got there! When we did, rather than pay and go in, we sneaked a peek through the gate and decided it wasn't worth it.
So far, Da Lat was very nice by day and had a distinctive look about it when compared to the other cities of Vietnam thanks to the French inspired architecture and abundance of greenery, but it wasn't looking anything like a "petit Paris" - in fact I wondered if the people who said that have ever been to Paris themselves.
The next day we decided that we needed to see the real Da Lat that people visit for -the surrounding countryside - so we booked a tour to hike up a mountain and trek down through the jungle through a company called groovy gecko tours for $25 each.

The next day we met our guide Hoat and headed off at 9:30am (nice reasonable time!), before we knew it we were in the hills trekking up a mountain (I say mountain because they call it that, and whilst it is high it isn't as high as you'd think a mountain to be).

Hoat knew we were fit and set us off at quite a pace, soon the incline was really steep and all 3 of us were panting and sweating profusely! It was quite a lung-buster getting to the top but as soon as we did we were greeted with spectacular views over the whole of Da Lat as well as a sense of achievement of doing something I've never done before.
After that we spent the next couple of hours trekking down through the jungle that got more and more dense the further we went, whilst our guide told us to be on the lookout for leeches on our feet!

A while later we had finished the descent and came to a clearing where Claire got a sight of something she'd really wanted to see on our travels - an elephant. Unfortunately this one was chained up as they aren't native to this area so she was just a tourist attraction, but beyond that she was still a magnificent creature to behold and one we hope to see in the wild for real at some point.

We ended with an awesome picnic provided by Hoat of baguettes and fruit before getting a boat across the lake and hopping in the car home. When we got home we were absolutely exhausted - I've never hiked before so it took a lot out of me!

In general Da Lat was lovely, especially in the daylight. I've come to think though that I'm not really a fan of any city I've seen here by nightfall - the places lose any character they have after sunset. But there's no doubt that for me the main pull of this place is the stunning surroundings of mountains, jungles and it's there you can have the best adventures.

Now we've hit the road again, next stop: the beach resort of Nha Trang for an island hopping boat trip!