I apologise for the lame blog title.  Even after two beers and a mojito (in a fetching little courtyard under a bamboo tree – how very Graham Greene)  neither Jeannie or I could come up with anything better.

I can’t believe it’s nine days since we blogged last – we’ve covered a lot of Vietnam since leaving the comfort of our luxurious hotel in Siagon. We’ve also met up with Rob and Jade, who we first met in Jodhpur in March, and we’re now working our way though Vietnam together.

After Siagon, we headed south to the frenetic town of Can Tho, nestled in the center of the Mekong Delta where the 4000km long river passes by before meeting the South China Sea. Can Tho is the unconventional commercial hub of the Delta; fresh produce arrives here every morning via the network of rivers and natural canals. Trading and bartering still continues every day in the floating markets so we chartered a boat and set off to explore. As we chugged down the river we passed vessels of many shapes and sizes exchanging all manner of fruits, vegetables, animals and materials. We even passed floating cafes and coffin shops. The food in Can Tho was good but I’m still kicking myself for not sampling the ’snake menu’, However I’m sure we’ll find worse later in the trip with China on the horizon…

 

We left Can Tho, had a brief overnight stop in Siagon and took a sleeper coach to Nah Trang – a surprisingly pleasant and well-organised beach resort – and after a couple of weeks of sporadic monsoon rain in Cambodia and Southern Vietnam we were ready to hit the beach. In between topping up our tans and cooling off in the sea we found time to explore the ruined Cham Towers (where I made a wish by gripping a lucky 4 foot high granite penis) and visit a huge white Buddha who peers down over Nah Trang from his hill-top pedestal. The highlight of our stay was our trip to the Thap Ba hot springs. Here we indulged ourselves in a wooden bathtub filled with hot theraputic mud before hopping into mineral water from the local spring. It took about two hours to detox our bodies of impurities and about two minutes to re-toxify them with traffic fumes from the cycle home.

 

We’re now writing from Hoi An – the picturesque shopping capital of Vietnam. It’s possibly the prettiest town I’ve ever visited – a fusion of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and European culture and architecture. The narrow streets are lined with colourful Chinese lanterns and there are over 500 tailors here with windows full of beautiful clothes and fine silks. We’ve been here for four days and so far I’ve had two wonderful suits and four shirts tailored and Jeannie’s bought three ornate silk dresses, but our little splurge is just a drop in the finest Cashmere ocean compared to Rob and Jade, who between them have helped a number of local tailors and cobblers retire to the Maldives. Aside from shopping we’ve wandered the charming little streets and visited scores of houses, pagodas, galleries and restaurants. Today we hired motorbikes and trekked out through the Vietnamese countryside to My Son, the home of a large site containing more Cham ruins. The ruins look a little similar to Angkor or Champasak, but crafted from red bricks. Unfortunately they’re in pretty poor condition as most were bombed by the US during the war.

Tomorrow we’re leaving our quaint Chinese guest house and moving a short distance up the coast to Non Nuoc beach. In other news, I forgot to put on sunblock today so I’m now sporting an amazing pair of farmer arms.