Had to pick up my camera from the Canon centre and managed to get away without paying for the repair!

Went and booked my ticket for the bus leaving in the morning. So it’s an early night for me tonight.

Considering buying some glasses as I found a place which would do me my frames and lenses for about $30.

Went to the bank as I need to change some money for Cambodia.

After that I grabbed some food and went back to pack my bag.

Ended up going to the Sheraton around dusk and had a red wine. Went to eat again as I wouldn’t be eating before the journey then got an early night as I’ve got a 06:00 rise.

After seeing taking in most of the market we thought why don’t we check out one of Saigon’s water parks.

We got a taxi to Dam Sen Water Park and spent the day larking about down there. The weather wasn’t great ubt all the rides were empty so we burnt through the lot in a few hours.

Starving we headed back to grab some food at 333 Restaurant and then to relax for a few hours until we meet later to try and find a place to watch the football tonight.

It’s Sam’s last night so no doubt we’ll have a few drinks to see him off!

We all met outside met outside Lily’s Bar and had a few there before we all headed back to 333 for some food.

We then hit Lien Bar opposite Lily’s and had a few more rounds before we figured the night was going to be a quiet one as not many people were about.

Tried to stay up to watch Arsenal Vs. Man Utd. But was glad I didn’t in the end as Arse’ lost!

I napped until about 20:20 and saw that Sammy was still about and had scrapped his flight to Laos! He was meeting around 20:00 outside the Crazy Buffalo so I headed down and met him for some nosh.

He ended up bumping into a group of girls we’d met everywhere from Laos to Hanoi and some guy’s they’d been travelling with.

Nothing was the cards as everyone had been travelling for most of the day and they had plans to see a lot tomorrow.

Admittedly I had bumped in to Sammy Boy from Mui Ne the night before so I’d have some company this evening.

To make up for not seeing the opposite side of town I headed that way after breakfast and just went for a wander around there for a few hours. It was the complete opposite to five star hotels and high end retail outlet’s we’d seen yesterday.

I tried to find some shoes as all I’d been was flip flops and would need some shoes for when I’m in Bangkok and Hong Kong etc. What I didn’t figure would be the lack size 10/11’s!

I headed back to the hotel after that and tried uploading some picture’s before going out to eat this evening. I didn’t have much joy, however did get a chance to chat with Carmen who I had not spoken to for two months! Ended up eating around 18:00 and having a few beers at a couple of bars as I hadn’t heard from Sam (facebook not notifying me he’d replied!) and chatted with this massage guy who tried to offer us one for the past two night’s!

Headed home and spoke with Natalia after her horrendously long journey! Then came the message from Samuelle, he was up for a drink at 21:30 and was off the next day so was only going to be out for an hour.

After chatting to Natalia I headed to meet Sam at Go 2 roof terrace. I met a few of the guy’s and girl he’d been knocking about with and got to know them over a sheesha and a few beers.

We decided to get a pizza to share after there and went to the PHD (Pizza Hut Delivery) and tried to persuade them to do us a pizza even though they’ve just closed! No joy. So we headed to the pizza joint over the road from my hotel entrance where Natalia and I ate the other night.

After that we went down to Eden where we met this Australian group of two girl’s and one guy and played them at pool. The set up was shocking. The pool cue head no tip and wasn’t even, diagonally slanting one way and there wasn’t even the right amount of ball’s!

It was the worst game of pool we’d ever seen! Most of the group broke up after that point so me and Sam went for one more at Lily’s Bar and same only went and got the cigar’s in!

We ended up smoking them and then grabbing one more pizza before heading home.

If Sam make’s it up tomorrow to get his flight out of here tomorrow morning I’ll be surprised!

We got three moto’s over there and headed up through the reception of the plush hotel.

Only problem was the whole place was closed once we reached the floor! The bar wasn’t going to be open until around 17:00! During the first hour they do a cocktail’s happy our where it’s buy one get one free.

Ben decided to take us to the American Market which was nearby and an interesting place as all it sold was ex-military gear and general hardware. It’s the most amount of component’s I’ve ever seen in one place!

We looked around for a good hour at all the obscure thing’s people were trying to sell and then headed back to our hotel’s to chill for an hour before heading back to the Sheraton this evening after we’d eaten.

