Vietnam

Dear blog

Well we didn't make it out clubbing on Saturday night, old gits that we now are. We had a few beers and were in the mood but then we made a mistake going for a mexican. Well it wasn't so much a mistake, it was lovely, just that we were too full to drink let alone dance afterwards. So we phoned Lynn's Mum and also spoke to her brother and got to bed around midnight. Party animals!

Sunday August 5th
We had a day with absolutely nothing planned - magic! We had a relatively long lie and wandered down our street to book a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels for Monday. Cost was $4 each for a guide and bus ticket. More about Cu Chi shortly. We wandered down town and decided to venture down a narrow lane - where Vietnamese life really happens - people are cooking on the street, children play and you can see inside peoples small and cramped apartments. The reason they spend so much time on the street is because they don't have enough space to cook or play or chill inside their apartments. Families of five or six can live in 9 square metre flats.

Just as we started wandering down the heavens opened and we hadn't brought our cagoules with us! We bought two plastic ponchos from a local shop for only 5,000 dong! We wandered back on to the main street, turned a couple of corners and found a shopping mall with a cinema attached. As it was chucking it down we decided to go in and see Oceans 13 - although I wanted to see Die Hard 4, but as Lynn was coming out to watch the Charity Shield at night I thought I'd better go with the Pitt/Clooney option!

Thankfully it was miles better than Oceans 12, which was appalling. The patter was good, they obviously looked good, and although the ending was predictable it was a highly watchable movie.

We came out and the rain had stopped, as it tends to do here - rain for a couple of hours and then stop. We wandered back uptown towards our hotel and stopped to watch some guys playing football in the park with a bamboo ball - playing keepie uppie. Three girls approached Lynn and I and asked if I would play badminton with them. They were probably around 9 or 10. It was a 'money can't buy moment' as I played with two of them while the third attempted and failed to get Lynn to have a go of her hula hoop! It was a nice moment.

United beat Chelsea 3-0 on penalties after the match finished 1-1. We watched the game ina very narrow and busy bar, with seats at the bar and I ended up quite pissed. I got a few strange looks when I yelled abuse at Frank Lampard after he missed his penalty. Go on United!

Monday August 6th
We get up at 7.30am as our bus to Cu Chi tunnels leaves at 8.15am. I am a little rough on the bus but chat to a nice Canadian guy, an Italian guy and an Irish girl while Lynn attempts to sleep.

The tour was fantastic, very interesting. The Viet Cong used an intricate tunnel network of 256km in the Cu Chi area (an hours drive from Saigon) to live in, fight in and basically confuse the shit out of the Americans during the war. We watched a documentary when we arrived featuring some fantastic footage from the war. We then walked through the jungle and looked at traps that the Viet Cong lay for Americans, a hideout (that Lynn could fit in but I couldn't - check out some great photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

We then went on to the shooting range where Lynn fired 5 bullets from an AK47 for $7. We bumped into Seth from the Easy Rider tour and he had spent a small Vietnamese fortune on all kinds of guns. I decided not to bother, guns are not for fun!

We carried on through the jungle to the entrance of two tunnels. We crawled through them both - it was quite an experience! They were dark, narrow and lit only at a couple of points (as they would have been during the war). You basically had to feel your way through and I bumped into the girl in front of me's backside a couple of times - unintentionally of course! No wonder American soldiers were scared to go into the tunnels!

We got back to Saigon at 2pm and had some lovely French baguettes before heading for a snooze. We wandered downtown at night for food and discovered a Thai restaurant called Silver Elephant that Lynn had read about. It was a little pricey but we decided to treat ourselves. The food was deeeeeeelicious. Thai food is a lot spicier and tastier than Vietnamese food. We shared scallops, sea bass and king prawns, washed down with a bottle of Chilean wine - Castillo De Mollina. The cost was 888,000 dom - nearly a million for a meal! Still it was well worth it and the service was out of this world. The waiters couldn't do enough for you and when I asked where the toilet was I thought one of them was going to come in with me!

Tuesday August 7th
Another day with nothing planned - just what we need before we start our 3 day/2 night tour in the Mekong Delta that ends in Cambodia. Wandered down to the market again and then found another cinema that had Die Hard 4 on. We went in and both really enjoyed it. It is cheesey and action packed - like all other Die Hard films.

We went back to the market for a late lunch and then back to the hotel for a siesta as we were both a bit tired. The sun had his hat on today, which was nice. Fingers crossed for the next few days!

