From Hoi An to Saigon

Hi Guys,
Well, as we said last time, Hoi An was pretty awesome. We spent another day there and hired a motorbike and checked out some deserted beaches. In the afternoon I did a cooking class and learnt how to make pumpkin soup (surprisingly easy!),spring rolls, grilled fish with a lemongrass paste and a green papaya salad. We did a bit of shopping and went to this awesome cafe for lunch and dinner almost everyday!

After Hoi An we got up early and got a train ALL day to get to Nha Trang, another beach town. The train was pretty boring but at least we had a cheap day - only $5 each! We arrived late at night and crashed.

The next day we got up and went for a swim in the hotels absolutely chlorine saturated (but massive)pool. In the afternoon we did another motorbike tour around the town and saw a gigantic Buddah, some temples and had yet another mud bath! This one was a bit different to the underground tub of mud we dunked ourselves in in China. We paid and got in our swimmers and then all got in a big tub and they filled it up with mud and then after 20 minutes we had a shower and got into a hot spring. That evening we had group dinner at a fancy restaurant and then went to 'Crazy Kim's Bar' where cocktails were only $1.

The next day we did a boat tour to the reef to go snorkling. It was no Great Barrier Reef but it was pretty cool snorkling with the fish and looking for coral. That evening we got an overnight train and arrived early on September 1st in Saigon.

Saigon has been really cool. Yesterday we did a boat trip on the Mekong Delta, we visited a coconut candy factory, a bee farm (complete with a resident carpet python...) and went walking on some beautiful islands. We strolled the markets last night and resisted the incredibly cheap shoes and clothing...but we do have another 3 or 4 nights here so the temptation might become too much!

This morning we went to the Cuchi tunnels, which are an extensive network of tunnels used by the Vietnamese during the war. We climbed inside some of it (which was widened for tourists) and it was very dark and narrow! We also saw some of the traps that the Vietnamese made for the Americans - the mostly involved trapdoors covered by leaves that opened to brutal spikes that would impale the soldiers in various ways. It was pretty interesting.

This afternoon we are going to visit the war museum and then go out for our final group dinner! Tomorrow our tour ends and we have 2 days before we go to Thailand!