When Dunstable came to Saigon.

So, the boys are still here, but much to my surprise and probably everyone elses too, they are still alive and not in jail.

Although saying this they do have another 4 days yet so lets not tempt fate!

We had a very busy month which I'm now about to tell you about. Firstly it was Christmas Eve. Me, Matt, Sophie and Kelly started the night at our friend Jonathon's house. His mum (who is the chef of a massive restaurant somewhere in America :S can't remember where!?!?!) cooked us some amazing food and we drank much wine! After a lovely dinner, lots of cheese and Fuzz humping my leg we left and entered the funniest taxi journey I've had in my life. Completely intoxicated we started to spread Christmas Love from the windows of the vehicle. The people of Vietnam LOVED IT! We even made a straight face traffic policeman laugh! We then had an awesome countdown in AK (which I'm really upset is having to close on 23rd January due to a moody bitch living opposite in a shed not liking the noise. I think she's just jealous she doesn't have a really cool bar!)

Then came CHRISTMAS DAY.

We finally decided on dinner at one of the big hotels - Moevenpick. It was amazing! There were rows and rows of food and not just Christmas food either. I pretty much just ate lobster, truffles, cupcakes oh and a bit of turkey and gravy (sometimes all at once). YUM! It was also free flowing alcohol which of course we all made the most of the Cava. Especially Matt who was WASTED. So wasted in fact he danced around the restaurant and proceed to shimmy behind the desk where the receptionist was on the phone to give her some Matthew lovin'. It was pretty funny because he was in his pajamas too.























Then it was the arrival of the boys! I feel they were welcomed extremely well into Saigon. They all got so drunk they didn't get up until 5 the next day! I thought drinking 2 buckets was enough. but Carl has showed us that he can happily sink 4 and still be OK!!


New Years Eve day we all went to the water park. IT WAS IMMENSE. I nearly died of a heart attack about 4 times and once from a major wedgy that nearly cut me in half. One thing you need to know about Vietnam is there is no health and safety. If they want to build a house - they build one the next day. If they are building a house and scaffolding falls of the building - the attitude is SHIT HAPPENS. The water park is no different. Some of the rides literally had no sides and nothing to catch you if you fell off. The only thing the workers were concerned about is Ross's zip on his pocket. It may scratch their slide!!!









So the one ride that gave me 3 heart attacks in a row was The Boomerang. Basically a 3 seater rubber ring dropped over the top of a drop slide and goes straight up the other side. Matt put me at the front because I was the lightest and we would go faster. JESUS CHRIST. I thought I was on Oblivion at Alton Towers. It's a definite must go though!

Later on we went for a nice sophisticated NYE dinner at The Refinery, a french bistro. The food was lush! We then decided to turn the clock back 10 years and go and buy vodka from a shop, pour it into a water bottle with coke and walk the streets of Saigon for the count down.






















































The street party on Nguyen Hue was awesome!
We learnt how to say Happy New Year and kept on saying it over and over! Matt and Carl bought some fake snow spray to make it really feel like home :S . The countdown was AWESOME! Lovely gold confetti rained over us for about 15 minutes. YAY! Now it was time to party hard. I can't really remember what happened next, but what I do know is that it involved singing in Welsh, a massive bag of quail eggs, hitting Matt with a rose and then ending with Matt knocking himself out by falling down the side of the bed. A productive night I feel.

Carl, Ross and Laz left us on NY Day to go up north but they soon returned. Well two of them anyway. Ross went off to Phu Quoc Island, which he said is amazing. One beach had white sand for miles, no hotels and only 2 beach bars. Sounds like my kind of place!

Me, Carl and Matt decided to visit the War Memorial Museum. I recommend it to all tourist but be aware it's the most soul destroying place on earth. You will see pictures of dead Vietnamese soldiers and innocents. Aswell as read some horrific stories of what American soldiers did to them in the war. Very interesting though totally anti-American.





















I've now brought you up to date. Yesterday was Matt's birthday which was of course eventful. We started at 3.30pm and finished around 4 am. Matt's still in bed now and it's 5pm. I think he's slightly broken. Nothing a swim won't fix though!

I'll put a few pictures on here because Facebook's banned in Vietnam right now.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! xx

A third of a year. Is it really that long?

I can't believe it's been 4 1/2 months. We're nearly halfway through our contract! We need to start looking at new places to work. We love Vietnam but we want to see a lot more of the world. Many people do stay here because the life is easy and the money's good. So that means you've all got 7 1/2 months and counting to get out here! We have a few people visting over the next few months so that will make for some interesting blog material.

