Vietnam!

Hello! We've finally been somewhere, so prepare for a flurry of blog updates!

We've recently got back from visiting Vietnam, Laos and Combodia, where we had a great time. First up, here's some piccies from Vietnam.

We started in the south at Ho Chi Min City, or Saigon as everyone still calls it. While there we went to the Viet Cong tunnels at Cu Chi - Sharon bravely restrained herself to a minor panic attack when she went in one!



As you can see, they're rather small!

We went on a trip down the Mekong river, and saw the sights of the town before heading north to Hoi An.




Hoi An was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the big city, more like a quaint medieval town. It was a big trading centre, but now seems to rely on tourists for survival. This is Sharon on the old Japanese covered bridge.



Just down the road from Hoi An are the ancient Cham ruins of My Son. These were an impressive set of ruins, which would have been even better had the American's not bombed half of them during the war!



Craig was worried that the local water was doing something nasty to his skin...

Next was Hue - famous for its coloured sticks...

(Yes, we know it's incense).

Hue also had the former Imperial Palace and the Mausoleums of the emperors. They were like something from the middle ages, so it was a surprise to learn that they were only built (at the cost of hundreds of lives) in the last few centuries.

Ha Long Bay was very beautiful and atmospheric, especially on a mistly morning.

Then it was on to the capital, Hanoi. Amongst other things we went and saw Ho Chi Min in his mausoleum.

Throughout Vietnam there aren'y many cars, but everyone drives scooters! There seem to be very few rules, including how many people you can fit on a single scooter. The family of 5 on one bike above was fairly typical!

Then it was on to Laos - probably our favourite of the 3 countries. Expect a blog on that soon!