WAM, BAM thats veitNAM

I am constantly in a state of awe over big Asian Cities, it feels as if their life blood is constantly rushing through their vein like streets with the heart been the unique culture found only in Asia, Ho Chi Minh was no exception, it' s in your face, loud and everything seems to end up going past in a fuzzy blur and I can't get enough of it. I made my way up from down below to the tip of Vietnam and I just cruised the whole way. Vietnam is notably different from the rest of upper South East Asia, for one they don't muck around, everything is moving purposefully and efficiently and although it's communist it's sparlwing with large capitalist industries and business. Apparently after the Bali bombing, the usual holiday makers migrated to the undiscovered Vietnam, this is why there is such a large portion of Australians there. I had all my destinations planned in HCMC because you save mega bucks by booking one big open bus ticket, in fact I spend under $18 on transport in my entire time in Vietnam. After seeing the sights of HCMC you get the impression they aren't super pro American, and this is truly propagated through the War museums, horrific uncensored photographs that bring up all types of emotions, anger been a hard one to suppress. Before I know it, I'm on my planned bus up to Nha Trang starting to regret having to work my trip around a ticket until something pounded through my veins, I was elated and excited. After traveling over 2 months on inland landlocked countries I had finally come back to the Ocean, the mere smell of the salt water gave me goosebumps, I had spent that entire day bumming on the beach forgetting I hadn't slep for nearly 22 hours. Nha trang also had a really relaxing night life, I was dorming with a few Scandinavians which can only mean trouble when alcohol is involved, I have yet to find a nation to drink a Scan under the table, Nha Trang was a holiday within a holiday. The next morning was a bit of a downer when I found out I was drugged and then robbed the previous night but was redeemed with a boat trip I took to the local Islands, drinking very cheap wine on the Vietnam's turquoise water. I was then pulled back into reality quite literally by my bus ticket to Hoi an. This Chinese influenced backstreet town was paved with old bricks and lined with interlocking houses. I really enjoyed just strolling the streets which was good since there isn't much else to do other then buy incredibly cheap tailored clothing. This is what the town is actually famous for and is quite amuzing seeing these Western backpackers buying suits knowing their bags are already filled to the brim. The problem is the language barrier, it's all well and good getting something to your exact needs but is useless when the woman doing the tailoring doesn't speak English, I met a girl who wanted a woolen sweater and ended up getting it in lycra. The town of Hui was next and this town is pretty desolate, I stayed one night and left to the arduous journey up to Hanoi, over 750KM of road to the capital which by now I am very used to until I had the unfortunate luck of getting seated next to an Aussie Baptist that proceeded to tell me how science is evil. Luckily, I was given a tip by numerous travelers to take a couple Valium for the long excursions to knock you out, so I offerd the preacher a couple. I was finally at the capitol and although it's not as lively as HCMC it's pretty exciting. I was stuck here for quite a while waiting for my Chinese Visa to be processed to I took a trip to the beautiful Haolong Bay on a traditional Junk boat. Three days on the water with good people, great food and the local beer, sweet. Came back and moved around three different hostels, saw the famous Hanoi Water Puppet show and all the other sights and I was off to begin my next adventure. I decided to make my own way to the border since I am a cheap skate backpacker but it turned out to be much harder then I thought, I eventually got to the Vietnamese side of the border and was forced to stay the night in the rotten town of Dong Dang, waking up the next morning quite nervous unknowing what was awaiting me over the next 100m of land, CHINA....