So after the last blog me and Matt decided to go to the Mekong Delta. It the southwest region of Vietnam where the Mekong River meets the sea. The Mekong River goes all the way up through Cambodia, Laos and ends in China.

We got a bus on a Tuesday morning to My Tho. Here we got a boat to a small island where they were making coconut candy - which by the way is DISGUSTING! Some people may like it but WE did not. As we were looking around the place we came across some snake wine. A massive container with approximately 20 snakes coiled in. So we tried it, of course. Tastes like whisky actually. The next wine we tried was made from bananas. That was really wrong. It tasted like ash tray and cough medicine mixed together. YUCK!

We then were allowed to go off on a little bike ride and I don't know if you've ever seen pictures of the bikes in Vietnam but they are old school!!! Barely intact, no back brake, seat as hard as bricks...loved it!

The bad thing about this trip was the fact that it was a tour. They hurry you along like a herd of cows. We got ushered into little boats (which for me was the best bit). It felt extremely Vietnamese. Matt had his hat on and a can of beer in his hand, whilst I rowed!






We took a bus ride to the next place and by the time we got there it was dark. We were ushered into a little boat and it basically felt like we were being smuggled from one country to another. Who knows maybe we were, we had no idea where we were!

Finally we arrived at our destination, a Vietnamese family home in the middle of...somewhere. There were two options. We could have either gone to a hotel and stayed the night or get into this little boat and stay at a Vietnamese persons house. We totally chose the right option! They showed us to these little huts to sleep in. They were awesome!!!

After looking around the house, which by the way was so cute, we were served dinner. Yummy homemade Vietnamese food! It was amazing and all free. To top it off there was a beer fridge. Me, Matt and the 4 Germans that were with us drank 49 beers. I was in bed by half 10!! Oh but not before doing a little bit of night fishing in the river. This was very unsuccessful though!

The next morning after being rudely awoken around 3 times by a crazy cockerel we set sail to the floating market. It was a very weird experience. The market stalls drive up to you and attach themselves to your boat. All they were really selling was fruit which got a bit tiresome after a while.

After seeing a few things in the area we were taken to a crocodile farm. It was crazy, there must have been about 500 crocodiles. Little cute baby ones to massive scary 'could eat people' ones. They were all pretty lethargic though, lazing around in the sun. Not much happening in Croc land!

We next stopped at Sam Mountain. It's basically a mountain with lots of steps going up it leading to a pagoda. The view up there WAS INCREDIBLE! We could see Cambodia. The sun was setting so we got a few pictures of that. But again we were rushed through all of this quite quickly so didn't have time to just chill.

Finally we reached Chau Doc. This is the nearest town to Cambodia so from here people cross the border via boat or bus. We had a nice evening just eating Vietnamese food and drinking beer in street cafes. Not a very lively town, everything shut down about 11.30pm. We needed an early night anyway, because we were being taken for breakfast at 6!!

Finally we visited the Cham minority village. This was awesome! We had to get there by boat of course and when we reached the little dock, they had made out of wood, I felt like I was in a different world. The house were built on stilts because the water comes in pretty high in rainy season. Everything was made from wood and there was a lady weaving pashminas. It was an extremely pretty place.

Now it was time for the bus journey from hell back to Saigon. 7 hours on a bus is NOT my cup of tea, neither is having next to no leg room!!! BADTIMES. I was very happy when I saw the good old smog cloud of Saigon.

hmmmm so what else?

Ah yes the ILA Christmas Ball. Everyone got dressed up very pretty, although the Vietnamese outdid the Westerners big style! They looked hot!!!! I got a dress made, just gave them a picture of a Kate Moss dress and it turned out pretty damn similar. I chose a different colour though.

The main attraction of this party was the free food and alcohol! Yes it was good times. I was pleasantly p*ssed. I'll put some photo's up.

Ok need to go buy a Christmas Tree now and decorate out flat! Very excited, however it has started pissing it down with rain which is not good. I'm gonna have to wait it out! Boooo!

Not entirely sure of our Christmas/New Year plans yet but I'm sure my next blog will tell you all about them. It may be entitled "How we got Carl, Ross and Laz out of Vietnamese Jail".

Ha ha

xxx

Fake Blood and Strange Children

First and foremost my friend Steve was moaning about not being mentioned last time. So here you go Steven. Welcome to the World of Blog Fame. Ha ha.

