Hello again!
   
As I have time and a good internet connection, I thought I'd catch up with the emails and tell you all about Vietnam!
   
After the calmness of Cambodia, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, in the South of Vietnam, was a shock to the system! The city is noisy and chaotic with motorbikes whizzing all over the place! In fact, we were told that Ho Chi Minh has a population of around 6 million and there are between 4 and 5 million motorbikes! Nearly everyone who can drive has a motorbike (cars are too expensive and there are very few) and they seem to start driving very young! Watching people on their bikes was good fun, if not a little nerve-wracking! Everything that we would put in our car and our boot combined gets carried while they drive. We saw people balancing wardrobes above their head, dead pigs being transported from one place to another, live goldfish in small see-through bags and whole families including three or four children, a couple of chickens and a dog all squeezed onto one bike! These were the best shots I got!

Crossing the road was terrifying and required much practise! Generally in Vietnam people drive on the right. If they would rather drive on the left, they will do; if they don't fancy stopping at a red light, they won't; and if it's just too busy on the road, the pavement is fine for them! Sometimes while we were waiting to cross at the lights we had motorbikes whizzing in front of us from both directions, some swerving round us on the pavement, some stopping at the red light and others zooming straight through it! All very confusing! We ended up holding hands each time we needed to cross!
 
From Ho Chi Minh City, we went on a trip down to the Mekong Delta, where the Mekong River joins the Sea. Here, we went on small boats through winding passages of water lined with reeds and water coconut trees and saw how local people made a living, drawing up sand from the river bed to use in building work, for example. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant with an interesting menu including foods such as crocodile, sea snakes, worms, frogs and live 'grubs'. I'm afraid I was no more adventurous than Cambodia and stuck with rice and vegetables! I wonder if you would have been braver than me?!

From Ho Chi Minh, we travelled further North along the East Coast to Mui Ne where there was a lovely beach popular with kite surfers as it was very windy with big waves! This meant that it wasn't great for sunbathing or swimming, but good to visit and fun to watch the kite surfers ride the waves on their surf boards, holding on tightly to the strings of their kites. Some even used the air resistance to leap high into the air. From Mui Ne we visited a small fishing village where we saw small circular bamboo boats returning from an early morning fishing trip. People were mending the boats and untangling huge nets ready for the next day. The beach was covered in huge mountains of shells which had become caught in the nets, some of which were beautiful shapes and extraordinary bright colours.

From Mui Ne, we continued to travel up the East coast to Hoi An which was my favourite stop in Vietnam. Hoi An's narrow cobbled streets were lined with timber-fronted tailor shops and green trees adorned with colourful lanterns and birds in cages. Classical music was played over loud speakers in the street and bicycles were the main method of transport around the small town. During our time there, we hired bikes and explored the town and nearby islands. Few tourists seemed to visit the islands, so often people were surprised to see us. On one occasion, when we stopped at a house selling water, the lady we spoke to phoned her neighbours and friends who turned up to have a look at us and to practise their English! Although it was tricky to communicate (we had learnt a few Vietnamese words, but none seemed to be very useful!) everyone was kind and welcoming. We were even invited round to one of the ladies' houses to meet her family!   

Another of my favourite stops was Halong Bay just off the North East coast of the country. The stunning bay is made up of thousands of impressive limestone islands which we spent three days cruising around by boat. Legend has it that the islands were created by a dragon who lived in the mountains and breathed jade into the water to create a wall to protect the people. Some people say that the dragon's tail created the crevasses and caves in the rocks. Unfortunately the weather at the start of our trip was miserable, with rain and poor visability, however, the mist did make the view atmospheric and mysterious! During the breaks in the rain, we had a super time kayaking around the bay exploring the hidden caves and tiny beaches around the islands. As the visability improved, we were blown away by the sheer scale of the bay - huge green islands were dotted around in the turquoise water for as far as the eye could see.

Our next stop was Laos which was absolutely beautiful and is definitely on my list of places to revisit. I'll be in touch again soon to tell you all about it.

Hope you are all well. I was reading about your plans for celebrating the Jubilee - they sound great!

Miss Boughen