Good evening vietnam!

Vietnam has comptlely blown my mind so far, from the food, the people, the cleanliness... I have no idea what I was expecting but it is just so much better than I imagined! From a person who has never really been a huge fan of Vietnamese food, I have completly changed my mind after eating here. The variety of food is amazing and the quality is outstanding. We are usually eating from street stalls, where you can see the food being made in front of you and the kitchen is not hidden behind a closed door. I have not had the same meal twice so far, even the baguettes they make are always filled with various yummy meats and cheeses.We have met some really lovely people, the Vietnamese are very friendly and caring people who are not going to hassle for a sale or persist in making you do something.They are also really creative. We went to the Chu Chi tunnels, just outside of Saigon, on our second day and the inventive and crafty ways of the Vietnamese blew us away. Ways to torture and trap the enemy, were horrific, and the tunnels themselves were so well planned. Amazing to see these things in real life. Climbing through the tunnels was hot, cramped and hard to imagine how they lived like that for so long. The same day we went to the war remnants museum, complete accounts from the bgining to the end of the war, the protests in the USA before it started through to the after effects of agent orange - some really terrifying foetus' will always be etched in my head. Where we were staying in Saigon (Ho Chi Min) was a full on backpackers area, but unlike most backpackers areas around the world, you can actually go into most shps here and browse around without getting any hassle. This a big big plus, and may be bringing a few things home with me now I have had the chance to properly look at things! Met a few tourists from around the world on our last night, including a girl from Harlow!Yesterday we took a bus from Saigon to here, De'lat. The bus was a 7 hour white knuckle ride, around hairpin bends on the wrong side of the road for most of the time (when not weaving in and out of other huge vehicles). We had both had quite a heavy night the night before, and those turns and the hight that we were going made our stomachs turn. The journey was amazing, the higher we got the better the views and we passed so many quaint, clean and happy villages. As we were arriving in De'lat in the early evening, we saw people settling at home for the night, cooking their meals, playing with their kids, and bringing in the coffee beans that had been drying in the sun all day. The soil looks so lush up here, they grow strawberries in huge greehouses covering acres and acres of land and coffee is their main produce (the coffe in Vietnam is gorgeous, really nutty and they usually serve it iced with CONDENSED milk. YUUUUMM)
Today we went on another tour (yes my dear blog readers, we have started doing tours now. Is this a sign that we are getting older?!), around De'lat. Took loads and loads in, took a boat to a small island, met some lovely tourists on our tour and laughed with the tour guide who only wanted to look at couples kiss in the Vally of love (a romanitic park for couples courting). We also went to the last kings summer residence, whose 1920's house was full of gorgeous items that I would love to own and dressed up as kings and queens (photos to come).