Just going out for a bite to eat and then an early night as we will be up around 7am tomorrow. So I guess I will update the blog in Cambodia when we reach there on Friday.

Lots of love and lemonade
Murray and Lynn
xxx

PS check the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

Well we made the right decision booking a bus to Saigon the day after arriving in Mui Ne. Mui Ne is a small fishing village but has 10km of coastal beaches so it is rapidly turning into a holiday resort.

Our accomodation was right on the beach and we had a lovely walk along it late on Thursday 2nd August but on Friday 3rd it was chucking it down. Our bus was due to pick us up at 1.30pm but eventually arrived around 2.15pm and after a few more pick ups we were on our way to Saigon.

As usual I stuck my Nano on for the bus ride and was rewarded with a number of excellent tunes. One of the great things about music (and there are many) is that certain songs/bands remind you of certain people, moments or times.

'As I Watch You In Disbelief' by The Charlatans came on as I looked out of the window at the coastline. This song always reminds me of T In The Park a few years ago when me, Ross and Carla were watching The Charlatans. They laucnhed into this song and Ross started bouncing around declaring 'I f**king love this song' much to the amusement of Carla and I!

Other top tunes on the drive to Saigon (now named Ho Chi Minh City after the reunification of Vietnam in 1976, but still referred to as Saigon) included 'Being Around' by The Lemonheads, 'In My Life' by The Beatles and 'She's A Rainbow' by The Rolling Stones. I also made Lynn listen to The Jackson Sisters marvellous 'I Believe In Miracles' on her Nano after it came on to mine. Tuuuuuuuune!

We arrived in Saigon around 6.30pm and were dropped off in the backpacker district across from a bar called Guns'n'Roses that we immediately vowed to go to for a drink after finding a hotel. The first one we tried looked a little plush but we thought we would chance our luck. Unfortunately the cheapest room was $55. Not to worry as we saw another nice hotel round the corner and treated ourselves to the top price room at $20 a night. Well, we haven't had a nice hotel for a week or so, so why not?

We headed round to the Guns'n'Roses bar and we were greeted with 'Sweet Child O' Mine' blasting out of the speakers followed by 'November Rain'. After a couple of beers and a few games of pool we head out to find some food. We discover a superb bar just down from our hotel called Eden that is playing Oasis 'Don't Go Away' so we head in. We treat ourselves to our fist western food in ages. I have the special pizza and Lynn has a Chicken Burger. The DJ plays some top music and after I buy him a Red Bull he plays the Roses 'Adored', 'She Bangs The Drums' and 'Fools Gold' as well as 'True Faith' by New Order.

Our table is by the door and as New Order come on the heavens open and there is a torrential rain storm. The wildest we have seen. People scurry into shops and bars and the rain is almost horizontal. I wish we had taken our camera out with us!

After quite a few beers and a bit of singing from the two of us we head back to our hotel for a good nights sleep.

August 4th - Saturday
It's raining today, but only lightly, so we put on our caguls and head to the market where I intend to buy a new t-shirt and trousers. I get a Diesel t-shirt, a funky pair of white trainers and a Saigon Beer t-shirt for 500,000 dom. We have a bite to eat at one of the stalls and chat to a lovely Canadian couple who now live in Ko Samui. They have also travelled in Brazil and we swap tips on a few things and exchange e-mail addresses.

After that we head back to our hotel to dump my ourchases and then head out to visit a couple of museums. Our first visit is to the Reunification Palace. The highlight is a photo gallery and video at the end with some amazing footage from the war - more of which later.

We then head to the War Museum and I have to say it took my breath away. The museum is mainly a collection of photos documenting the war, as well as replicas of tanks and planes, parts of bombs and clothing etc from the war.

The photos are absolutely stunning and every politician in the world should be made to visit this museum. They graphically document the horror, devastation and terror caused by war. We had already learned quite a bit about the war from our museum visits in Hanoi and from our Motorcycle guides who showed us areas of the country affected by the Americans use of Agent Orange - a toxic chemcial that they liberally sprayed all over Vietnam - 72 million litres of the stuff - wiping out crops, destroying rainforests and causing absolutely shocking effects to people.

The effects of Agent Orange are still being felt to this day in Vietnam - kids are being born with no legs or arms, with horrific abnormalities to their faces and bodies. It's almost too disgusting to look at but we do. Some of the photos of the war crimes committed by the Americans sicken me. The photos are truly special though and many were taken by award winning photo-journalists from Time magazine. Do a google search for Agent Orange to find out about the effects. Even adults that look normal have been affected and their kids are born with horrific abnormalities.

