Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh

Welcome again to another update to the chronicles of Damen and Pip.

Haven't written for a while, so can't really remember half of what's happened. But here's some interesting stuff:

Last time we wrote we were in Hoi An. From there we took a 12 hr bus ride through to Nha Trang, leaving at about 7pm. There was still a lot of damage to the roads from all the flooding, so a lot of the way was very bumpy. At about 3am while we were driving the next morning, there was an almighty BANG! The driver got out to inspect, then got back in and we kept driving very slowly, with a bump and a thump noise, everytime the wheel made a full turn. We drove for about 1/2 an hour, and just when I thought it was ridiculous trying to drive the remaining 4 hours with a flat tyre, they stopped at a makeshift tyre shack on the road, and woke the owner to get us going again. Made it to Nha Trang, although a little late.

(Here's some news on the flooding in Hoi An, if anyone's doing a research project on holiday misadventures.)

Nha Trang is a beach town, lined with palm trees and hagglers. We paid $2 NZ to sit on a beach chair each and basked in the hagglers... I mean sunshine. Services included: massage; food; drink; shaving with string; manicures; lighters; newspapers. While these people provided great shade as they crouched over us and told us we were hairy, it just wasn't the same as a Pohutukawa, so we bussed it to a more remote place the next day.

Mui Ne was BEAUTIFUL, (bar the dead chicken that floated past us as we were about to dive into the water). We flagged the beach and hired a scooter to do a mission ride out to their famed white sand dunes. After driving and driving and driving, we finally made it, and found that sand is pretty much sand wherever you are. But the journey was the real adventure, and we jumped back on the scooter and wheelied on outta there! Saw a pitiful waterfall, and an alright tower. Got hassled to buy some marijuana again. Basically there's not much to see there but the weather's great and the people are so much more laid back, and the roads aren't insane, so you can ride a scooter!

Now we're in Ho Chi Min City, (or HCMC for short), (or Saigon for completely different name). Yesterday went for a river trip down (or up?) the Mekong river. The company was called MEKONG ADVENTURES! When we looked at the itinerary we thought - "Yeah right": 'Visit to coconut candy workshop and taste honey tea'. After we tasted the honey tea, our guide stood behind us and said: "This is a snake." We turned around and he was holding a python over 2 metres long! He started walking towards us and we got ready to run back to the boat (or swim back to Saigon), but thankfully he went to someone else. Some people draped it around their neck for a photo, but we weren't game. Afterwards we stuck our fingers into a tray of bees to taste their honey. Only 2 people got stung.

So we have 1 more day in HCMC, then we're back to Thailand to sort out our Cambodia part of the journey.

Hope you're all doing well. They're setting up all the Christmas decorations here in the city, so we're feeling a bit homesick. Wouldn't mind a good barbeque at the beach... mmmmm.

See you all soon, we should email before Christmas, but in the case that we're having too much fun, have a good one, and we'll see you just after!

love
D&P