Return to Cairo

Hi again

Well, back to Cairo! And what to tell you, since last I wrote... considering there hasn't been much time between posts I am slightly at a loss for words (I know! can you believe it!) but will do my best and tell you a little bit about the last day or so. My friend Yvonne (joining me on my next tour) caught up with me at my hotel on Sunday, which was very clever considering that my hotel is on the other side of the Nile, situated in a maze-like semi residential area that even taxi drivers find intensely confusing. So far three drivers have gotten lost, so I am completely impressed that she managed it, there is no doubt in my mind that I would never have found it had it been me! For anyone who doesn't already know this, I firmly and truly believe that I was born without a sense of direction. Sad but true! Spin me round three times and I am lost, compass points are completely without meaning to me... oh well, can't have everything in life!

So Yvonne and I have been fairly chilled, the last couple of days. I inflicted the remainders of my last tour group on her on Sunday night and she coped well... lolz.... love you really, guys!!! Even if I am apparently one step from the zimmer frame... hey I wasn't even the oldest! Miss you x x x (but God knows why)!!!

If you are wondering, yes the tats are permanent... nah not really. Yvonne and I had our hands hennaed in a tea house in the Khan e Khalili Bazaar, which was a laugh. I love that place! It wasn't actually the most aggresive market I've been to, a little like Turkey and no grabbing like some of the markets in Vietnam. I guess that suprised me, given that the men here are so painful. I have reached the point where I would like to slap them, suppressed it, regained tolerance, reached it again... I know it' s cultural and I should just be flattered, but it's so HARD! Ah well.

We also went by train (women's carriage! wonderful respite from the ogle-rs!) to Coptic Cairo and walked around the churches and even a synagogue. Very peaceful.

Oh well, best go now, I am HUNGRY! We meet my third tour group tonight, then on to Mt Sinai. Wish me luck, I may possibly die of exhaustion... lol... but think how nice my legs will be after all this exercise!

Much love

D x x

A trip to the Sahara

Well hi all!
So I am not dead, unless of course I am emailing from above (or below) lolz. You will have to forgive my sense of humour today, there was a little too much beer around last night and I was just a helpless victim! Ah, travelling Australians, what is it about us and beer...
Anyway I cannot believe that it has been a week since I last wrote. Surely not! And what to tell you first, in that case....
Well right now I am in Alexandria and I have spent most of the last week in the desert or in various Oases. A LOT of time spent getting from one place to another, by death defying 4WD or mini bus.
The fascintating thing about the desert, for me, is the way that the colours change. You are staring out of the window playing eye spy and after spying sand and rock - game over. But the Sahara was glorious. Just imagine a scene where everything you see is bleached white and the rocks curl and hollow like giant, ancient bones. Like you're walking on some distant planet, hardly earthbound. Then you drive for another hour and some great force has sprinkled the white with shards of grey rock. And then more sand, mountains of sand, where it seems that no one has ever walked, or will walk, again.... and you take photos of your footprints and feel like an astronaut.... and the heat takes the moisture from your mouth and eyes and the sweat from your body until you forget that it's even hot at all....
That was very deep, wasn't it? lolz
So i have slept under the stars in the Sahara and rolled down a sand dune. Quite literally rolled. Think sand in your ears, sand in your undies, sand sand and more sand! It was such a silly thing to do but *man* it was fun. Like being a little child and getting on a whizzy dizzy, spinning madly until you can't walk straight. Lucky no one has ever accused me of being a grown up!
What else have I seen, then? Small villages made of mud, rocks that look like chickens, mind blowing sunsets, camel farms and unexpected lakes. I have swum in Cleopatra's bath (complete with green slime, bet Cleo never had that) ridden on a donkey cart and broken my solemn vow in relation to bicycles... (I once vowed never again to ride a vehicle with a seat smaller than my behind, that was post Chinese bicycles several years ago) but I got back on the proverbial horse and it was fine! Better than than watching as the donkey from our cart got walloped with a stick, I am too soft hearted to watch that.
Anyway lovelies, must go, running out of time! I am going to visit a library today, lolz! But don't worry, I am still well, still having a great trip, missing you all, though...
Much love,
D x x

