Vietnam continued...

I had a really good time in Nha Trang - I was with Isaac and a couple of other friends; Floor (female) from Holland, and Zu (also female) from S. Africa. We went to some mud baths which was a lot of fun, and also a huge water park - where of course I was too chicken to go on many rides. The one slide I was brave enough for, I burnt my bum and gave myself a wedgie on the way down, so wasn't keen on a repeat performance!

We also went on a snorkelling trip - visibility was almost zero - but the boat trip was one to remember. We nicknamed the guide 'Mr. Handsome,' he really made the trip. He gave out free wine (which he called F*cking minging sh!t) - from a floating bar in the sea, but only if you got in the water to drink it...

 

After Nha Trang we went to Mui Ne, supposedly the most beautiful beach town in Vietnam. Well, the beach wasn't very impressive - mostly eroded away - but there were some cool sand dunes. We rented a motorbike (automatic of course) and spent the say geocaching. Mr. Hunt (my A-level geography teacher and master geocacher) was very proud! For those of you who have never heard of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching 

I found my first "'cache" and you can tell by the picture, was very pleased with myself!

Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, was the next stop. Here I was excited to see my very good friend from home, Louise who was flying out to join me for a 3 week backpacking adventure. We spent a few days in the city, soaking up the atmosphere, and visited the incredibly sad and moving War Museum. I won't dwell on it, suffice to say it helped me to understand why the people of Vietnam are so seemingly hard nosed and unfriendly. As a country they have been through as lot, and the scars are much more recent and go a lot deeper than we imagine.

After saying goodbye to Isaac, who was off to the Philippines, Louise and I went with Floor to the Mekong Delta. We had heard good things about beautiful rice paddies and isolated villages. But as is par for the course with me and Vietnam, we ended up doing a bad tour for a lot of money... it took us to a coconut candy workshop, a bee doctor, and a crocodile farm - they looked like statues!The islands we visited were very strange in an eerie way, we kept imagining that we were in a perfect setting of a horror film.

After a night spent in what can only be described as the accommodation from hell, plus a nightmare journey and yet more ripping off, we arrived on Phu Quoc Island. It was beautiful there, and we very relieved to have finally found a bit of peace. We spent 4 days relaxing and exploring the island on motorbikes, but then the rains came so we decided to move on. We're now in Cambodia, and the rains seem to have followed us.

So, the Vietnamese adventure is over. I must admit, it has been my least favourite country of my trip so far (paradoxically I have had the best time here, due to the friends I've made). The Vietnamese people are renowned for being unfriendly, and I have certainly found that to be largely accurate. I remember seeing two ladies in the street share a joke, and thinking how unusual it was to see laughter. It has also been rather tiring to be exploited and ripped off at every turn. For example, we took a taxi in Saigon and the driver tried to distract us by pointing at a dog, while he flicked a switch and the meter jumped up by 100,000 dong. We pulled him up on this, and he immediately became angry, shouting at us and reaching in his glovebox. We threw some money at him and ran - who knows what he was about to pull out! It is said that the Vietnamese don't like to lose face, but when it comes to taking advantage of tourists, it seems that there is no limit to how low some people will go...

Cambodians are known for being friendly, I hope they live up to their reputation as much as the Vietnamese did!