HOMEWARD BOUND :-(

HOI AN – 3 Days

This town is just oozing charm and history, having largely escaped the destruction of the wars. Definitely a tourist town packed full of hotels, restaurants, bars, tailors and souvenir shops in the town centre, but, despite this, it's character really shines through. Easy to get around and great to explore their well respected crafts of high grade silk wear, ceramics, teas, lacquer wear and Chinese lanterns. There's a pretty river with 2 small islands to cross to and also a couple of simple beaches and a beautiful Japanese bridge. Still roasting hot so scooter required asap on arrival! Met some really friendly locals in this relaxed, small town atmosphere. Everything is so colourful; beautiful architecture, a mass of twisting food markets along the river, ornate temples dotted around and such an abundance of tasty eateries, we felt quite spoilt for choice.

Hoi An is also shopping heaven for clothing and footwear, reason being that most of the shops are tailoring specialists who show off their wears outside to tempt you in with the promise of making you anything within a day. Thing is, they can and they do, so it's just rude not to try it out!! Any colour, shape, size, fabric, style and finish, everything made to measure, so we had a splurge and now we have a large extra bag to lug around with us, but well worth it.

MY SON – half day

1 hour away from Hoi An, set in the jungle, My Son (pronounced Meson) is regarded as Vietnam's most significant archaeological site. The temple remnants once served as the country's chief place of worship during their 'Champa' kingdom, but, unfortunately, the majority of the ruins were bombed in the war by the US as Vietcong hid there. My Son is a World Heritage site, considered smaller but on a par to Cambodia's 'Angkor', Thailand's 'Auythaya' and Indonesia's 'Borobudur, the latter of the two we visited. Afraid to say that not at all as impressive visually as there's not much left standing but still the history and importance of it makes it worth a visit. What was also interesting is the way the Champa people built and constructed the brickwork it seems to be moulded together so well. There are a few theories surrounding this yet to be discovered secret, so it's amazing how the remaining structures still stand and some with the bomb holes in.

NHA TRANG – 3 Days

Massive beach, 6km long strip of sand with a very large and immaculate boulevard followed by a big, noisy and busy road. Very bizarre sight, the scale of this beach resort is amazing. To be honest, you could be anywhere, certainly didn't feel very Vietnamese until you notice the stunning mountain surround stretching out into the sea, or listen to the continuous blasting of scooter horns on the road behind, or spot the beach sellers in colonial hats selling strange looking giant crackers. There are so many hotels on the beach road fighting for space and attention by which one is the tallest, more brightly painted or has bigger flashing signs, it's all a bit tacky but not too offensive. We treated ourselves to one of these very civilized but non-descriptive, zero character rooms facing the prime sea front view on the 8th floor. The view from the balcony was just WOW, we'd just chill and admire the sights and sounds for ages.

The hottest of hot places so far, everyone disappears during the day to escape the scorching sun, morning and evening is the time to be seen. Locals gather early to 'power walk' along the beach path or swim in the sea, evening comes alive with everyone and their families gathering to eat, swim or just socialise until the early hours. Other than beach life, there is little else to do here. We did scooter around the town to explore, it's very big, but just found a normal bustling array of Vietnam's working life going on behind the scenes and a couple of fairly interesting temples. A relaxing stop off between busy cities, good beach and great sea for swimming.

HO CHI MINH CITY (Saigon) – 3 Days

Vietnam's largest metropolis and it shows. Bustling with scooters galore, this city beats the likes of Indonesia for the amount of scooters, they are like bees swarming the road. Busy, city life mixed with a lively local buzz in the back alleys, this is a manic but strangely appealing city. Packed full of markets, street cafes, massage clinics, old pagodas and temples, big sky-scrapers and little shops selling spices, silks and handmade baskets cram into this city. Really enjoyable to walk round, the city is divided into districts, we did spot many new looking bars, nightclubs and posh looking eateries trying to appeal to tourists, but still plenty of local made grub to satisfy us as usual. To be honest, we didn't do loads here, just relaxed and pottered around due to running out of energy at the end of our trip. It has a great vibe, extremely friendly locals, very busy with travellers, but still managed to hide away when required (possibly due to the satellite tv we had in our hotel room!). Minde went to the Cu Chi tunnels which was a real eye opener and a little depressing but fascinating also.

Final stop is Bangkok (for the third time), our temporary home-from-home, before flying back to UK.

Last Word...
One of the most enjoyable reasons to travel is the people you meet on the way, so we have to mention just some of the many travellers who, without their stories & entertainment, our trip would not have been half as fun: Georgio in Lovina beach Bali; Peter, Marc & Nico, our German students we travelled with on and off throughout Java & Malaysia; Margaret & Dic, the bubbly Dutch couple we kept bumping into in Java; lovely Laura who came on our Panganduran day trip; Anna & Lisa who were our English neighbours on Juara bay, Tioman, Malaysia and Lisa who we met again on Kecil, Perhentians; sweet Kiren & Eleanor, young Irish couple who we met on the way to Kecil Long Beach and kept Lily entertained; more English chalet neighbours, Chris and Natalie who we spent an evening with chatting for hours about our travels; funny Jack in Auythaya, Thailand who gave us tips for Vietnam; Di & Neil, teachers from Milton Keynes who we met and travelled with in Vietnam from Hoi An to Nha Trang and finally Stella & her daughter Nervah who kindly looked after Lily in Ho Chi Minh for a couple of hours one evening.

We have been on 15 buses, 10 coaches, 12 boats, 4 planes, 3 trains which have all covered approx 28 visited destinations, totalling 172 hours worth of travel (roughly 2 weeks).
Blimey, we need another holiday after all that!!

See you all soon.