We're just checking our e-mails, updating the blog and uploading some photos on to the flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

Tonight we are going to go clubbing! I'll update the blog again soon.

OK so the title was a little predictable but hey ho.

Lynn and I have just finished a 3 night/4 day motorcycle tour of southern and central Vietnam. We saw loads and learned even more about Vietnam. I'll attempt to summarise for you now.

July 29th
Our one day in Nha Trang was spent lounging on the beach reading and eating Crocodile steak at night, as well as booking our Easy Rider tour.

July 30th
Lynn turned 32! What a way to celebrate - at 8.30am our two motorbikes and drivers arrived. Our bags were strapped on the back, we got fitted for helmets and off we went! Lynn had Jing as her driver and I had the younger(age 22) Duon. We were also joined by a 22 year old from Doncaster in England called Seth who had bravely decided to rent his own bike and join us.

We sped out of Nha Trang along the coast, the sun sparkled on the water, we had our shades on and the road was ours! I suddenly began to understand why my good friend Kenny Byers is so in love with his motorbike - the sense of freedom, the power, the fresh air.... We headed out into the country passing a colourful graveyard (so nice that people are dying to get in) and then stopping to view a fishing village. After a further ride into the country we stopped at a brick factory, staffed by women, that churned out 10,000 bricks per day. This may sound unremarkable but there was only 4 women working there, the conditions would not meet many health and safety standards in the UK and the equipment was basic to say the least.

For lunch we stopped at a small roadside cafe that received low marks for cleanliness but top marks for taste and we demolished our chicken and fried rice, washed down with a cold pepsiand water -all for 50,000 dom (under 2 quid).

On the afternoon route we stopped off to see a coffee plantation (Vietnam is the third largest exporter of coffee in the world), a rubber tree farm (also aleading exporter) and a pepper tree farm. Vietnam has a vast variety of resources and they are starting to realise their worth after years of underselling.

We arrived at our homefor the night at 4.30pm - a traditional Vietnamese longhouse that we would share with other travellers. It was basic - a mattress, covers and a mosquito net but it did the job. Dinner was nice and we chatted to a nice Canadian couple and Seth before heading to bed at 10pm. Didn't sleep too well as it started raining heavily during the night.

July 31st
We woke at 8.30am and left at 9am after a quick breakfast. The sun was out and we made our way to a national park and a waterfall you could supposedly walk under. The waterfall was incredibly powerful and although you could get under it there was no way we were going to risk walking all the way through.

The rain started again and we got soaked. although we were already wet after our trip under the waterfall.The falls were lovely, as was the park. The only downside being a major one throughout Vietnam - litter. It kind of ruined the park and there is no way that Thailand or Laos would allow their parks to be treated in that manner.

So far we have been very lucky with the weather but the rain started to chuck it down. We put on our raincoats and sped through small towns that had turned into mudbaths. Just as we were starting to tire of riding in the rain we stopped for lunch and had some amazing fresh spring rolls - rice paper, cucumber, green banana, star fruit, fried pork, garlic) - it was DIY and it was amazing. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!

The rain was off and our spirits were lifted as we headed back on the road. We stopped to watch people sifting sand and breaking granite stone to sell. We then arrived at the Lak resort at 3.30pm and checked into a nice lakeside bungalow for the night - immediately making useof it's hot shower.

At night the locals put on a music show for us in a traditional longhouse with all kinds of percussion instruments before we had dinner at the lake. The band were fantastic, a real highlight for me.

August 1st
We had breakfast at 8.30am and left at 9am to a minority village at the other side of the lake where life is incredibly simple and it's like going back in time. After that we headed to a silk worm factory that was ver interesting. We headed up into the hills toclimb to Dalat (1,500 metres above sea level). The rain started again and we were pretty wet and cold by the time we arrived at our hotel. After a hot shower wewandered around the picturesque town before having pizza and an early night.

August 2nd
Left at 9am and sped out in the rain to a minority village where I bought a silk scarf and Lynn a bag (surprise surprise). It was quite funny as the women all said I was very handsome! We had 240km tocover today so there was no messing. The waterproofs were on and we headed to Mui Ne.

This afternoon Lynn and I had a lovely stroll along the beach - our roomis about 20 yards from it. The weather is dry but overcast so we booked a bus to Saigon for $4 each for tomorrow. We've been in Vietnam for 3 weeks now so it will soon be time to head on to Cambodia.