We went to eat at a street on the way to the Sheraton and found a Pho shop to grab some something quick and cheap. Ben and Claire headed of before us and me and Nati’ caught up maybe 20 minutes later.

The seat’s they had were right on the barrier overlooking the whole of the city! It was a great way to see the city and also understand how much traffic there was. The streets were lined with the lights of mo-ped’s and the noise of their horn’s!

The view of the newly constructed Bitexco Financial tower was stunning as well. It was completely empty so there wasn’t too many lights on but the sight of it was impressive enough.

Tonight was also the last night I’d see with Ben and Claire and also the last time I’d see Natalia as she had to leave for Cambodia tonight as her Visa expired. It was a fitting way to spend our last night in Saigon.

We decided to kill the last few hours having a drink together on the street near our hotel. Natalia was leaving at midnight and Ben and Claire had to be off at 04:00 to beat the traffic out of Saigon so it was a only a few beers before we called it a night.

Walking Natalia to the Travel Agents was strange as we’d spent a lot of time together, well every day of the last month together! It was going to be surreal not having her around and going back to being on my own. I can honestly say I’ll miss her company and banter as it was a pleasure travelling with her. I couldn’t have asked for a better companion!

This was a collection taken from the many camera men who travelled from all over the world to capture some of the infamous images most of us have seen throughout our lives.

It was a moving experience and the narrative which accompanied the pictures really brought home what the individuals involved were going through. It’s certainly worth visiting and I was so caught up in taking in all the displays I didn’t even get to finish the final room.

After spending the whole day there me and Nat’ headed to get some grub and potentially meet Fanny for a drink before she headed off. We ended bumping in to her just outside our hotel’s entrance. Whilst Natalia spoke to her I was milling around the shop entrance when I caught someone in my peripheral vision standing there, thinking they wanted to get past I turned and moved only to see it was Ben from Koh Tao!!!

It was a great and a huge surprise to see him! So we went for a beer and something to eat with him and Claire his friend who was going to be riding North to Hanoi on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We went to a few different street café’s and had a great evening catching up.

We arranged to meet the following morning to see Ben’s Minsk and go to check out the Sheraton hotel as they told us about the fantastic view from the bar on the 23rd floor.

Had breakfast and just as I was going to leave bumped in to Sam and ended up chatting to him for an hour or so.

Eventually made it to the pool and got 30 minutes in before Natalia wanted to go for lunch.

Got on the bus and had a relatively stress free journey to Saigon and arrived in good time.

Found a hotel within five minutes and the only down side being the Internet didn’t work.

Solved the internet problem so Natalia and I decided to head out to the drinking spots, before grabbing a bite to eat.
Natalia chose the worst restaurant I think I’ve ever eaten at… The food was terrible!

We continued drinking and sat at the main corner at Go bar which is opposite the Crazy Buffalo Bar.

Vietnam had played in the Asian Cup that night and won by a goal to nil and Saigon was buzzing! Everyone was riding around on mo-ped’s, waving flag’s and cheering! The crossroad’s came to a standstill numerous time’s during the night it was quite a sight.

Me and Natalia eventually realised we were getting stung for service charge every time we ordered at Go 2 bar and moved round to Lily’s bar which was slightly off the main strip but cheaper. It wasn’t long before we fancied a dance and headed up to the nightclub on the second floor of Go 2.

We spent the rest of the night dancing away and stayed out until at least 04:00/05:00!

Me and Natalia sat by the pool all morning. Fanny joined us around lunch time just before the bus was going to arrive and pick her up.

We said our goodbye’s and possibly we’ll meet up in Saigon.

In the afternoon we went and spent an hour on the beach out the back of our resort and got an idea of how long the whole beach front was.

We wanted to see the sunset from Sankara and decided to walk to it via the beach, thinking it would take us at least two hours.

We’d done about an hour before Natalia got soaked by a large wave crashing on one of the sea walls! All of her clothes were soaked and she wanted to get a change of clothes. We weren’t that far from Pogo which was about half way and decided to get a taxi the rest of the way to make sure we made it.

The beach behind Sankara was filled with Kite Surfers and we watched those for a while before walking to Wax bar for a drink.

