From flashpacker to backpacker

Flashpacker = older traveller with money who does not eat at the cheapest places or stays at the cheapest shit holes.

First stop in Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh city as it is now known but to all the people who live there it is still Saigon. Arrivign at the airport and gettting a cab to District 1 was my first taste of the locals as a viet girl asked to share a cab and trying to save money and be more like a backpacker I said yes however it was a very weird ride as I was convienced that she was going to steal my wallet as I couldnt remember her on the flight and she got extremley close and touchy in the cab. At this point im already thinking Bourne style how im going to react but alass I was wrong all the vietmanease women are like this over good looking westerners. Saigon was a great place, there was not too much to do but the night life there was amazing, I had some major hangovers there for the 3 nights I stayed there. The one thing I did do there was visit the war museum and it was quite disturbing, they had pictures of people who had been burned with napalm and people who had been infected with agent orange. I went to a vietnamease massage parlour and the girl was only 5ft but she was strong as an ox, some points I thought she was going to break my back but overall it was a lot nicer than the Indian massage where he massaged my naked ass. The only thing that ruined the massage was the guy next to me kept farting but not like naturally letting them come out but pushing them out with great power.

Another tough thing in Saigon that goes against all your natural insticnt is crossing the road, there are so many motorbikes it is fucking insane! The trick is to walk out slowly and dont stop, they will move around you but this leap of faith is so hard to master.

After India I decided I didnt want to stay in one place too long so I grabbed the bus to Mui Ne which is like a beach place which is big with wind surfers and kite surfers, this is where I met Georgia who is the Canadian from Qubec that I am currently travelling with and she is a pure backpacker trying to get everything dirt dirt cheap. Whilst in Mui Ne I also travelled with a new yorker Matt who was cool and we decided to hire some scooters and travel to the sand dunes. The red sand dunes were immense and we hired sheets of plastic so we could slide/surf down there. The roads in Mui ne were a lot better and very easy to drive but we did see one accident where 3 scooters had collided and people did look really hurt. Another place I drove us to was the ferry stream which is a pretty stream about 500 meters long you walk down to find a waterfall at the end. We stayed in Mui Ne for 2 nights before we headed off to Da Lat which is inland and 1500-2000 meters above sea level so you can imagine the shock I got when it was bloody cold, I didnt really like Da lat it reminds me of a swiss ski resort with only a few things to do, we hired some guys 'Easy Rider' company but were more 'Sleazy rider' to take us to all the sights, we saw silk factory and saw how they take the silk worm and get the silk, largest waterfall in Vietnam and all the jaw dropping scenery along the way. Only 2 nights spent here and we have a bus booked for Na Trang which is party place again. Forgot to tell you about the bus we got from Mui Ne to Dal Lat, this bus is meant to take 4 hours but ended up taking 7, this was because we had 3 flat tires and they broke the wrench on the last one so we had to wait and find someone with a spare ha ha ha, this was the worse bus ride and we commented that its not MPG for the trip but wheels per mile. The road was bumpy and I was sitting at the back where they squeezed an extra person in and it was the most uncomfortable I have ever been. I beliveve that travelling is best in retrospect, when I was on the bus I was cursing but when I get home I will wish I was on that nightmare bus ride. Im heading to Ha long bay which some of you might remember from Top Gear where they sailed to the floating Bar, this or Sa Pa will be my final place in Vietnam.

The good thing about sharing a hostel with a fellow traveller is the cost, you half it and it saves a lot of cash but the bad thing is you cant be yourself, I keep having to remember to stiffle wind and not let it come out in all its glory.

The food here in Vietnam has been the best that I have ever tasted, no dog or cat yet (I think) but I have eaten hot pot where you put your raw meat into oil and cook it with veg, noodle soup (Pha) is the national dish and it is the tastest food ever!

Please bare in mind I only throw random pictures on the blog, I actually have taken over 1000 pictures in 3 countries and am needing to get a new memory card!

Will update you at the end of my vietnam trip before I cross the border into Laos.