Singapore was a weird one, on the first day we explored China town, checked into our luxurious hotel room and went to Tanjong beach club to meet one of Jim's university pals now living in Singapore, to watch the sunset over the beautiful marina bay, and generally just fall in love with Singapore.

The next day started well with breakfast and newspapers in bed, followed by shopping. At about 10am the skies opened and let fly with a relentless deluge, rendering the outdoors comp[etely out of bounds. The weather just about cleared up in time for us to go to the Marina bay to see the new year in. A stylish firework display watched by about 20000 people was amazing. We rushed back home to get our head down at about 1.30 am ready for out 4.30am start the next day....damn you early morning flights!!!

Happy new year everybody, hope you all had a wonderful evening of celebration. We both wish you all the very best for the coming year....

Love Vanessa and Jim

So much has happened since last post guys, apologies for our tardiness in posting but recent accommodation has been lacking internet facilities. So to start we traveled to Saigon by our favourite mode of transport - 'the sleeper bus'. As we both had a bit of stomach trouble on the morning of the journey, the 5 hour trip couldn't have ended quick enough. Having said that, the scenery en route was as amazing as ever and we were able to see more of Vietnam's wonderous landscapes.


We both loved Saigon - such an interesting place. There are skyscrapers, designer boutiques and skybar's (clearly the American influence), a backpackers district and a lovely zoo we took the liberty of exploring. At the other extreme we also saw far more begging here, and some very poor areas. This was strange given that in the capital Hanoi (a perpetually communist city) there was no begging whatsoever, and an almost undetectable class system.

After one day in Saigon, we headed into the 'jungle' to the Mekong Delta. This area is is where the Mekong (a huge river in Asia) meets the sea through a complex network of streams. We travelled up the mekong on power boat and went to see some of the locals handicrafts such as honey-tea, rice-wine and coconut candy production. It was an enjoyable trip but unfortunately we didn't get to see the typical floating markets of the Mekong which we were looking forward to..

We left Saigon for Singapore very early on Sunday morning (30th December 2012)...

Merry Christmas to everyone!!! We will spent the day at the beach and try to ring you tonight or tomorrow.

So, having a relatively pleasurable experience of travelling by sleeper bus from Hue to Hoi An (4 hours), we decided to put our endurance to the test travelling long haul Hoi An to Nha Trang (12 hours).

Expecting the same vehicle as we had travelled on the day before, we were firstly surprised to see the bus was a little smaller. Unfortunately being last to be picked up, we had last pick of seats/beds meaning Nessi had to sleep in between two doting couples, and was asked time and time again to pass food and drink between counterparts. Jim however, was crammed into a tiny bed cage which, by UK regulation would be suitable to transport livestock no larger than dogs, or sheep at a push. As if this wasn't enough, the suspension on this particular vehicle, generously allowed travellers to feel every lump and bump in the Vietnamese dirt roads for about ten minutes after contact....needless to say everyone got off the bus at Nha Trang this morning feeling like they had been prepared for butchery.

Well worth it though.... Nha Trang's coastline is sensational and it has Buddhist Pagoda's that could not be missed.

Pictures to follow...

After a overnight train journey on the sleeper train from Hanoi to Hue (taking us 13 hours) we have spent the day in Hue yesterday, enjoying the the sunshine and the great atmosphere.
Today we are getting the bus to Hoi An where we will be staying for the next two days.
Loads of love Vanessa & Jim

P.S. We hope to post pictures soon.


AND THEESE.....


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Here are pictures of our sleeper bus from Hue to Hoi An....very interesting.....a nice way to travel


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Hoi An í amazing, our favourite city so far....the riverside ís straight from the movies. We also have had some clothes custom made, very stylish @ Kimmy's.

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Right so pictures aren't working on this website at the moment, but we have worked out we can still post text.

We've just finished a lovely 2 days in Hanoi. The city is amazing with loads and loads of culture and unfortunately mopeds. Whilst crossing each road was a near death experience the ancient Vietnamese architecture certainly made the ordeal worthwhile. This morning we are starting off on our first excursion to Ha Long Bay, staying overnight on a boat. We're very excited but the torrential downpours in Hanoi do have the potential to make things less enjoyable...Do your SUNdance people, we want good weather!

GUYS PLEASE SEE ÌF YOU CAN ACCESS THẾ PICTURES THROUGH DROPBOX. IT MIGHT BE THE ONLY WAY WE CAN SHARE

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