Spam from the Nam

Hello one and all.

Well we are no in to our second week of Viet Nam and oh my god its a tonic to the senses. We have just left our friends Jenni and Dan after spending a week with them on an island off the southern tip of Vietnam bordering Cambodia called Phu Quoc. We arrived at a guest complex which can only be described as an acid trip. Lining the entrance path was 12 foot sculptures of rats, monkeys and a heard of deformed horses. This place was as kitch as Vera Duckworths living room and the locals seemed to love it! It seems quite paradoxical that this Communist country has adopted so many cheesy western elements, and only yesterday I saw a local girl wearing a t shirt saying I love USA. All quite odd after having been to the war rememberence museum and seeing the horrors those Yankers inflicted on this beautiful country, and for the first time in my life I wish I was wearing a Union jack flag. Well for me any way the highlight of Phu Quoc was the markets. We have braved (finally) the local street foods, and they are surprisingly delicious. It seems we are trying out at least one new fruit or vegetable every day. We had a really lovely time with Jenni and Dan, it was really relazing and so nice to catch up with them and sap them of all their SE Asia knowledge! The beaches were stunning and we v much enjoyed sharing lots of beers and card games with them!

We returned to Saigon after Phu quoc. Its one kicking City which makes London look like a wet day in Hightown. Never have I ever had to question green cross code skills till I came to this place. Traffic lights here are merely a gesture and in reality mean you must honk your horn. Whilst first arriving here it took us ten minutes to bottle up the courage to cross the road to our hotel. The trick is to eye ball every motorist heading straight for you and they will swerve around you, but the golden rule is NEVER STOP! After Saigon we boarded a bus for a 8 hour journey to Da Lat in the central highlands. Dalat is so beautiful, it has a vvery french feel to it and it could easily be mistaken for the Alps (mius the snow). It is very high up and surrounded in pine trees with toblerone shaped houese everywhere. It is also a lot cooler here which is actually really nice as it has been so hot for the past few weeks! We met 2 really cool Ozzy paramedics Whom we shared a few shandys with and then had a little meeting with the local motor biking tour group called the Easy Riders. Tomorrow we head off with these very well educated guides into the mountains. Both Caz and I get a guide each and sit on the back of their motorbikes with our rucksacks strapped to the back of them. Its the closest thing we can get to being Ewan McGregor wannabees and we will be taken away from all the tourist spots and into real Viet namese culture. The roads we will be venturing are nice and quiet and we cant wait to hit the road for our four day adventure.

We will update again v soon, we have also put up lots of pics so check them out.

Love to everyone, Joel and Caz xxx