Luxor is not just a crappy computer game

Hey all
Well, not so rushed this time but alas I won't be posting any photos, as one of my fellow tour mates got a mild electric shock from the USB port on this PC! So no way in the remotest Hell am I risking my lovely camera and lovely photos, never mind me....
So what to tell? Since I last wrote I have actually ridden a camel. Let me tell you about it...
Those of us who decided to brave the camels met at dusk in a small village on Elephant Island, I think it was (off Aswan). Approaching the camel was a daunting task. Do you know how big camels are?? Enormous. And getting on to a camel is a tricky thing. The camel is tall enough (even when seated) that you have to sort of lie on it and haul your arse over by sheer brute force. Graceful, absolutely (not)! Then the camel stands up and OH MY GOD it's high. You lean forwards and backwards while he (or she?) is rising so you theoretically don't fall. But the saddle feels wobbly. The handler tells you to wiggle until you are in the right position but what IS the right position? Let me tell you I didn't actually enjoy the whole camel thing. The whole time I was completely consumed by the certainty that I was going to fall. And camels move in a lurching sort of manner which is kind of nauseating. Not to mention the fact that they grunt, snort, fart, piss AND spit with grumpy abandon. And they smell bad in general. Ugh.
Finally it was over and we went to have dinner with a Nubian family. The Nubians are one of the cultural groups in Egypt and they speak Nubian, which is not Arabic or even a dialect thereof. But we played with the kids and you don't really need words for that. We sat on a mat on the floor and shared food around, watched as it was prepared in a clay oven probably hundreds of years old. My favourite part of any trip is seeing how people live, just the ordinary people. I know that our Intrepid dinners are a little out of context, if you get my drift (when there's money involved of course everything starts to change), but at least it's a glimpse. Better than a restaurant at any rate. Good food, too, except for some green soupy stuff the texture and taste of spit!
We then spent a day and night floating on a felucca on the Nile. Very lazy, basically, a day of lying around on a glorified giant mattress (with sail on top) napping and staring at the scenery in turn. After that we got the minibus to Luxor, which used to be known as Thebes for any of you history buffs. And that is where I am now.
Otherwise we have been Templing. I declare this a word though it might not be in your dictionary!
Templing (defined): the science of wandering through many temples, guidebook in hand or guide in earshot, looking and acting like a complete tourist.
We have visited the Karnak Temple (unbelievable, columns and hieroglyphics) Valley of the Kings (unbelievable, hieroglyphics in burial chambers cut out of the mountains) and Hatshepsut's Temple (unbelievable, massive structure with columns and hieroglyphics) and the Colossi of Memnon (also unbelievable, with hieroglyphics of course). Between me, you and the lamp-post, I am a little overtempled right now.
Oh by the way, someone just offered me five chickens for my love, and I was called a "sexy madame". These men are sleazier than you would believe humanly possible, I am almost ready to start flipping them the bird but I'm not sure if that gesture translates. It's like continually walking past the worst kinds of building sites. But you should take your compliments where you can find them I guess! lolz
Will write more in a few days, as we are going into the desert tomorrow.
Love lots,
D

