Gap Yahhhhh Travels

Hey All,

I know that most of my sports fans aren't big readers so this super pictorial...

We left Mui Ne for Ho Chi Minh City, we were going to spend a day or two and then head into the Mekong Delta. Unfortunately we spent too much time shopping and enjoying the food that we had to go straight to Phu Quoc from HCMC. We got in a cheeky trip to the 'Mekong Delta' on a tour; whilst it was interesting we were shepherded from one place to another where we could buy local produce...The restaurant we had lunch at had an awesome menu, items included: Iguana, snake, crocodile, squirrel... Didn't try any as we had lunch included, sad face :(

I really liked HCMC as a place to chill out and enjoy nice food. We didn't party at all, but a lot of other travelers were...We must have been woken most nights by someone returning at god knows what hour...I got two suits made, one serious work suit and something a little flare for special occasions. Dad described me in it as "You look like a waiter on a cruise ship" so everyone will have to make their minds up at a later date. The food was awesome and cheap so fattened up.

We had to get a bus to Rach Gia from HCMC and then a ferry to Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc is awesome. We spent the first day hunting for a place for Jen to do her dive course. Once that was sorted we headed out on the moped around the island. Apart from the developed tourist area the majority of the island has no infrastructure apart from dirt roads. The main source of income for the island is the production of fish sauce, peppercorns and fishing. I liked fish sauce but now i know how it's made i've gone off it. Little sardine like fish are packed into a barrel with salty water and left in the sun for 18 months. The remaining liquid is fish sauce. The island is surrounded by beach. There are kilometers and kilometers of clean sand with no one on them. The sea is crystal clear and at the ends of the beaches there's the odd reef to snorkel. So a fun place to explore!

The next day Jen started the course, she was pretty nervous but overcame her fears and got in the water. She had trouble taking her mask off underwater as she hates salt water in her nose. What was to follow was three days of her dreading 'Raf' the Belgium shrimp like instructor making her take the mask off again. Each day she conquered her fears and I was proud of her! She passed with flying colours and is nor a certified PADI Open Water Diver. On the last day i dived as well. The reef was nice, I saw some type of shark but not worked out what it was yet. It was a bottom feeding type and about 1.5m long. I didn't bother with the second dive of the day as it didn't look clear and thought i'd save diving expense for the Philippines where it looks set to be amazing!

We're spending two days on the beach now, continuing the tanning war which Jen is winning by miles. I'm an awesome shade of lobster but i'm hoping it'll tan up in a day or two... We fly back to HCMC and then on the 22nd fly to the Phillipines where we'll get off the beaten track once more.

My thoughts on Vietnam are is that it's a great place to travel, but it's so easy to be a lazy traveler and just get on the tourist bus that picks you up from your hotel and takes you to the next destination that you don't really look too hard for what really interests you. We were pretty bad with the History side of things in Vietnam as we were 'Historied Out' from China. I would definitely return to Vietnam as it is such a great place to travel and we've missed a lot of the country because of the rainy season.

Enjoy the mega amount of photos!

Love to All

Alex