Catching up...

So, we have arrived in Da Lat, which has about as much going on as an out of season ski resort! Plus it's freezing- uncharateristically so- and the locals are all in big coats and wooly hats!! Suddenly very glad of my jeans and jumper (and thinking how cold it must be in Edinburgh- how did I live there?!)

We've got a bus from Sai gon which took a horrible 7 hours, but wound up through the mountains which were quite breathtaking. The terrain is really different here- it looks less like a Vietnam movie than the delta where we spent the last two days..

The Mekong delta is the 'rice bowl' of vietnam; the river is huge and the terrain as flat as a very flat thing (in the words of Blackadder.) We paddled along in little boats, visited islands, saw noodles being made and coconut candies. We both held a python (not sure how that fitted in, but hey ho) and ate snake for dinner!! Met a cool guy from, er, well hugarian but born in the Uk, grew up in Canada and now lives in Austria. Had some interesting views about women (which as you can imagine got a little heated but made the bus journey more interesting!) We all then went out for dinner with our local guide- which was one of the most hilarious meals I've ever had. After much confusion, we finally deduced that 'singing a song in the happy room' meant going for a wee, 'buom buom' means sex and 'cow shaking'- my personal favourite- was in fact a local dish a frenchmans wives made while dancing. And there was I quizzing him if they held it by the legs when they shook it..

Next day we got up early and saw the floating markets and crused down the river- by this time we had also picked up this guy from the US. Americans- you really can't take them anywhere. Anyways the four of us had fun and the American told us about a 'Gibbon experience ' in Laos- you can go and live with the monkeys in tree houses with zip lines! I want to go!!

Before we went to the delta we also spent a day at the Cu chi tunnels and Cao Dai temple. Caa Dai was really interesting; it fuses Buddism, Taoism, confusionism and elements of christianity and Islam (I think). sounds like the answer to all the worlds problem to me- but I guess others would think they're just covering all bases.

the Cu Chi tunnels were amazing- it's no wonder that the Americans couldn't infiltrate them. they're three levels deep with kitchens and schools down there. The tunnels I'm in is a widened version for tourists- the rest are half that size! I still had a bit of a phobia about going down but glad I did (and glad I got out again!) The only upsetting thing was the documentary which ran through the Cu Chi Guerillas that were awareded the hero medal for killing lots of American's. Just ruinined the incredible attitude demonstrated in the War Remnants museum the day before.

So, we're pretty much following the tourist trail- tomorrow we're off with th eEasy rider, then on a bus to Nha Trang and then the train up to Da Nang on the train. We've booked a flight from Hue to Hanoi to try and save some time as the visa runs out on the 20th! So there's the plan!!

Would be nice to hear news- its actually easy to check mail but usually very, very slow. Also can recieve texts but can't seem to send them- sorry if I don't get back to you!! xxxx