Protestations of undying love and temples...Aswan

Hey again all
This blog post finds me still in Aswan, Egypt on a much better PC than last time, with approximately 15 minutes to spare before breakfast, so it will be a quick post probably with many spelling mistakes! This internet cafe is rather great. It is filled with men who (for once) are not staring at me avariciously... or only in the sense that the owner would like to be paid his $5 EGP for the internet use! The owner has even turned on a fan for me, recognising that I am a Westerner and the heat here is really very... well... hot! Sure it was about 40 the day before yesterday, hot enough that the spit in your mouth dries and you consume litre after litre of water and still feel dehydrated. Ah well, I am much better prepared for this than most, given that I have a) been in Sweaty Saigon and b) lived through the Melbourne Heatwave! There is Arabic music blaring in the background and out the window I can see the grotty and dinted Egyptian cars, a beggar, birka clad women and dusty buildings. Egypt is certainly Not Like Home. Which is a wonderful thing.
Yesterday we went to Abu Simbel. The whole thing was a massive production. For those who have no idea (like me a month ago) Abu Simbel is a massive temple cut into the side of a cliff. We drove through a desert in a convoy, watching as the land slid past... the only variation in the scene the massive powerlines like demented, futuristic scarecrows.... sand and rock, rock and sand.... stunning.... the temple was mindblowing, so incredible it seemed almost fake, like stepping into a film....
the markets here are fun. More hassle than Cairo as it is quite touristy. They are filled with men who tell you that they love you:
"Hello, I love you..."
'Hello, Shakira, " (why Shakira I don't know, but I have been called this at least twice
"You are so beautiful, lovely"
"Hey, Aussie" (I am almost certain I have an invisible tattoo with my nationality on it, how do I ook Australian???)
"Come in, no hassle" (that from a man standing two inches from my nose)
Anyway, more on that later! Not too bad for 15 minutes, hey???
Love,
D x x

Egypt - Cairo to Aswan

Hey!
Guess what? I am actually in Egypt, on one of the maddest computers I have ever had the misfortune to use. It keeps typing in the address bar, every now and then when I press the spacebar... and the Arabic keyboard doesn't help either! La! But I have successfully managed to decipher "edit blog" in Arabic, yay me! So really it will be a wonder if this post makes any sense at all... here's hoping....
So I arrived (obviously) safely in Cairo, after having a ginormous stress out in the plane. I was almost hyperventilating by the time we landed, doing the whole "death by what-ifs" thing... you know how it goes... "whatif there's no one to meet me? whatif my luggage gets lost? for God's sake what the Hell are you doing, Donna, going to the Middle East, did you actually know where you were going? look at the countries on the flight map you are going to get KILLED " etc. etc.
But let me tell you, it has been Very Easy so far! Really can't quite believe it. Vietnam was much more of a stress! And the whole baggage, lifts, la da has gone fine. I was collected by a prompt and friendly travel agent, along with two of the most embarassing specimens of travelling Aussie you might ever have the misfortune to meet...
"maaaate, had my last beer on the plane at 3 am, hanging out for the next one already" (bearing in mind that this was about 6am)
but my personal favourite comment was as follows:
"do you think the roads might be quiet because it's Easter Sunday?"
Well if you can't figure out what the problem is with that I can't help you....

Anyway, this will have to be a short post 'cos the PC is drivng me INSANE and there is a queue (apparently this is the good PC!!)
So what to tell....
yesterday I stood on a pyramid!! and saw the Sphinx! And the mask of Tuthenkamen! (that is spelled incorrectly i know it) Kept walking around in a semi daze, repeating to myself "I can't believe I'm seeing this" and hopping on one foot like a kid! It is so amazing to be here! I can't stop using exclamation marks!!!
Cairo is very brown and busy, filled with beeping horns and people, people, people. I feel a little bit naked in comparison to the local women, most of whom are covered... but at least I am not the typical tourist and I cover knees and shoulders. My roommate (ironically an English girl named Sarah) and I have taken to glaring at the bikini clad shorts wearing Westerners who are so disrespectful of the people here, it annoys me intensely.
Anyway, sorry all but I have battled this PC long enough... I give in and will let someone else fight.
Love to all,
D x x x

An evening and a day in Saigon... only because I am bored

Hi again all

To be honest there is not a lot to tell you at the moment, but I am bored so please bear with me! And don't expect that I will be this up to date once I reach Egypt, who knows how hard it will be to get onto a PC! Right now I am on the hotel's only free PC again. Hogging it. And NOT feeling guilty, so there!

