Vietnam Program highlights

We are in Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City, and all is good. I am writing this while the rest of the group are off at the water park - the curse of my job. We have been here for one night and it has been quite an experience after arriving from Hoi An. We went from a small town, with World Heritage status to a city of 8 million and probably twice as many motorbikes and neon lights. It is crazy but pretty amazing. It feels like we have done so much already in Saigon - cyclo rides, museums, eating out. This morning we were at the Cu Chi tunnels, 250km of tunnel networks used by the Viet Cong during the war. All a bit one sided on the information given but none the less impressive. Guess its always good to see other sides of the story. I asked the crew for some of the moments that stick in their mind from the past few days - I know when they get back they will say the water park but for now, enjoy...

- Entering Marble Mountain caves into a massive cavern with a huge buddha carved from rock and a small hole above casting light down upon us
- Finding a tailor in the old town of Hoi An to make some very good and cheap dresses/ jackets/ shirts
- Danielle kicking butt in a rapping battle with a Vietnamese kid
- Jumping on the back of motos to get back to the hotel in Saigon - it's an experience to weave in and out amongst a 1000 others doing all the same thing and having no idea where we are
- Stepping into the War Remnants Museum and being confronted with some very real images - powerful
- Taking the chance to do things you might never have the chance to do again - like playing tennis in the middle of the night in Hue
- Getting up early to see the sunrise at the beach in Hoi An and then later on in the day returning and drinking from coconuts as we explore and swim
- Walking in a thunderstorm in Saigon at night - as the lightening and neon lights are lighting up the sky it starts to absolutely bucket down and we get soaked
- Beach swimming and also our pool at the hotel in Hoi An, an absolute saviour on those hot hot days

Just a small taste of our adventures. I am sure words don't do justice - they never do - but our experiences have been very real and it feels like we are coming to an end all too quickly. Only a week to go - where has the time gone? We are looking forward to heading to the Con Dao Islands tomorrow - they are home to sea turtles, rarely visited by most travellers to Vietnam and a first for a Pacific Discovery group. A real adventure which we are all looking forward to hugely.

Aaron