Buymeabudbud

UPDATE - Full blog update carried out on Monday. Dont miss out!

BEER BOUGHT - Thanks mum, Fliss and I bought our drinks (which as you can see are actually cocktails) at our hotel before heading out for the night. Cheers!

PHOTO UPDATE - New photos from Mui Ne and Hoi An in the Vietnam section of the gallery.

Sorry that this update is coming in pieces, however another small little update with the video of the first eight weeks in Asia. A little labour of love on such a small laptop, I’ve managed to produce a small video compilation of all the videos weve taken since we got here.

Its hasn’t had much editing but shows a few of the highlights from the trip. Enjoy. I will get round to a full written update to bring you to the forefront tomorrow.

UPDATE:

So my fellow dedicated following, how are you all today? Get yourself comfy as we’ve got some ground to cover (literally as we head north through Vietnam).

So we left you in the beach town of Mui Ne where rain and greyness were very much in attendance, contrary to the visions we had off the beach resort. However, this didnt seem to stop us having a really good time at the resort as we relaxed, ate, sun bathed in the 2 hours of sun there was every morning until 11am and met a great group of people to party with.

In total we spent 4 days at the resort where we really didnt carry out too many strenuous activities to report on here at the blog. When the rain came in the one communal area became a little get together for everyone staying at the hotel, which is how we came to meet 6 or 7 people to play cards with, start drinking a little earlier than normal and head out for some delicious Indian. In total, even though the weather tried to dampen our spirits, it did little in the way of stopping us having a really good time.

However, with only around a week before our flight was booked to fly to Shanghai from Hanoi, it was with some trepidation that we jumped onto our mammoth 17hour sleeper bus journey to reach the UNESCO protected town of Hoi An. Imagine a bus gutted of all seats, then re-equipped with 6ft long bunk beds  (aka the coffins) and you will come to imagine the look of the bus we had for 17hrs as we zigged and zagged northwards finally reaching our destination at 7am the following day.

Hoi An has really been a great place to spend a few days and spend a few dollars. Famous for being UNESCO protected, it is also equally, if not more so, famous for the thousands of tailors that line the small thin 18th century streets. After checking into our hotel (with swimming pool and free cocktails during happy hour), and a meander of the streets the lure of tailor made clothes lured us in as Fliss and I browsed the catalogue’s picking out the styles we wanted.

After getting our measurements done and choosing the material and colour we desired, we left them for the day to make the initial cuts and chilled back at our hotel as we recovered from the 17hr journey. This seemed to be a common theme over the next 3 days, as we sat around the pool, reading our books and watching TV in our air conditioned room.

The next day we went back to the shops to get the final fitting done and to ensure the clothes were how we wanted them, before I popped to do a cooking course to learn the ways of the Vietnamese cooking art. It was a lot of fun and hopefully has added to my culinary repertoire.

We had also landed in Hoi An at the time of a large festival that started to kick off Saturday night. As we met up with a couple that we originally saw in Saigon, we watched processions flow through the streets, before making our way to the river to see the candles float down the meandering water. The whole town had a great festival atmosphere that we enjoyed through the night before crashing out back in our rooms.

Sunday arrived, and with it our last day in this jigsawed little town. After picking up our daper suits and dresses, we relaxed by the pool before hitting the cocktails and then hitting the town. We met 4 other people around our hostel and the 6 of us had a good time eating and drinking the night away.

And so readers, that once again brings you upto date on our travels. We are about to depart on another sleeper bus journey heading North to the capital Hanoi, safe in the knowledge that drinking a lot of vodka the night before might not help journeys go any quicker (they just topped up my glass with the clear seducing liquid - it wasn’t my fault).

So until next time, adios, ciao and goodbye!