Well, maybe a tiny bit....

So I am still here in HCMC, killing time until my flight tomorrow afternoon. I've kept myself occupied thusly:
* Trying to find a pair of crop jeans that won't fall off me like the pair I brought from home (despite the fact that I haven't had any stomach issues whatsoever, travel has had its usual effect on me and I've dropped a fair bit of weight already! Yay! Better than Jenny Craig! must be all the walking)
* Reading a book in the park and rebuffing a date with a local, manicure, survey and cyclo ride in turn. Eventually gave up and went back to my airconditioned hotel room.
* Visiting the Reunification Palace (tourist duty now officially DONE, there is nothing more listed in the Lonely Planet that remotely interests me)
* Eating and drinking with fellow tour group-ites, all of whom are now gone :((
* Recovering from the above

Have to tell you about the jeans, though. Shopping here is an adventure. I bought my "genuine" Tommy Hilfiger jeans from the Banh Thanh market, which is a little like Istanbul's Grand Bazaar in size, but much grottier. And hotter. And filled with ridiculous quantities of Stuff (mainly Crap). With really tiny alleyways. Well, OK, maybe not THAT much like the Bazaar after all! People in this particular market are probably the most pushy people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I would pen the name of one alleyway "the Alley of Many Hands", as every person you pass grabs your arm and physically tries to pull you into their store.
"Madame, very cheap!"
"What you looking for, Miss? I have!"
"T shirt, Miss?"
"Embroidery, Madame? Very beautiful, hand made."
"Handbag, Madame? Come look, just look!"
Really, it's nuts. I tried at first to be methodical about it but it's such a rabbit warren you just end up giving up and wandering aimlessly. I think I passed one store four times at least. Entirely unintentionally.
So back to the jeans. I entered the first stall and looked at a couple of pairs of jeans. Now as you all know, I am not the tiniest person in the universe, even after having dropped a few kilos. But in comparison to the average Vietnamese lady I am the Jolly Green Giant. They are completely fascinated by me, my skin (which gets stroked every now and then by complete strangers), my height and most of all my dimple. I think it might be something to do with a slight resemblance to the Happy Buddha *lolz*! But back to the shop.
The first woman measured me and presented me with a pair of jeans that looked Very Small. But I figured hey, you've lost a few pounds, may-be.... so I tried them on. Of course, trying on jeans in 35 degree sweaty heat is fun anway, but add on the fact that you are a) wearing really inappropriate entirely lace underpants b) you are trying to stand behind a (short) curtain held up by the salesperson and c) stand on one leg while trying to maintain some sort of modicum of modesty while forcing on jeans at least three sizes too small....and you get the picture! NOT easy! So the first pair proved to be Very Small, the second Very Ugly and still Very Small (worried looks exchanged by the sales ladies) and the third just plain Wrong.
So onto the next shop, where I repeated the whole process. But this time they measured me a little better and it was fair less painful. The jeans I ended up buying needed to be cut down, so once the bargaining process was completed (Dad, I got them down from $350000 VND to $190000 (around $17 AUD), be impressed!) I followed my jeans out of the market, across the road to the tiny tailor shop where the jeans were presumably made. Yes of COURSE they are genuine! On the spot the little tailor, sitting on a stool in a back room with an ancient sewing machine, cement floor and curtain, cut the pants down and sewed them up. I love Vietnam!

Otherwise in the last day or so.... the Reunification Palace was OK, not much to tell there really, Google it if you want history, my memory sucks....