I've just been out with my friend, Kelly, and found the most amazing little shop. Basically it sells old Vietnamese paper stuffs. Photos, diaries, albums, books, postcards letters, that all at one time belonged to someone Vietnamese. There are some really funky old pictures that are definitely going to be sent to you people as Christmas cards!

Had a good day off today! Ate blue cheese, drink tea on the roof top bar of the Majestic hotel and then booked my birthday meal on a Saigon boat restaurant. So I shall update you with the drunk happenings on this weekend in my next blog. I'm sure it will be messy and involve a mental breakdown as I'm turning 26 which is now officially nearer to 30 than 25. Jesus.

Anyway what's been gwaning? I'm being stalked by the woman that set me up with the TV job. I have to do another scene but I keep telling her I need notice! She's pretty creepy and just turns up at my house expecting me to be ready to go. Very weird. She even rang me at work the other day and was like "we go movie now". I was like "no I'm at work." She said she could go and talk to the principal of the school and get me out of work. Err no you crazy women. Anyway I think she's got the idea now that I need a organisation. Idiot.

So I left you last time telling you I was about to embark on a journey to Mui Ne. What a lovely place it is! We chilled on the beach, hired motorbikes...yes MATT can drive a motorbike, visited the Fairy Stream, which by the way has no frickin fairies! Was extremely upset. It did however have devil children who when they asked for money Matt offered them 8,000 Dong - about 25p - refused because it was too little. Then they hassled Matt all the way to the end with Matt constantly saying "no, piss off" until finally they said "OK 8,000 Dong is OK"!!!!! Like it was a deal! I tell you, the children are evil here!

We also went Sand Duning (there's a video on my Facebook page if you haven't seen it) which is massively FUN. Sledging on sand seriously what could be more fun than this? I did recommend they needed a lift though because walking back to the top was a bitch!

On our last two days it rained intensely which caused there to be a river where the road was meant to be. Was pretty funny watching people on motorbikes trying to get through then falling over. One girl went under and I was worried for a second, but it was all OK 4 Australians came to her rescue. I decided then to pretty much swim across the road because there was a bar serving buy one get one free on cocktails. No river was gonna stop me getting to that.

There's also one amazing bar there called Pogo. It was chilled, had graffiti over the walls, hammocks, cheap drinks and best of all the sea crashed against the bar and sprayed inside.

So after our holiday came Halloween. Ahhhh my second favourite time of year, after Christmas of course! Me, Matt, Sophie and two other girls Kelly and Rachel got costumes tailored, OH YES. Four nurses, one doctor. Matt loved it. Although the difference between the English and the rest of the world at Halloween is clear to me now. Halloween for the rest of the world is a time to look hot. Halloween for the English is a time to put as much fake blood on yourself as possible! It's just in the morning it's quite hideous when you wake up and your face is red and actually stays red until you purchase some white spirit and shower in that.

Halloween at work was pretty funny. I think I scared my 5 year olds slightly with my syringe. Also all children could attend a haunted house on floor 5. It was basically a massive classroom decked out like a house. ILA went all out, smoke machine and all! When I was in there though the scary music suddenly stopped and randomly i hear "All around me there's familiar faces...". Yes they were playing Gary Jules (I changed this from REM because Mr Luke Sando Sanderson has just informed me I was wrong. Did you like that mention Sando?) in a haunted house. I was a bit confused as I started to think that maybe the Vietnamese think Gary Jules is terrifying? The kids were shit scared though. At least none of my kids chucked up like Zach's. Ha ha!

I have one child that is extremely weird. I have mentioned her before. You know - fringe plait girl. So the other day I come back from my break and one of the other teachers was looking a bit lost. I asked what was wrong. She said "some one has taken my post its of the wall". She had set up a game with the kids and some little bastard had sabotaged it. I was like ahhh boooo then walked into my classroom. I started my lesson and my TA shouted "Linh!". I realised then my this point Linh, fringe plait girl, was turned around looking out the window. I walk over and pull back the curtain and you guessed it...all the fucking post its were stuck on the window. Little shit. Anyway I gave them back and the teacher was like "I don't no how she got them, because they were up high." So not only had she just stolen them, she'd got a chair out of a classroom to get up there!!. Evil.

Another funny thing happened in class the other day. I told my Juniors (age 8 - 11) to write now body parts - one had to begin with S. So I was thinking shoulders...oh no. An 8 year old wrote SCROTUM on the floor. I started pissing myself laughing. My TA asked what it was and I kind of explained. I thought, it's OK because he won't know what it is. Oh how I was wrong. He shouted "Teacher, scrotum!" and pointed to his willy area! OH MY GOD WHY DOES HE KNOW THAT!
At least he didn't get it out and show me like some other kid did in this guys class.

