Chau Doc and Ho Chi Minh

More buses!! We are getting very skilled at curling up into a half decent position for sleeping on the long bus journeys. Arrived in Chau Doc not too far past the Vietnamese border. Triangular straw hats and even more scooters were to be seen everywhere. We weren't expecting too much from Chau Doc as it was more of a stopover between places however the evening we arrived we had the option to go on a motorbike tour up a mountain, we decided to give it a go as there didn't seem to be much else going on. Our motorbike drivers arrived and placed nice colourful helmets on our heads as we hopped onto the back of their seats. I clung to the back of the bike as my driver zipped off through the village streets, it was so much fun and as we passed all the little houses children would run out to wave at us. It was only when we hit the base of the mountain that my driver really took off, next thing I knew we were flying up the hill and bumping over ramps overtaking everyone else! The seat just wasn't cutting it anymore and I found myself clinging to the driver instead, terrifying but exhilarating! We reached the top of the mountain before the rest of the group and caught the sun setting over the Cambodian and Vietnam fields at the border. We all sat around with a beer watching the sunset and preparing ourselves for the bike ride back down the mountain in the dark : ) great craic though!!

The next day we set off again to Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived at lunch time and walked into the town to find food. We ended up in a tiny corner noodle cafe which looked pretty dodgy but had photos on the wall of Bill Clinton eating there so we figured it must be good enough : ) then we had to run to the pub to watch the rugby final, two members of the tour group were from New Zealand which made it that bit more exciting. That evening consisted of many cocktails in celebration which in turn led to karaoke... Our own private giant karaoke room where many incriminating videos were taken!

We felt the brunt of the celebrations the next morning when we had to get up early to visit the Chi Chi tunnels. During the Vietnam war the Vietnamese dug loads of underground tunnels where they slept, cooked, ate and even had hospitals, they really are extraordinary. You can go down into the tunnels and crawl through them yourself to see what it was like, they are so tiny though I only made it through the first ten meters before I freaked out and had to climb out, Roy made it to the end though and at parts had to crawl on his stomach as bats flew at his face. How the soldiers stayed down there for hours I do not know!!! At the end of the tour we had the opportunity to try shooting our choice of weapon, I went for an Ak47 which nearly deafened me and the force of it nearly knocked me back.

That night it was a sleeper train to Nha Trang, onward through Vietnam!

Xx Sarz