Dinner, on the other hand, was great. What is it about me and food! I ate rice from a coconut and we had beers in no less than three different venues. Lucky I had nothing planned for today! My tour buddy was good company, lolz... drinking while sitting in deckchairs on the side of a roundabout in Saigon is not a bad way to while away some time! On a sidebar, it always strikes me as weird that I drink so much beer when I travel. I don't at home. Maybe just trying to keep up the Aussie spirit abroad! My tour mate is Aussie also and he's probably what you'd call a beer connaisseur, so we did the country proud.

Anyway, I am going off to see if I can arrange to get my boarding passes printed for tomorrow.

Love youse!
D x x

How slack am I.... Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a little while. I knew that I'd have some downtime today and tomorrow, so basically I've been keeping this 'til last - something like saving the chocolate that comes with your coffee right up until the very end. I am enjoying doing this blog, but it feels very self-indulgent, it amazes me that people are reading it! Thank you!

So, my last post finished at the mud baths. Unfortunately no photos, we didn't take our cameras into the mud and the photo that we would have paid for didn't work. Alas!

So I am spending five or so nights in the glorious Ho Chi Minh City. I am being completely cynical using that word. Basically, it's an Asian city. Not dissimilar to Bangkok, but smells better. Marginally fewer cripples and beggars, but only just. It's about 34 degrees and 90+% humidity, which increases to 100% humidity reasonably often. Going outside=sweat and motorbikes, more motorbikes than you could possibly imagine. Crossing roads in Vietnam is an interesting experience requiring intensive training. Our tour guide provided this training early on. "Just walk, go slow. If you wait, you wait for long time. They will avoid." Now in most places in Vietnam the locals have an unerring ability to do just this. Lolloping Westerner steps onto road, fourteen motorbikes beep and swerve gently and elegantly to avoid them. Here in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) I get the feeling they just consider us sport. Drivers regularly go through red lights and pedestrian crossings, which I think is actually legal if you are turning. It's nuts, but you just sort of look in ten directions, take a deep breath, pray to whatever gods tickle your fancy, and go! La!

Anyway, I should recap a little 'cos I have missed some great days. In Nha Trang we did a fantastic boat trip which took up most of the day. We left in a big fishing boat (set up for tourists, of course), made our way to an island where we went snorkelling (OK nothing on the Great Barrier Reef, but still fun), went to a local island and got a glimspe into the lives of the islanders, got paddled around in giant baskets by the local ladies (see photo), devoured a pretty reasonable on board lunch then got massages, or hair plucking as required and basically just chilled out on a stony beach! Perfection! I have very nice toenails now, painted for the vast sum of around $5 AU with tiny flowers. The guys had theirs done too in an overwhelming show of bravadery... for a bunch of Aussies and poms they weren't half bad!

After that, an overnight train. Had one of those nights where you stay awake just in case you sleep in....!!

We then arrived here in HCMC, which seems like forever ago. I elected not to go to the Cu Chi tunnels, much to the narrowly concealed disgust of our local guide. I don't choose to immerse myself in reminders of war, particularly when I have to pay extra for the privilege. But I should point out to my readers that I am not unaware of the tragedies that occured during the American War, much more so now (I did visit the War Remnants museum, featuring terrible photos of war crimes and dead babies). I acknowledge and share my Nation's guilt. Oh now that's terribly deep!

So, what else, Mekong Delta where we visited the islands, were paddled in canoes, ate exotic fruit, watched coconut candy being made, rode at breakneck speed on the back of little truck motorbike things and wore lovely hats. COOL!

Anyway, must go and share this PC time.

