Fingers crossed, this is the third attempt at writing this blog entry! 

So were in Vietnam, flown in on the maiden voyage by Cebu pacific airlines, the airport is deserted and by the time we have got all the formalities sorted, eg cough up $50 for a full page stamp in the now dog eared passport itd 2.30am.  We move through the green lane to find a little man waiting with a paper sign saying welcome to vietnam Duncan and Kate.  A good start we thought!  He bundeled us into the waiting car and at break neck speed drove us into Hanoi.  i`ve never seen a city so quiet at 3am.  London, Paris, Auckland and Sydney all buzz 247.  Manilla only wakes up at midnight, Hanoi was firmly tucked up in bed with its teddy bear!

The following morning was a different story.  The noise began at 5.30!  As we stepped out from the guesthouse 20 motorcycles honked their horns at us, then we just about got swept into the gutter with all the other garbage and then someone tried to sell us pineapples at a ridiculously high price!  I normally take a few days to acclimatise to new cities but here in Hanoi I found myself running for the sanctury of the hotel room to bury my head under the pillow!  After a few days it did get a bit easier, and we discovered the antedote to the noise, pollution and general Viet-Con.  Beer Hoi (fresh local beer v-cheep)supped while eating spring rolls and French bakery`s with really good bread.

We are just simple country folk as you all know and so the rural Vietnam was luring us.  A night train whisked us up to the hills and a town called SaPa.  Cool air, clouds.......below us, duvets on the beds and a big regret that we had sent all our warm clothes home months earlier.  Bugger, and then it started to rain!  Like the true Hashers we are the sollution came to us almost instantly.  Put everything you own on and head to the nearest street corner to drink beer hoi.  At the same time as this is going on we are also being given the hard sell by all the locals, handicrafts, silver bangles and even you guessed it pineapples!  No thanks I`d shout at the women on the street from our 3rd floor balcony, but there is just no telling them!  Vietnam is a place that you either love or hate.  Most of the people are trying to rip us off but every now and then a local surprises you by sharing his homemade plum wine and dishing up delicious local specialties, all for less than it states in his menu! 

While in SaPa we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  We had soft boiled eggs with soldiers at the local French Bakery, while reading about the major risk of avian flu in the Hanoi Post! Great.  While we sat there we discussed how we should celebrate.  It was decided quickly and that afternoon I shouted up from the street (like a local selling pineapples at double price) to my Rapunzel on the balcony that we are the proud owners of 2 tickets to London Heathrow.

We both know how lucky we are to be travellin, but the knowledge that we are going home is such a great feeling, time to celebrate, beer hoi o clock!

On leaving SaPa we hooked up with another couple, Dave N Suzi.  They had the same plan as us to head down to HoiAn, to get some clothes made before crossing the border into Laos. 1 minibus, 2 trains, 1 sleeper bus (with 26 local policemen) a motorbike to see the sights of NinhBinh, 4 large beer hoi`s downed in 1 with the locals (just like hashing but without thge songs!), some very dodgy food and 42 hours later we are in HoiAn.

And so to Tailoring.  As husbands go I`m pretty lucky, Kate hates shopping, but 9 days in HoiAn and some very good prices has possibly changed all that, we may break the 20kg luggage allowance on the way home!  We also met up with our Friends Keith and Suzanne who we met on Mulgas Uluru(Ayers Rock) tour in Australia.  It was great to see them catch up on all their travel gossip before our next long distance journey into Laos.

We have arrived in Vientiene now after 26 hours on a bus and the longest and most  patience trying border crossing ever.   Its a real relief for all of us to not be in Vietnam anymore but saying that we do have some high-lights.  Beer Hoi, obviously, the rice terraces in SaPa and highest on the list, being woken at 5.45am on the sleeper bus by music tv playing the greatest hits of Boney M!  Those crazy affros made us feel a whole lot better about our sleeper bus bed hair!

So its not long now, about 4 weeks before we get home!  We will tube through Laos, maybe call into a Wat or 2 in Cambodia and then a dash through to Bangkok in Thailand before catching the flight to Heathrow.  All in a days work when youre a smelly traveller!