Nam

Dear All,

It seems that every blog entry recently starts with an apology. This one will be no different. And we will give the same excuse, internet connections in Vietnam and Cambodia are really slow and with the number of complaints about the lack of photos, I really didnt want to do another entry without them.

We last left you in Hanoi which was over 2 weeks ago.

The day after we arrived we took in the sights of Hanoi-the Hoan Kiem Lake which is in the centre of the old city and has a temple in it. We asked someone to take this photo of us, YES it actually worked this time and then this Japanese woman grabs a hold of my arm and doesn't say anything except to pose for a photo that somebody else is taking for her. So I just grinned and ran off as soon as the photo was taken. So somewhere in Japan there is a woman showing her holiday photos with me in it!!

We also took in the Vietnamese Revolutionary Museum which went through all the struggles that the Vietnamese went through with the Chinese,French,Japanese and then the Americans. Of course the Museum was very anti-American since it was based in the Communist heartland in North Vietnam.

On the 18th we went to Halong Bay- UNESCO world Heritage site around 60km from Hanoi filled with large rocks jutting out from the bay.

There is a whole community of fishing villages on floating houses and there is even a school there.

Unfortunately it was overcast the day we were there so visibility was poor and it was difficult to get an idea of how far the scenery extended.

We also visited the Dau Go Caves which a fisherman discovered during a storm and has become part of the tourist attractions of Halong Bay. Though myself and Bourkie found it difficult to keep a straight face when the guide would point out dragons, lions and body parts in the stalagmites, they really had good imaginations.

The following day we headed to the Perfume Pagoda so called because the area is supposedly covered in the scent of a local flower. As part of the tour we were rowed upstream and then had to climb up a mountain to where the pagoda was in a cave. Since it was Saturday we treated ourselves to a night out in the Irish bar, Finnegans, with Irish girls we met on the 24 hour bus to Hanoi.

Tuesday, the 20th November we went to Ho Chi Minh's house which was very basic but had lovely grounds. Unfortunately we couldn't see Ho's body in the Mausoleum as Sept-Nov every year he heads to Russia for a holiday with Lenin for some R&R.

We then went to the Hanoi Hilton(Hoa Lo prison) which at first was difficult to see as most of the area is now taken up with the Hanoi Towers hotel and office block. This was a pretty grim museum going through the torture implements that the French used on the Vietnamese before 1954. There were only two small rooms dedicated to the Americans who were held here durnig the 60s and 70s.American tourists laughed at the photos depicting inmates 'singing songs of home','receiving best medical treatment' and'receiving gifts from home'. It was a prime example of communist propaganda in Vietnam.

That evening we took a sleeper bus to Hue which was a really nice treat as we usually just take a local bus and then end up getting no sleep. But this one was fancy.

We arrived into Hue early on the morning of the 21st. We were really motivated and just took a short rest and shower(cause Bourkie was really smelly) before renting bikes to cycle out to ancient temples and tombs outside the city.

The first pagoda(temple) we headed to was the LinhMu pagoda which was a 7 storey tower. It was a monk from here who set himself on fire in Saigon to protest against the American war in Vietnam.

We went to see some other tombs of previous kings but the most impressive was the tomb of TuDuc. This was about 4 acres big with temples and tombs for his wife and stepson.

The following day we walked around the imperial city in Hue which was bombed extensively by the Americans in 1967 during the Tet offensive.So there were just ruined walls to be seen.

That afternoon we took a bus to Hoi An even though we were warned about the possibility of the typhoon hitting the coast in the next couple of days.

Today we will leave you with the flooded Hoi An and hopefully we will be able to pick up tomorrow with more photos!!!