Love lots,

Donna x x x

A day on the train... and mud

Hi again,
I'm currently blinking at the screen, which is slightly blurry owing to a little bit of mud in the eyes. Ah well, who said a little mud ever hurt anyone! Tell you why in a minute.
So right now I am where, um (have to think about this one a little), oh yes, Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a Vietnamese resort city set right on the beach. The beach itself is quite lovely, even by Aussie standards, but the city fairly ordinary. There are some very, very large rats, the kind that look as though they would steal your baby if you gave them half a chance! Also there seems to be a fair few prostitutes out in the evening offering nasty Westerners a happy ending. Ah well, not everywhere can be as lovely as Hoi An!
So where was I up to... Hoi An... not much more to tell there, really. I explored some of the old town, assembly halls and temples on my own, which was a nice thing to do. I do love having company but it needs to be the right sort (hi Yvonne!!! can't wait to get to Cairo!!! can you bring me some vegemite???) and there is only so much of the not-quite-right sort of company I can take. Hey, only child....!!! So getting out on my own again was a Good Thing.
We then spent a fairly nuts amount of money posting the red boots etc. back home to Aus, so hopefully all of that will reach home OK and the Melbourne girls will babysit it until my homecoming. The post office in itself was an experience, took us nearly an hour to get that all sorted! Plenty of "you fill in this paper" and "you fill in that paper" and "box too big, we cut down" and a Hell of a lot of masking tape. You wonder how much of the weight (17 kg!! between 3 girls!) was taken up by the masking tape, but it's not as though you can argue. After the post office we went to the feeding frenzy restaurant again and had our fill of cheap and cheerful Vietnamese food. Then to a bar, which had great music but was pretty uneventful despite experimental cheap cocktails (and no, I'm not censoring!)
So nearly up to date now, one more day to go aside from today....
Yesterday was Train Day. And there's not so much to tell about that! Ten hours on the Reunification Express... naps and snacks.... little bit of iPod... insanely smelly toilets.... lots of smokers... used sheets in the sleeper beds.... people selling everything from loo paper to cooked ducks through the train window.....
Oh now that is priceless, the taxi that's reversing just near me plays "twinkle twinkle little star" instead of beeping, lolz! I wonder how Ollie the Outreach Van is going??? :)
So today I spent the morning in the market with my room mate, an exercise which tested my patience to the absolute limit. She is a lovely, warm hearted soul, though, so I should not complain.
This afternoon we went to the mud baths, which was An Experience! I still feel as though I have mud between the teeth, but my skin feels Amazing! Two hours for around ten dollars Aus, alternately sitting in warm pools of mud, showering in mineral spring water, bathing in hot mineral spring water, blasted by showers of all sorts and lolling in a warm mineral pool. We did the cheap option rather than the private bathing and it was a riot; young Vietnamese girls found my white (or red or muddy, depending on the moment) skin incredibly funny and kept touching it and giggling! Weird how we westerers covet a tan and the Vietnamese girls envy my pallor!
I will admit to the world that I went for the most spectacular "speccy" (great Aussie word there) by the mud pool where I fell in the mud, exposed both flobby stomach and likely boob (so much for Vietnamese standards of decency) and narrowly managed to avoid braining myself! Oh dear, maybe one day I will grow graceful and elegant, do they do lessons in that any more??? lolz
Anyway, we are off to dinner and I don't have anything else interesting to tell!
Love lots,
D x x

Hoi Anh from the perspective of the proud owner of red boots (that fit)

Hi again,

Still in Hoi Anh and we have had our first bit of rain. The wonderful tropical kind of rain that comes down in sheets, pauses for breath then comes down in sheets again, then parts to let the sunshine back in. There's water everywhere and the streets have turned to Mud. We got caught out in it yesterday and you can see why one of the locals' favourite purchases are plastic raincoats that reach from top to toe, usually spotty or floral. I was absolutely and completely and utterly drenched despite the umbrella! Not that it matters when it's so warm, really just serves to wash away the sweat and dirt - eeew. And I'm still in drought mode, I think, so the rain just seems like a slightly amusing blessing! At least as long as I still have dry clothes somewhere to change into every now and then.