We've literally just finished alovely seafood dinner with the highlight being the hotpot I ordered. Our bus doesn'tleave until 1.30pm tomorrow so we intened to have a long lie and hopefully some time on the beach if the rain stays off. It is now officially monsoon season! Our bus takes 4hours and wewill probably spend 3 nights in Saigon as there is a lot of history to find out about.

Hello to one and all from Nha Trang on the coast of Vietnam. It's 7pm on July 29th and it's Lynn's last day of being 31! If Lynn is suffering from a mid-life crisis she will be banishing it to the back of her mind over the next few days as we embark on a road trip by motorbike across the Central Highlands of Vietnam, staying overnight in the jungle and ending up in the fishing village of Mui Ne - not bad for a 32 year old!Check out http://www.easy-riders.net/without_flash/html/index.cfm for details.

Today we arrived in the coastal town of Nha Trang, which is quite touristy. We waved behind to lovely Hoi An the previous night, embarking on our first ever night-bus - an interesting experience to say the least. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 6pm, it eventually arrived at 7pm, after we'd got on the wrong bus. We were the third and fourth last people to get on the bus and as a result we sat up in the back seat with two Irish guys and an American/Canadian girl. Unfortunately for the last two people to get on there was only one seat left so we had to watch the ridiculous spectacle of the Vietnamese trying to sort this out, eventually deciding that the guy out of the couple in this situation could sit on a stool for the entire 12 hour journey! Needless to say this wasn't ideal and he ended up sitting on the floor on blankets instead.

The thought of a 12 hour bus ride wasn't my idea of fun and I decided to blank it out by wearing my eye mask and plugging in my Nano on shuffle. The ride went surprisingly quickly and we made up lost time. I drifted in and out of conciousness to the sounds of Oasis, Charlatans, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and many, many more. All in all it was quite a pleasing time listening to music. I was reliably informed by Lynn that it was a good thing I had my eye mask on, the driver was a little crazy.

We arrived in Nha Trang at 6am, making up for lost time and immediately checked into a hotel across the road for $10 per night. We slept until after 11am and decided to find some food. We headed down to the beach and shortly afterwards met a guy on a motorbike who offered to show us the tours his company Easy Riders provided. The day before (July 28th) we had met a couple in Hoi An that we had previously met in Luang Prabang and they were raving about a motorbike tour they had been on. I thought we had had enough of motorbikes but the tours seemed like a great way of getting out and about and seeing Vietnam. Not long after meeting this guy we were in his office and signing up for a 4 day trip that starts tomorrow!

It's $50 each a day but that covers practically all expenses. We'll stay in a jungle hut, walk under and behind waterfalls, meet locals and learn how they produce rice, noodles and silk, learn about the country and the effects of the war with America and see loads including Danang and Mui Ne- sounds like a good deal!

So it's an early night for us tonight!

The two previous days were spent enjoying the charming town of Hoi An that we can't recommend highly enough. It's gorgeous. The old town doesn't allow any cars or motorbikes in, there are amazing restaurants and bars, the beach is clean and quiet and it's quite simply the best place we have been to in Vietnam to date. Lynn got two jackets and a dress tailormade for $95. We have posted the jackets home and I hope to order a couple of suits from the numerous tailors dotted around Vietnam.

After our Easy Rider tour we'll spend a night chilling in Mui Ne before assessing the weather in the island of Phu Quoc. If it's OK we'll book flights from Saigon for a few days as they are only $70 return. Then it's into Cambodia for a whistle stop tour before the beaches of Thailand.

Expect to hear from us in 4 days time after life on the road. I am sure we will have a lot to tell you!

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxx

Hello everyone, the blog continues.

July 21st - Saturday
We did indeed goand watch the 2nd half of the Japan v Australia match in a funky bar that was reminiscent of Bar 91 in Glasgow's Merchant City and by far the most modern bar we have been in for ages. Japan won on penalties, Australia had been reduced to ten men. We watched the start of the Vietnam v Iraq match but lost interestafter Iraq went 2-0 up. Vietnam are not very good at football!

After a wander round the old quarter we found another cool bar called Casablanca and caught the rest of the game over more beers and a pizza between us.

July 22nd - Sunday
Our last day in Hanoi. Wemade themost ofit visiting the Vietnam Women Museum, the History Museum and the Vietnamese Museum. Allof them were incredibly interesting and it was a cheap way to spend the day. The Vietnam Women Museum was particularly good, showing how they fought during the war, kept the country running and brought up kids. Upstairs told of modern struggles -how families have to sacve for years to be able to afford the most basic of flats while simultaneously saving for their children's university education - it brought home a few truths about how lucky we are.

