Fish feeding frenzy in my basement!

Before leaving Vietnam we decided to take a trip to the Mekong Delta, just South of Saigon. Here we found whole communities living on floating houses. We took a row boat out to some and discovered that under each house is a large cage with literally 100s of thousands of fish packed tightly inside. Don't wear your best frock when feeding these fellas though... When you drop some food into this little hatch the fish go completely crazy and water splashes everywhere!

Some snake and scorpion with your wine, sir?

One Vietnamese delicacy we didn't indulge in is their snake and scorpion wine. Drinking this stuff is supposed to be an aphrodisiac. If you look at the picture you can actually see the tail of the scorpion in the snake's mouth.

Canine beach friends in Mui Ne

We've just spent a few days in Mui Ne, a tiny fishing village next on the highway next to the coast with a beautiful beach. The town has become somewhat of a mecca for kite surfers (a sport which is a cross-breed between windsurfing and kite-flying), although we were more interested in the suposed surfing potential of the place.

Unfortunately, the surfing waves failed to manifest during our stay in Mui Ne, so we were forced to console ourselves by sunbathing on the beach and playing pool. Terrible.

We also befriended this wee fella on the left. He was very cute!

Riding like the wind through Vietnamese streets

Here we are cycling to the beach in Hoi An. Amy, being a proficient bicycologist and photographologist rolled into one (a bicycophotogaphist is the official term for this cross-breed, I believe) took this photo of my sweaty back whilst riding along on her bicycloped.

Peacock springrolls

Sorry to go on about the food, but it really is fantastic here. Here's an example of what we were served as an appetizer at one restaurant (they're not actually spring rolls with peacock meat inside them by the way!).

This peacock here has mini spring rolls on cocktail sticks stuck into his body. His actual body is made out of a hollowed out pineapple with a candle inside it. His head, wings and tail-feathers are carved out of carrot. This magnificent food sculpture lasted just long enough for us to take this photo before we devoured it (in seconds...).

Oh boy! The food in Hanoi!

Hanoi is an incredible city for dining. The strong French influence has resulted in a culinary legacy of fresh Asian fusion cuisine and fine wine. Amongst the dishes we sampled were:

• Rabbit and turnip crumble, served with a tomato sherbert
• Boneless chicken legs, stuffed with 'tartiflette' (a French dish of cream, potatoes, cheese and bacon)
• Fresh spring rolls stuffed with omelet, fresh prawns and mint, served with a spicy vinegar
• ...and loads of fresh, crispy baguettes! (the standard bread in Vietnam)
  

If you plan on visiting the place, make sure you're hungry when you arrive - you'll find plenty of excellent restaurants there.

Good Morning Vietnam

Greetings, readers!

We've just returned from two days on a boat out to Halong Bay, where there are hundreds of limestone islands dotted about as far as the eye can see.

We spent our time exploring (and I quote) "AMAZING caves" and practising our diving by leaping off of our boat into the seemingly bottomless ocean. Throughout all this we had a highly amusing Vietnamese guide whose voice sounded as though it was permanently affected by helium.

We met a lovely Aussie couple (one half of which, Lucy, is in the water with me on the left) who we shared quite a lot of red wine with, and in the middle of the night, we decided to invade another boat where we found some Irish, American and Danish tourists and a bottle of vodka.

We woke up the next morning and said 'Good morning Vietnam' as we looked out onto the sparkling ocean with its strangely shaped islands before returning to Hanoi.