So what to tell you since last time... well I have collected all of my clothing, which of course fits like a glove. The boots are VERY red, must admit that they are, erm, MORE red than I had imagined they would be, all made up, but they will be distinctive and I love them. So yesterday was fairly occupied by the various fittings ("you come back two hours, try again") ("ready at nine tomorrow, sorry sorry not now") ("more tight here, move out here, finish hole for button") etc. etc. Fun really. Compared to most of our group I have been incredibly restrained. One of the girls has spent about $1000 US and I am currently babysitting four pairs of boots for the Melbourne girls, one of whom is three inches taller than me and has bigger feet! Short people will not understand how happy this makes me but I know my Mum gets it. Particularly here where you feel like the jolly green giant most of the time in comparison to teeny weeny svelte little Vietnamese ladies in their Ao Dai. Ah well, can't help those German genes!

So what else to tell... I did the cooking class yesterday, which was great. We made five dishes - sweet and sour soup, Vietnamese spring rolls, banana leaf wrapped fish, eggplant in claypot and green papaya salad. Lurrrrrved the eggplant, it was spectacular. And as for the green papaya salad, words cannot express!!!! Sweet, salty, peanutty.... mmmmm. We visited the local market first, think tiny winding paths between scores of women squatting with simple baskets filled with home grown (or home caught) produce. Wiggling crabs, enormous tuna, tiny, glistening silver fish and every imaginable type of squid. Fragrant in a way that you can't really imagine if you haven't been to an Asian market before! It's that curious blend of fish, mud, sweat and probably some sort of effluent that you only seem to get in Asia.

Our instructor taught us how to pick the best vegetables and fruit and here are some pointers for my readers (and my memory):

1) to pick a good pineapple, try to pull out one of the centre leaves from the top. If it pulls out easily it will be sweeter. Pick the ones that have a green stem and not a brown one (the bottom bit). And they should be firm not squishy.

2) to get a good whole watermelon, knock on it. If it sounds hollow there's no one home, pick another one!

3) Lemon grass should be green at the bottom of the stem for chopping and adding to food. Use the yellow ones to flavour stocks etc., don't eat them as they're old.

The spring rolls were great. Keep an eye out for this in Australia - they have a kind of rice paper here that is more like a flat, lacy sheet of vermicelli noodles than it is like a sheet of paper. The spring rolls taste so much better and seem to absorb less oil (which isn't logical, but there you go). After we cooked, we ate - and enjoyed. We got to keep a recipe book to take home so maybe there is a Vietnamese dinner party planned for sometime in the future in downtown Hampton!

To continue on with the food theme, I'll tell you about the "crazy lovely" dinner at a local restaurant. Our guide took us to this tiny restaurant, which apparently chefs from all over the world, including someone from the Anchorage in Sydney, have visited and raved about. It's the most insane experience. We ducked down an itty bitty alleyway in a nondescript part of Hoi Anh and were seated outdoors in the alley, at a woddly table with chairs that bit (literally - two of us bled!) The "kitchen" was to our left, outside of course, but there was no opportunity for watching the food get prepared. We were basically engufled in a what could be best described as a food tornado. Food arrived faster than you would believe humanly possible and you ate fast, faster! because if you didn't eat fast enough to please the hostess, you got fed. Literally! Madame Mimi (I think that was her name) was the proud owner of red spotty nails that would come at you from all angles, offering pineapple (direct to mouth), demonstrating rolling techniques for the ricepaper rolls (also pushed toward your mouth) or even, in one case, washing a fellow traveller's face like a small boy! Classic. All the food was shared and no plates were on offer, only newspaper that you spread on your lap. Lucky that, as it was incredibly messy! Everything was delicious and needed to be wrapped in rice paper and eaten with glutton-like abandon. We might even head back there again tonight, as I don't think anyone suffered any after effects from that particular meal. As per usual I seem to be weathering the storm OK, gastrointestinally speaking, whilst some of the others are getting to spend a lot of quality time in the bathroom.... ah the joys of travel!

Anyway, this has been a particularly long post and I hope you aren't completely bored. I should really go now and NOT spend any more money.

Love you ,

D x x