BRR it's cold in Hanoi

Because it's so cold at the moment in Hanoi, we decided to do as much sight seeing as possible. That way we can hurry up and get back to some sun, which is feeling very far away. First of all we walked to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. It isn't always open to the public, and today was no exception. There are always armed guards surrounding the grounds, which has a white line painted on the floor with signs saying 'No Enrty' spaced 15 or so metres apart. It's obvious that this place is of great importance to the government because of how clean and up kept it is. It's a shame we couldn't get in, because apparently the building contains Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body.

Happy New Year from Hoi An

Happy New Year everyone! We had a really nice new years eve with everyone from the hotel. Traditionally, no one celebrates new years eve in Asia, they celebrate the new lunar year in February. Because of this, most hotels have a party for their western guests. We had some traditional Vientamese foods, including spring rolls, noodles and soup washed down with some Tiger beer. We were sat opposite a nice couple, Ines and Nikolai who are from Germany and Canada and spent most of the evening chatting with them.

Today we went and collected our clothes as they were now finished, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my suit as I took it straight to the Post Office to send back to England. I'm really pleased with it! Izzy's clothes look great too. We also used the rest of our visitor tickets and went to a local history and culture museum, an old family home and a temple, and a walk back through the market.

Sights of Hoi An

Today Me and Izzy did some sight seeing in Hoi An, checking out the culture and arcitechture. It's a surprisingly small town, but has plenty of hitsory that hasn't been destroyed by the tourist industry. For 90,000 Dong, you can buy five tickets to see some of the 18 sights around the town, all of which are within walking distance from each other. There are a few markets dotted around selling typical tourist tat and fabrics for the tailors, but a couple of them are focused on local trade and sell every type of fruit, veg and fish under the sun. Some interesting smells to say the least!

Arrived in Hoi An

Last night we took the sleeper coach to Hoi An, a quick 12 hour drive north. I still find these coach trips funny... the seats on this one were pretty much beds. Well, they were seats, but they were permanently reclined. Your feet would tuck into a little compartment under the backrest of the passenger in front. God knows whose feet they were designed for because I have size 9's and they were too big for the gap, even with my shoes off. At about 9pm we were on a coastal road which was a cliff edge, with a tiny little barrier between us and a 100ft drop. The roads were very windy and busy with slow moving lorries carrying stone and timber, our driver clearly had a screw loose and was regularly overtaking around blind bends. Needless to say, this in combination with an uncomfortable seat didn't make for a very good nights sleep. I ended up playing solitare on my ipod to take my mind of what was happening.

We phoned our hotel when we arrived in Hoi An, and they told us to take a taxi and that the cost would be covered by them, which was a nice surprise! The hotel is really nice and clean, and feels quite traditional with all the decoration they have dotted around the building, it also has a great view of a temple out front. On arrival we were greeted with cinnamon tea, bananas and hand towels to freshen up after our coach journey.

Thap Ba Ponagar, Nha Trang

Tomorrow we are planning on getting a sleeper coach north to Hoi An, so we thought we should stop lazing on the beach and see the rest of Nha Trang that we hadn't yet explored. We went for another top breakfast, both me and Izzy had banana pancakes and a Lipton tea with condensed milk (which makes it really sweet). They serve tea in a tumbler! Time to get the fisheye lens out, it's been a while.

Wat Pra Singh, Chiang Mai

Spent most of the day doing what we had planned for everyday... relaxing! Early afternoon me and Izzy got a Tuk Tuk to the furthest part of the city that we hadn't really explored, which has the most poplar temple in Chiang Mai, Wat Phra Singh.

Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai Zoo and Doi Suthep

Me and Izzy went to Chiang Mai Zoo today! It was great fun, you can get really close to most of the animals which made for some good photography... I got a bit itchy triggered with the camera! So we jumped in the back of a Songathaew (Red Taxi Truck) for the £1.50, 13km trip to the Zoo.

Chiang Mai Zoo

Bangkok

The plan today was to get up at about 6am and head to Thonburi Market for some breakfast then catch the 7:30am train to visit the River Kwai, but it ended up being more hassle then it was worth! The taxi driver we flagged down was adamant that it wasn't worth going there and we should go somewhere else (probably on commission!). Is and I just walked away in the end because they were determined to take us there, so instead we went to Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). It was pretty impressive... 46m long and 15m high!

Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok

First few days in Bangkok

Well the 11 and a half hour flight wasn't the best I've had... I just couldn't get comfortable! But the food was tasty and usual good choice of films, I watched Despicable Me. Me and Isabella landed in Bangkok airport at about 4pm local time (9am UK time)

Looking tired on the plane