I thought that would be a lovely note to finish on! :D

Goodbye my Sunflowers.

xxx

Question: How do you become a Vietnamese TV star?

Answer: Be a westerner.

Seriously, it's that easy. I know that you were all thinking that I was the chosen one from a line up of amazing models but noooo this is not so. It basically works like this.

Ring ring, ring ring.
Matt: Hey biatch! How do you fancy being in a TV show? $20 a scene? There's a woman here that needs a western girl.
Alison: Yeh man!
Matt: Cool cool, it's a date. I get 10% commission by the way -------(line goes dead).

Cheeky bugger.

Anyway so I got picked up at 8.45am this morning. And bought breakfast. Then a man that resembled a samurai put me on the back of his bike and whisked me away to the airport at a some stupidly dangerous speed.















I arrived on set (which was Ho Chi Minh arrivals lounge) and instantly I got pushed into a seat for hair and make up. They didn't really do anything with my hair but they plastered me with foundation and blusher. Whilst this was happening a really beautiful Vietnamese girl introduced herself to me. She's one of the main characters in the show and her English was amazing. She told me what my character was going to be as no one else there could talk to me!

So my character,

I was an American friend of the main actress. In the TV show she's a police woman and I was just coming over to visit. Not entirely sure why? My character seems pretty god dam pointless.

















So my first thought - I'm American...but I'm English.

After hair and make up I get given the script and then came my second thought - JESUS CHRIST I have to speak!!! But the girl, I think her name is Lam, told me that they don't shoot the sound now! They do voice overs afterwards. How ridiculous. Now I know why Viet TV is so shite.

Anyway the script was utterly amazing. Not in a good way. The English was so bad I basically re-wrote the scene. Felt like a teacher and everything...Oh that's right I am.

So we started shooting and basically my scene was walking through arrivals with luggage and the main girl. She starts telling me about the airport and about Vietnam then asks me if I want a drink. I say that I'd love a coconut and say some shite about there being no coconuts in the USA. AND SCENE.

Next scene I'm in the car park and the actress meets her family at their car. She introduces me to the fam (who look like characters from DALLAS!!) then I get in their car, but we didn't actually get in their car we all walked and hid behind it randomly :S

So that was my day of filming! I actually have one more scene in a club at night next week. I really hope I get shot by some mafia member or something because otherwise...why the hell is my character in this show?!?


PLEASE LET IT BE LEAKED ONTO YOUTUBE!!

















So what else has been happening down here?

Matt was nearly battered by a policeman for standing on a chair on top of a table in an alleyway. He was looking on top of someones little hut house for a diamond ring that some stupid girl had chucked up there in a rage and instantly regretted it. OF COURSE.

We're going to Mui Ne on Monday, cannot wait! It's a beauitiful paradise beach 5 hours away. Going for 4 days because the city drives you insane after a while! The pollution is quite bad which reminds me I need to get a mask as I'm getting a motorbike/scooter! YES I AM you heard right. It just has to be done! My top speed will be 10mph but I don't care!

I'm also becoming a fashion designer. I'm going to design my own clothes and get the tailors here to make them for me! It's sooooo cheap! Girls get designing if you want something! I'll get them made if you want!

Finally, all is good on the work front. I have a 16/17 year olds class and they are amazing! One girl - Lam - is actually a thesaurus. She comes up to me and asks me things like - "What's an aglet?" Yes good question, what the fuck is that? - found out it's the end of a shoe lace. You know the plastic piece. That little piece of nothingness has a name. Then yesterday she enquired "Teacher, What's a Skidamarink?".

?????? Got to be an American word only they would make this up! (I LOVE YOU YANKS REALLY) I was right. I'll let you find out what it is. mwahahahaa!

Anyways PEACE OUT HOMIES.

Love y'all!

xxxxxx

All work AND play.

I'm writing this blog whilst recovering from one EXTREME hangover. I'm in an Irish bar on Le Thanh Ton and it's one of my top ten recovery hideaways! It's dark, there's good music - for me any way, (Amy they actually played the Dawson's creek theme tune!!), actually looks like a good old English/Irish pub and most important of all, they sell ACTUAL mash potato. None of this creamy milky shit. Real mashed up potato. Amazing.

