Went to 'My Son' today

Not my actual son ( I am Barron! No just kidding , virile as a bull) haha but it's a place where there are temples that date back to the 4 th century! Old stuff. It was really interesting, but sad that more than half of it was destroyed by bombs in the Vietnam war! ( like the monks were a threat?!) anyways it was crazy, these red brick stone buildings were built with no mortar! So totally just brick upon brick, it's like a jigsaw puzzle. Other countries are involved in restoring this world heritage site as well, Germany has restored one area and Italy is restoring another. It's really cool. And guess who we bumped into again! Vanessa and Will. We first met these guys in Brunei, then happened to bump into them on the Cu Chi Tunnels here in Vietnam. ( they were in the tour in front of us) Then 1000 kms away again...
Then at Hoi An on the street, then today at the "My Son" tour, so we're going out to dinner with them tonight , should be good

We won 7 nights of resort Accomodation!

We think! Haha, today we went shopping, Bec and I bought new hats, then a couple of movies, then an American lady approached us, she asked us our age, and then said that she works for a travel company that does blah blah blah, marketing blah advertising, we did a scratchie she gave us and one was the "gold star" one! Ooooooo! We are thinking. Scam city!! Anyways we won 7 nights hotel resort Accomodation, to be used in Thailand not in the next 45 days but can be from January 26 onwards and that is pretty much when we should be back from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos!
So we might be able to use it in Chang Mai or Pattaya? We were pumped that it wasn't a scam ( For Once! Lol)
Should be cool :)

Chu Chi Tunnels from the Vietnam War

Had a great day with Bec today, we got up early, went on a tunnel tour " we got to go down the famous tunnels that the Viet Kong used in the Vietnam War. We saw bats down there, I barely fit in some of the holes! Hands and knees only. Then we shot some machine guns, a M30, then did a bit of shopping, got Bec some Ralph Lauren "Hot" and "cool" perfume, then came back to the hotel to our little christmas tree :) great day ;)

Bangkok & Ho Chi !

We R having a ball in Ho Chi now, Bankok was rad too! In Bangkok we stayed on Kaosan Rd, a Mecca for all backpackers, like in "The Beach" minus the Snake Blood! Lol but it was cool we had vendors galore all up an down the road, we had the best spring rolls ever for 30 cents each. Great pad Thai for 1.10$ saw people eating scorpions the size of rats, it was crazy. We went to the reclining Buddha, the emerald buddha, the Kings Grand Pallace and the largest pure teak mansion in the world, it has no nails in it, all wooden dowels!! And a part that was bombed in the war!
Here in Vietnam we had a good day, went to the war relics museum ( of the Vietnam war) it was incredibly sad to see the photos of the civilian victims and the deformities caused by the millions of tones of Agent Orange dropped on the country, I got really teary and couldn't stay too long. Then after that we found an STA travel and booked the Choo Chi Tunnels tour for tomorrow, where we can go down the tunnels used in the war. We also booked our next flight to Hoi An for the 26 th of Dec, can't wait! :)
All in all, feel so blessed to be on this trip!
:)

Well we have had a great time in Koh Samui

What a week, we have rested as well as explored this awesome island, when we first arrived they told us that the whole 3 islands had lost power for 3 days already! It was a blackout, something to do with the under sea power cable? So at first the western part of me was all, no air con. But that night we went onto the beach found a Restaraunt right on the waters edge with nothing but candles and kerosine lamps to light it up, looking around the beach and seeing this was the case everywhere really made me feel like we were on a remote tropical island. Since then we have had lots of beach walks, swims and red/green/panang curries. 2 days ago we had a great tour of the Ang Thong National Marine Park. It's like Phi Phi, but it's the "James Bond Islands" as one of the old Bonds were filmed there. It was a great day, we bargained the tour down from $90 each to $50 aud each ( Arr the backpackers way!) it included breakfast and buffet lunch on the island. We left around 8 am , snorkeled, then did a great walk/hike around this saltwater lake inside the island. Then at another island we went sea Kayaking around this cool island where you go in these mini caves along the cliff edge, and under where ther water has eroded the rocks, probably not that safe Lol but it was great!
Then at another island there was the option of spending time on the beach or climbing this cave. Me and this other Aussie Andrew were the only two who decided to do the cave, which surprised me? but then when I saw it,, not so suprised, it was rough as! Like not 4 tourists, it was climbing tree roots, rockes and the only handrail was a rope, strung from tree to tree, we were both in thongs ,
So after the first 100 meters we had to take them off because they were causing us to slip too much, so for the next hour we went barefoot over sharp rocks. But it was soo much fun we didn't want to go back. We only saw one guy come out , he said " oh you have to see the rocks with sparkly diamonds in it" ok so we had to get at least that far. The cave which seemed to keep going on was really interesting, there were large caved in bits above so there was enough light ( without torches) there was lots of stelegtites and stelegmites we saw big sections of "bat crap" so there must be bats in there at night. When we both realized neither of us had a watch, and that there were absolutely no signs and the " handrail rope" stoped about 20 minutes ago, we took a photo of where we got up to and thought we better head back, about halfway back we saw the stelegmite that had the sparkly diamond things in it. Then we realized we had gone way too far and that we were probably going to hold up the boat. So we went down as fast as we could, while trying not to slip an kill ourselves, there were a few parts which felt like we were abseiling on a rope. Anyway near the bottom there was a guy from our boat" everyone is waiting for you", so embarrassing trip back to our beach. But all in all it was a great day.
Then yesterday Bec n I rode around the island on scooters. It was soo much fun ( thanks for the advice Dave n Claire!) we swam at a beach, had lunch, same beach, went to the Waterfall, fed elephants bananas, got a cool 4x4 drive where we were sitting on seats on the roof of the cab. ( Bec was especially brave as her seat didn't have a seat belt, and refused to swap with me) but the. I thought that it was probably safer as if it rolled i"d be stuffed! Haha, then I swam in the waterfall pool which was really nice, I always think a waterfall is twice as good if you can swim in it! :) then we saw some nice beaches up the west coast as the sun started to drop over the ocean. Then we saw a cool street market where we ate spring rolls and what was kinda like a jumbo Thai arronchini ball? Rice coconut and deep fried,mmm. Then we headed back to have dinner back at "your place Restaraunt" on the beach. Few! That was a lot! We are on relax and recovery day today :)

A storm came in this morning and knocked out the power again but that's all part of it! :) haha

Last day in KL

Had a great day today, we slept in, went to Vietnam embassy, it was closed for lunch Asian style, so we took a leaf and had lunch too. Then went and saw a woman that makes butterflies out of paper by a lake that Allan Toole told us about but she wasn't making butterflies, she had no paper, so we went back to the embassy got out visa, then went home :)
Went to dinner tonight with Jem and watched a movie, all in all a pretty sweet day! Tomorrow off to Ko Samui, can't wait!

Back in KL

Got back 2 KL today and we went to dinner with Jem to " Fat Boys " burger bar
Great pork burger!
Tomorrow off to the Vietnam embassy...