It is with a note of sadness that we start this blog…sob..sob.  This is the final colaborative effort of Helen and Claire as unfortunately Helen flies home in 2 days time L.  However at least it gives her digestive tract a rest for a bit J.

Back to the task at hand though.  Our last entry was from Vang Vieng.  From there we caught a bus to Vientianne the capitol of Laos.  Immediately booking on a bus heading back into Vietnam to Hue the imperial city.  Cue mammoth journey.  After a short mini bus ride to the bus station we looked hopefully at the plush seated air con busses and were swifly redirected to the shittiest pile of crap ever to be called a bus.  Half the seats were missing and the air con advertised was the windows.  Resigned to our fates Claire settled down on a small patch of floor and fell asleep.  Helen however had the delight of talking to 2 Leeds idiots.  After around an hour Claire wakes up to find half the floor stripped off the bus and men trying to fix whatever went wrong (if anything was ever right?!?) with the bus.  After another half hour we give up hope and are placed on another bus.  This bus is already full ..the monks hot foot it to the back seat and we are left in the aisle on whatever we could grab.  Leeds idiot number 1 ..the guy of course…bitches and moans the whole 2 hours we are on the bus that he has the worst seat…he had the best!!!  After being face to face …aka inches apart…for 2 hours when the bus stops for dinner we were pretty open to finding alternative transportation.  Another bus rocks up…it looks air conditioned…there are seats free…we don’t care where it is going we are getting on that bus!  Turns out its going to Vinh …about the same distance away from Hue but in the other direction aka North.  Oh well we are on it and Claire settles down for another sleep pretty quickly.  Helen held out and slept on the seats.  After a 2-3 hour stop for the bus driver to sleep and so we reach the border when it opens we arrive at the Laos side.  After a stamp we are allowed to leave and head to the Vietside.  Hopeing it is going to be nice and quick we walk into complete pandemonium.  About 40 travellers who have handed their passport over to the vietnamese are waiting for their passport to be held up so they can pay their fee and get the hell out of there.  After you have gone through this fiasco you have to lug your bags onto the scanners which no one was checking then dump them back in the bus.  Compleltey pointless waste of time.  By this time Claire had really had enough of Leeds idiot who was just a pain in the ass the whole time flying off the handle at the smallest things.  Back on the bus and another couple of hours or somehitng later we reach Vinh.  There is a reason no one goes to Vinh there isnt anything there.  So we got on our final bus of the trip for a 6 hour trip down to Hue.  After many toilet stops for the men we finally arrives late at night.  We checked into a hotel and refused to move.  So to recap that journey took 24 hours and 6 busses.  Grrrrr.

Hue:  We didn’t see anything in Hue because we were too tired and pissed off so we stayed in and watched our new favouite chanel Star Movies.

Hoi An:  In Hoi An we basically spent money.  Finding oursleves a tailoring shop we went a little clothes mad.  Oh well we are only going to be here once!!  We did also hire some motorbikes out to the marble moutnains, walked around the streets for a bit and had a cocktail in the mango café apparantly frequesnted by Mick Jagger. 

Nha Trang:  After a much more comfortable sleeper bus from Hoi An we arrived in Nha Teng still not quite fresh so we headed for a natural hot spring.  After a few hours in hot mud, hot water, hot swimming pool we were feeling much more relaxed and had silky smooth skin.  Heading back to the beach front in search of a cocktail we ended up ordering something (here is the fatal mistake …not in english!!!) that resembled a flourescent milk sherbert shake.  Claire downed hers and Helen pushed it aside.  Collapsing back at the hotel for another dose of star movies!!  The next day we were booked on a boat tour around the 4 islands.  Reaching our boat ‘Fairyland’ complete with crew wearing ‘fairy’ shirts we started to get nervous.  We had good reason …pretty soon the  ….hmmm can you call it karaoke if there is no music? … well the singing …hmmm can you call it singing if its just a Viet guy shouting down a microphone? …well whatever it was it started and he threatened to get us all involved.  Luckily the boat stopped for us to take a swim and snorkle.  The water was lovely and warm …the sea life …a little scarce.  After more boating and singing…we stop at a fish farm and they get out the ‘floating bar’.  Basically a large life ring, plastic cups and home brew.  Not exactly what we were hoping for!!!  After a shot of the most disgusting rice wine I have ever tasted and a few jumps off top deck we headed for the next island and the aquarium.  Not bad for a Vietnamese enture a few of the tanks were a little small for the inhabitants but not too bad.  Had some really cool coral reef type stuff and some nice sea slugs etc.  Heading back inland we grabbed a pizza and got on our final night bus of the trip heading to Saigon.

Saigon:  Just arrived and doing all the business type things …booking bus tickets and a tour to the cho chi tunnels for tomorrow. 

Any final words Helen?

Oh god I don’t know!  Ummm…. I had a really awesome time and thanks Claireeeeee even if we did get grumpy.  See you back in England

Ok folks so that’s it for another installment.  I will try and keep it up on my own but you know me im lazy.  Love you all xxx