Of course this bar - like every bar in Saigon - is MAJORLY over staffed. Seriously at every bar/restaurant there will be 5 waitresses/waiters for every one of you! How do they make profit? Maybe they work for free. I did hear the other day that one boys wages were around 5,000 Dong (20p) an hour!

Another new favourite place of mine is a cafe called Princess and the Pea. It's tres funky. You walk up 3 flights of stairs in this weird little apartment block to find this serene, fairy lit heaven. You take your shoes off and sit down. We sat in the library area packed full with Vietnamese books. It even had the Grimm Fairy Tales in Vietnamese. The music playing was the soundtrack to Amelie and it fitted so well. My favourite part of the house is the Princesses Bedroom. Complete with 11 mattresses piled on top of each other and a little ladder to climb up there. The walls are covered in pictures of all varieties of fairy tales and there are all sorts of things hanging from the ceiling. If anyone has seen Katana's bedroom then your nearly there.































One other hideaway on my list is The AK Hideaway. It's a bar for expats and travellers but only if you can find it. It's situated above a restaurant called the Asian Kitchen and is run by two lovely people. One Vietnamese girl and one London boy. He's Matt's idol at the moment because he came to Vietnam to teach (i think) and now owns a bar instead all within about 8 months or something. And he's only 23. He's living a boys dream. If any of you come to visit me, you WILL be drinking at this bar. 80p for a vodka orange - yes please. And for all you vodka red bull lovers out there you can do the vodka red bull challenge! Oh yes.

So I went out the other night, got really drunk (mum I'm not always drunk I just like to write about the drunk times as they're much more exciting), and got my god dam bag snatched! I know it's not my fault but I was kind of wearing a neon sign saying "I'M REALLY WANKERED TAKE MY BAG!". But I'm pissed off about my phone. It had loads of photo's on there and now I've had to buy a shitty little phone that doesn't even have a camera. ERGH. And they took my Vaseline. BASTARDS! So never again will I go out with a bag at night. From now on my belongings will reside in my bra. I'm actually thinking of sewing little pockets into it then nothing will fall out. So annoying though. I vote for the "shooting them down the river" route. :S

On my days off I try to always do something slightly constructive. The other I decided right I'm going swimming at one of the 5 star hotels. Got there and all was amazing until 30 mins in started to piss it down. Now usually in Saigon it rains vigorously then stops after about 1 hour or so. OHHHHHH NOOOO. It's Alison's day off so lets rain all bloody day and even throw in an electrical storm for effect. :[ So me and Kelly ended up sitting at the bar drinking tea and smoothies for about 2 1/2 hours until we finally gave in and left for mash potato.

On Tuesday (another day off) Matt and I visited the zoo. And I tell thee, if you visit me I will never bring you to Saigon Zoo and scar you for the rest of your life. This place is fricking mental.

First Weird Encounter - Women touches Matt's bum. His boxers were showing so one women decided she should pull up his trousers.

Second Weird Encounter - We walk over to the reptile house and yes there were fluffy white bunnies in with the pythons. Me and my naive ways really couldn't understand why they would put these creatures together??? Then Matt says "I think they eat them". The terror in those bunnies' eyes. They were actually shaking. Further down in the reptile house there was a python actually swallowing a bunny whole. This is when I thought I'd seen it all. I was so wrong.
















Third Weird Encounter - A gecko falls onto my head. At first I thought it was like a cochroach or something then calmed slightly when I touched it and it was gecko shaped!

Fourth Weird Encounter- The orangutan was chucking things at me. I think it was because he was so god dam bored. His cage was so small. This was a running theme throughout the zoo. Anyway, so I started chucking things back at him. I feel he enjoyed this.

Fifth Weird Encounter - Two ladies gestured for them to walk over to them. They handed us carrots and told us to through them at the bears. They then signed for us to follow them. "Monkeys" they said, but we told them "No we've already seen them". We started to walk and the women started shouting "Baby, baby, money, money, money." They wanted money for their baby. They were begging. Matt and I both started shouting "No" at them. I wish I spoke Vietnamese. I would have told them to feed their baby with the money they paid to get into the zoo. Crazies!

Final Weird Encounter - The Lion Cage. I was filming the lion roaring (but when you watch the film I only get the end of it and looks like the lion's just coughing) when Matt says "Have you seen the bunnies?". NOT AGAIN! Seriously bunnies EVERYWHERE! And they knew they were food. One clever bunny was in the pond because he knew the lion wouldn't come in and get him. But seriously bunny, you're going to die of pneumonia. As I carry on filming the lioness struts out of the house with something in her mouth, yes you guessed it, a bunny. This is when the camera goes off because I know she's about to rip its head off which she does. Then she must get bored with the dead bunny because she stands up and pounces on another bunny - which scares the crap out of me. Where's the challenge? How bored must these lions be. Get a gazelle in there I say!!!!!