Had dinner at a nice restaurant called '69' before going back to the hotel to pick up our bags and get a taxi to the station. The train carriage wasnot as nice as the one we got to and from Sapa and we shared with a German couple who were not as friendly as the previous couples. Well.....they were very friendly with each other though, looking a little disappointed that they had to share their carriage with us and that they didn't have a double bed! They were very touchy feely - eugh!

July 23rd - Monday
We awoke at 7am, the train had left Hanoi at 7.50pm. We still had another 4 hours until we reached Hue and we spent the time dozing and listening to music. We arrived in Hue to scorching heat and immediately abandoned our plan to walk the mile from the station to some of the hotels we had ear-marked,opting for a 30,000 dom taxi instead.

Our hotel room was only $10 per night but it had air conditioning, a bathroom with a bath and a TV. What more couldaman want? After a shower we went for a walk to the Citadel area,an bandoned area in the North of the city with old buildings. We soon decided we needed food though and went for a sandwich and then decided tochill in the hotel due to the heat. We watched the Discovery Channel and Bear Grylls program, enjoying our first TV in ages. It was nice to relax and veg out as we have been pretty full on since arriving in Vietnam.

We went a walk and treated ourselves to a drink in a 4* hotel - Saigon Morin. The beers were $3.50 each but we had a 30% discount as it was happy hour. We enjoyed the plush surroundings before heading to Omar Kayyams Indian Restaurant for dinner.

We also booked a boat cruise down the perfume river for tomorrow for only $6 each - taking in a number of ancient Vietnamese Kings tombs.

July 24th - Tuesday
Got up early as the we were getting picked up at 8.10am for the tour. The Danish couple from the Sapa train were on our boat and we also chatted toan interesting Romanian guy who had flown to Australia and was now making his way to India only using trains, boats and buses - no planes were allowed.

The tombs we visited were stunning. Back in the day Kings would build a tomb for themselves before they died. Some had designed beautiful parks, others were more modest. It was a nice way to spend the day. One of the Kings had 500 wives and 124 children!

Had a quiet night with another nice dinner and an early night.

July 25th - Wednesday
The alarm went off at 6.45am and we checked out after breakfast in the hotel. The bus picked us and others upand we were soon on the roadto Hoi An. On the way we dozed and I woke to a sudden burst of sunshine pop from Tim Burgess and Teenage Fanclub on my Nano. I do love my Nano, especially on shuffle.

We arrived in Hoi An - described in Lonely Planet as being 'like a museum'. We check into a hotel for $15 a night after a fruitless search for a cheaper alternative. Still, it has a pool and we immeidately head down for a swim and then walk towards the old town - another UNESCO World Heritage site! We are immeidately captivated and reminded of Lunag Prabang in Laos. It is beautiful, it's like going back in time to the 1950's and by far the nicest place we have been to in Vietnam - yet. Also it has a beach only 3km away!

We walked past a beautiful cavernous old bar, straight out of an American film and decide to go in. Happy Hour has just started (at 4pm) and cocktails are 2 for 1 so we order a Mojito each and settle down in comfy seats and play Connect 4 as they have that and chess.

After thrashing Lynn at Connect 4 and enjoying our cocktails and a beer each, we wander round and bump into the Danish twins from Sapa. We ask about train prices to various places and then decide we'll get the bus to Nha Trang next. We have a lovely dinner overlooking the river in the Old Town - a set menu of 4 dishes each for 40,000 dong each. We have White Rose (a Hoi An speciality), veg spring rolls, fish with garlic and lemongrass beautifully wrapped in a banana leaf, followed by fruit salad.

July 26th - Thursday
I get up at 11.50am to find Lynn has been down to the pool already! It was my first long lie in ages and obviously needed. We hire bikes for only 10,000 dom each (30p or so) and cycleto the old town for breakfast and then on to the beach. We spend a pleasant few hours doing nothing apart from sunbathe, read and going for the occasional dip before cycling back to the hotel.

It's now 7.24pm and we are heading back into the Old Town for food as the restaurants and bars there are fantastic.

We intend to get an overnight bus on Saturday toNha Trang, spend 3 nights there, then on to Dalat for 2 nights, then Saigon before getting a flight to the remote island of Phu Quoc.

Love to all.

Murray and Lynn
xxx