Ho Chi Minh City

After the home-stay we were buzzing - the food was incredible! Lots of us didn't get much sleep as it was stifling hot and there was a bloody rooster that was in competition with another rooster a farm away!
We arrived early in Ho Chi Minh and promptly found a street food court. We split up to try different food and all of us raved about our meals! That afternoon we took a walk to the war museum and learned a lot about the Vietnam war. It was very interesting to see it from Vietnam's point of view. There were tanks, planes and cannons in front of the museum and a holding cell we could look at.
We ventured to the Ben Thanh Market where we bought more elephant shirts so that all the guys could have them on our tour, including our tour leader Sony. He was sooo happy!
That night was another "big night out". We were staying in hostel dorms so Kyle and I were split up. Our accommodation was on 'pub street'. We started at the hotel rooftop bar and then some of us made our way to the party street. We moved around a bit but by half one I was done! So I went back to the dorm only to basically have a club going in my room as we were facing the street...it even had lights coming in as well as the bass. Kyle stayed out for a couple more hours.

The next day we went to Nha Trang Chu Chi Tunnels which is where the Viet Cong hid and fought the Americans in the war. We had a veteran take us around which was very interesting. It was pouring with rain when we got there so we bought one dollar ponchos but it eased up later. We had the opportunity to go through 100m of tunnel that the Viet Cong used to hide in and move around. I managed 20m and then had to get out but Kyle did the full 100m which was very impressive. The scarier thing was that the tunnels had been made bigger to cater for tourists...in their original state they were so small you had to crawl. We could only just bend over in them.
Kyle shot an M1 Garand and an AK-47 at the shooting range which was a real highlight for him!

That night we took the overnight train to Nha Trang. The train wasn't too bad! When we arrived at 6am we went to a coffee bar for a couple of hours and used the WiFi - then a couple of us sweltered in the heat at the hostel as we couldn't check in yet; so we decided to go to the beach.
Kyle did the optional snorkelling/floating bar. The guide was awesome and he took them around a fishing village and showed them various buildings and introduced everyone to the villagers. He explained how they lived and it was a real insight into how simple life should be. After that the group headed back onto the boat and did some snorkelling followed by a floating bar in the warm waters of Nah Trang.

I went to the beach and chilled out for the entire day - it was bliss. We all got burnt! We got burnt just walking to the beach as then we weren't under shade. It was a whole 10 minutes to the beach we couldn't believe it!

The next day Kyle, Scott (from Scotland) and I went to a mall - the others went to the mud baths but Kyle and Scott were so badly burnt the thought of having their bodies exposed again wasn't appealing! We went to the coffee bar again and caught a Grab to a mall (Grab is the Asian version of Uber). We booked tickets to see Mission Impossible and then went to the arcade where we played a few games! We didn't have enough tickets to buy half a chupa chup (lollipop) which was the cheapest thing, so we kept the tickets. That night we took another overnight train to Hoi An.

Hoi An - we did a walking tour around the old village which was already very exciting for us. There wasn't any traffic in the old town and there were beautiful lanterns everywhere. Max, Max, Amy, Scott and the two of us bought fruit salad outfits. These were a bit of a gimmick in Vietnam but it was fun. It was a great day! In the afternoon we did a three hour cycle tour. This was amazing! We went through rice paddies and stopped off at a farm where we 'helped' them in the fields. Local villagers gave us basil lemon tea to drink and then we fed a water buffalo. We had a nice lunch and then had a ride in a bamboo basket down the river. After that we hopped onto a boat and cruised down the river that flowed through town and ended up at our hostel. The whole town lights up at night and the population doubles because of all the tourists! Was such an incredible day. My favourite one so far.
That night we wore our fruit outfits (Kyle and I have watermelon outfits) and went to dinner. We had $5 cocktail buckets and then went to Tiger Tiger Bar which was fun but no Ministry of Sound. At midnight Amy and Max had changed outfits which topped the day off! We left early for bed.

The next day we had free time which we spent in the old town and walked for 12 hours straight. We did a cooking class called Oodles For Noodles which is a project for kids to get a career in hospitality. The food was outstanding. The boys got suits tailor made and then we enjoyed a cultural performance. I embarrassingly won the bingo game they played so had to get up on stage in front of an auditorium full of people where they sang For She's a Jolly Good Fellow in Vietnamese and all held hands. We tried a coconut coffee which was basically coconut gelato in cold coffee and it was sooo amazing!
Later on we went on a boat and dropped our lanterns into the water with all of the other ones, and watched them sail away down the river! That night we went for dinner but I had to make a hasty

retreat...a beautiful city and we were sad to leave!

After the amazing Hoi An we boarded our bus and made our way over to the old ancient capital of Hue. Home to the Imperial City, similar to China’s Forbidden City – Home of the Royal family. On the way to Hue, we had to cross some amazing countryside including mountains with some spectacular views - which we shared with hundreds of Chinese tourists. The Vietnamese used these vantage points to install gun batteries during the Vietnam war.

Upon arriving in Hue there was no time to lose as we only had one night. We got another coffee (an egg coffee for Kyle - which he LOVED), then Scott, Amy, Lauren and the two of us boarded a river boat and cruised down the Perfume River where we visited the old Pagoda. This turned out to be a nice surprise and totally worth the $4 boat ride. As a group we also took a walk to the Imperial

city which took some major damage during the war with only 2 of the 5 palaces still standing. A quick taxi ride home and chilling now before going out to dinner and karaoke (the Asians love karaoke!). - Danielle