So don't watch the video if your against lions eating bunnies.

Tạm biệt my friends.

xxxx

You know you're starting to settle in Vietnam when...

...you use Vietnamese words regularly. The most important word I have learnt so far is 'yay'. This means tissue/serviette/toilet roll. Seriously I use it all the time!! Vietnamese toilets like to run out of tissue frequently. Another good phrase is 'komm' which is no. Good for saying to all the annoying kid street sellers, or to those PR people that try to get you in their bar. Matt will usually say 'komm komm komm' because they annoying him so much and their like 'why why why?'. Ummm it's none of your business!!

Matt and I will soon be fluently in the language as we start Vietnamese classes tomorrow! Ha ha! We have one lesson a week for about 30 weeks i think. I think me and Matt will get on well with it because we try to speak Vietnamese to bar tenders etc as much as possible. They appreciate it. Also they assume you live here and people who live here don't get ripped off like the tourists! I shall explain...

...the Story of the Vietnamese Football Shirts.
So the market lady was like 'you buy!' when Matt was looking at football shirts. We then got on to the conversation that we work here at ILA blah blah blah. The lady then said quietly 'oh you sit down'. She gave us these kid sized stools to sit on (don't think normal size stools exist here). She then said 'because you live here we give you good price'. For ages she wouldn't tell us how much so we were thinking oh she's having us on. She then showed us the price tag. It was 650,000 Dong for one. So for 2 that would have been over 1 Million Dong. She then got here calculator and she typed in for 2 - 280,000 Dong!!!! Tourists get charged around 5 times the price!!!!!!!! It's crazy. So if you ever come to Vietnam be sure to haggle! And start LOW.

Another bad thing for tourists is that they are targets for theft. My friend's had her bag snatched twice now and Matt's had his wallet pick pocketed. They're so sneaky! I usually have a weapon of some kind like an umbrella or bottle of water I can wack them with if they try to take my bag. They never attack you it's just the bag they want so if you don't mind losing it, I say just give it to them! We heard a story though at work that about 6 years ago this started happening and the police found out who it was. They got the 6 people, took them down the river and SHOT THEM! The muggings apparently stopped over night!! CRAZY TIMES! Vietnamese do not take any shit!

On a nicer note, two friends from Bingley Grammar school came to Saigon. It was really cool to have some familiar faces. We used this as an excuse to go to a posho hotel bar - The Majestic. It has a view of the river. We also had a nosey around the hotel and it's pretty lush. I would like to live in a hotel! We then moved onto a fresh beer place where we got speaking to some guy who had an awesome accent. For ages I was like who does he sound like then it came to me...EMINEM! Yes he was from Detroit. Love that accent.


Me and Matt took a little trip on our day off to a beach near Saigon called Vung Tau. It's 1 hour 45 mins away on a hydrofoil (a boat that goes bloody fast). We had a nice little spot with a sun bed and umbrella right at the sea front. Not to forget our coconuts! The sea was so warm, I've never felt sea that's just like a bath! Early afternoon some fishermen came along and nearly caught me in their net! We also forgot that we were nearer to the equator so me, Matt and Kelly got burnt to a crisp. Matt peeled worse that a snake shedding it's skin! It was crazy. And we out sunblock on!




Vang Tau Beach.


















The Jesus statue that's on top of the mountain in Vang Tau. You can go and sit on his shoulder apparently.















Posing!













The fisherman on the beach.

















Another view of the beach.

















The ice cream man!













Look at the little crabs! There were loads of them!















This photo reminds me of a clip from Baz Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet.











Teenagers playing football on the beach.













The beautiful view from the Lighthouse.














The moon reflecting of the sea. View from the Lighthouse.







In the evening we went up to a lighthouse on a hill. The view was so beautiful! I've added a couple of pictures for you to see. We then partied the night away playing pool in a 'hooker' bar (this is the name we give to bars that have lots of scantily dressed women in all sitting around chatting up western men. We beat the hookers at pool as well! Ha ha.

We don't have anything planned as yet for the next few weeks. We get paid Friday so hopefully we'll sort something out! I would like to hire motorbikes and go off somewhere for a drive. Keep you updated soon. Miss you all xxx