Same Same...But Different...

Hello all,

We just realised that we haven't actually blogged for awhile, so we will take it back a few dáys...

We started our tour back in Hanoi, there are 13 people on it and everyone ís really nice. The first day of our tour we caught an overnight sleeper train to Hue. It was absolutely amazing compared to the trains in India! We had to share our room with a random Vietnamese guy and he got pretty dark with us for putting our feet on what we thought was our bed...oops! It actually went really quickly and we both managed to sleep which was good.

We got into Hue at about 9am, our hotel was pretty flash! We caught a boat down the river and went to see some pagodas and tombs (once you've seen one, you've seen the, all!). The rest of our tour went for an afternoon motorbike ride, but we already had a wee one so flagged it and went back on the boat on our own. We had to wake up the crew when we got back to it which was embarassing!! We went and had lunch at a floating restaurant- they had eels in tanks that you could have cooked for you...yuck! We went out for dinner with our tour group that night- Stu had a never ending set menu.

The next day we travelled by (HOT) bus toHoi Ann, and we have both fallen in love with this place! People are friendly, easy to get around, fantastic shopping and beaches. And our hotel has a pool! Yay! We have visited areputable tailor here and Marcelle is having a 3 piece suit made - trialed it today and its lovely! and Stu got them to replicate his fave pair of levis...you have no idea! They look like the real deal, so hes getting 4 pairs made for US$35 each! Bargain! Marcelle also had some sandals made for US$10 each. We had lunch in a back ally street stall and it was by far the nicest meal we have had! We had rice paper rolls which you fill with various stuff (seafood, salads etc) and then roll up and dip into different sauces. So good! Stu had the lady there waiting on him and making his rolls for him and feeding him!

Last night we went out for dinner and got on the booze. Our tour leader got pretty munted and it was hilarious! He wasdrinking Jack Daniels on the rocks...yuck! When we were walking home people would yell out"Hello" to us and he would sing back "Hello, is it me you're looking for" (Lionel Ritchie) and he also played a bit of pool cue guitar...nothing funnier than a chubby wee drunk Vietnamese man!

Today we hired bicycles and rode to the beach through the country side. It was lovely and we really felt 'amongst' it. The beach was beautiful and we had a swim and a lax before biking back to the hotel and going to get a clothes fitting at the tailors. We did a half day cooking course today (Yes Pam, I know! Stu ACTUALLY did a cooking course!) we went to the market and learned about the fruit and veges and herbs and we brought some Vietnamese kitchen 'tools', and then took a boat cruise down the river to see the fishermen. Our teacher was great, trying his hardest to work on his slang...some of it made ZERO sense! We both did pretty well, we made Eggplant Claypot, Seafood Salad in a pineapple bowl, rice paper, rice paper rolls and learnt how to make fancy garnishes. Marcelle was told she was top of the class for the garnishes...some things never change (*Cough* Dux of Richmond Primary School). We got to eat it all as we made it and then they made all the dishes for us as well so we were chocka!

Marcelle is very VERY sunburnt so we arehaving a laxey night tonight, and trying to keep cool.

The language and the people here are hillarious, I will give you some stories...

Today we were at the beach and a lady was trying to get us tobuy her Chinese Zodiac necklaces. She looked at my insect bites and said "See! Shit happen to you because you not have one of my necklaces, if you had one of my lucky necklaces, shit not happen to you"

When we were at the market, our guide explained Fruit and veges like lettuce and cabbage as "Same Same but different". WTF!

When we were on our bike ride today, one of the girls on our tour lost control of her bike, and rode into a bush. An old lady biking past who was pretty old thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen and was cackling away! I guess to her its an every day thing...riding the SHITTEST bike you have ever seen through pot holes...Gold!

Well that is about it really. Tomrrow we catch a day train to Nga Trang, and hopefully to some surf for Stu!!!

We are loving it here, it might beat Africa...not sure yet though.

Missing and loving everyone!!!

Marcelle and Stu
xxx