Adventure through Vietnam

Happy Christmas Eve eve folks, I hope you've all finished your Christmas shopping so that the real Christmas Eve isn't full of last minute craziness. I have pretty much finished mine now (did loads today) but I still need to buy Mum an angel decoration. She collects angels you see and every Christmas I buy her a new decoration for the collection. We have 2 Christmas trees, a real one in the front room with all the 'normal' decorations and presents underneath and a second fake one in the hallway with all the angels on it. The mantel piece in the living room has all the angels that don't hang too. But who cares about my Christmas trees eh? The important thing is that Putney has no decent decorations left so I have to find something in Wimbledon tomorrow.

Besides from that everything is going all Christmasy and well. I started to read 'A Christmas Carol' last night and soon it'll be time to get out the 'Home Alone' and 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' DVDs. My little Sis is making mince pies (even though I don't like them) and Mum is planning the 'feast'! I still haven't taken any photos of what I've been wearing since I returned (despite my outfits being pretty darn festive) but I do have some more travelling snaps for you. This time I'll be showing you around the incredible country of Vietnam. Full of history, life and amazement! Definitely one of the best places we visited =)

Being foolish in Hanoi

D and I on our boat tour of Halong Bay

A view over Halong Bay from a cave we visited

Swimming with C in Halong Bay

1000 years of Hanoi celebrations

Restoration in the Citadel, Hue

Having a break on the city wall, Hue

Kung Fu in Hue

Incense sticks

A bit tipsy in Hoi An

My Son temple, Hoi An

Buckets in Nha Trang

Scuba diving in Nha Trang

Celebrating my 24th birthday in my new silk dress

On route to Saigon in a horrible night bus (the hat was a birthday present)

Chu Chi tunnels, Saigon

Snake girl (I had the dress made in Hoi An, it's a copy of this one)

On the Mekong Delta

So that's it for Vietnam, I obviosly took hundreds of more photos but I don't want to upload them all and I'm sure you guys don't really want to look through them all either. Vietnam was an incredible country with so much to learn due to the war. Whilst the history is quite depressing, Vietnam is full of beautiful temples and far eastern style buildings. It is more developed than most SE Asian countries and Saigon (Ho Chi Ming City) is really westernised. I really want to go back and see more f Hoi An which was completely beautiful (you get taylor made clothes there) and see other places like Sapa, Dalat and Muine.

Next time I'll share with you my adventure in Cambodia and Laos. As the trip went on I took less and less photos, that's not to say I still don't have loads but it does mean an easier job at selecting which ones to put here.

Sleep well tonight and good luck with the rest of you Christmas shopping. I've just wrapped my presents and put them under the tree so it's all getting very exciting.

2 more sleeps x