We went to our favourite restaurant again for dinner and then headed for Sankara for drinks afterwards.

We had a relaxing evening and got back to the hotel for midnight as we wanted to get up early and get some more sun in if the day is going to be nice. We’re off at 12:30 so want to get a bit in before the bus turns up.

Our tour started at 14:00 so we had a late breakfast and chilled for an hour before heading over to the tour office.

The tour began with a walk along fairy stream. We hadn’t walk far before we were offered the chance to ride an Ostrich! We all had ago and our two young guide’s took us further up the stream and showed us the array of coloured sands that lined the stream running through it. Each side of the stream were walls of sand at least 15m high and ranging from red sand all the way through to white/grey sand. We were only allowed up so high as the other side of the top still had unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War.

As we walked further along the two kids taking us along the stream gave us a four leaf clover each and for me it was the first time I’d ever seen one. I soon realised they grew here in abundance and they were everywhere!

The further we got along the more the landscape varied with strange columns of sand appearing out of the ground. We reached the end after a thirty minute walk and found a small waterfall that was the source of the stream.

The next stop on the tour was a photo opportunity at a fishing village further along the coast.

We then headed to White Dunes straight after. The whole place was amazing. I didn’t expect the place to be as big and there was even small around the foot of one the main slopes.

As you enter the Dunes you pick up a plastic sledge and begin your walk towards which ever peak you fancy most. Me and Fanny choose one which looked unscathed and pretty steep taking photo’s along the way we soon realised the steepness was going to give us some top speeds!

I decided to hit it first and racked up some raw speed! Needless to say I had to bail at the end as it was going to be the safest way for me to stop!

The girls then had a go of one of the surrounding slopes and both made it quite far.

I gave the steep slope one more go to see if I could ride out the final piece. Not a good idea!

I managed to ride past the where I bailed but hit a small jump which sent me flying through the air and on to the base of my spine for a nasty landing! I was ruined after that…
We’d already run over twenty minutes late and made it back to our driver to hit the next leg the Red Canyon. It wasn’t as impressive as we’d anticipated but still was worth a quick walk around and a few photo’s.

We were fast running out of time and needed to make the red dunes before sundown. Pulling up we had just enough light to get some decent photographs before we were left in the dark.

We had shower’s when we got back to the apartment and got ready to head to the booking office where we had to confirm our seats on the open bus out of Mui Ne the following day. This meant a trip to the centre, where we got dropped off on arrival. Seeing as we were in that part of town we went to the same restaurant we had our first meal at in Mui Ne.

After dinner and numerous drinks we decided to find Sankara and Wax bar, two of the other bars we’d heard about. Sankara was five minutes away and we hit that first.

The place was nothing like we imagined! It would be more fitting in some luxury destination not something you’d expect a typical backpackers trail. Saying that the drinks reflected the price of the furnishings being at least double what you’d pay anywhere else, still though compared to home it was reasonable.

The girls loved it and we stayed there for a few hours making the most of such a quality beach front bar. We settled the bill and went a further five minutes down the road to Wax which was less opulent but more lively atmosphere with a mix of locals and travellers.

We ended our night here chatting on the beach and reflecting on our time in Mui Ne.

Before I went to sleep I was fortunate enough to receive my first Chilean massage! – D Though the smell of the Tiger Balm will stick with me forever!

Either way we made the bus with good time and got our preferred back seats. The ride was quite boring as Natalia passed out and I couldn’t manage anything more than a light doze.

Finished one book and stared out the window the rest of the time.

Got to Mui Ne and Fanny was there waiting for us as we got off the bus. We had lunch together and she’s going to get a room with us where ever we decide to stay.

We all met up for dinner at 19:00 and on the way to the restaurant Fanny found us a travel agent to get us to the Sand Dunes and give us a tour for $7.

After dinner we decided to get a taxi to Pogo and suss it out. It was a lot quieter than we expected, however we there quite early and hanged around for a few hours but nothing really changed. The bar was more of a chill out place and was still good but we wanted something a bit more lively and headed to El Vagabundo.

Tonight was Salsa night and there was more of a buzz about the place as more and more people kept filtering through. We got speaking to one guy named Anthony who was from Manchester who told us this was the place where everyone came for their last drinks.

Anthony was one of those characters you meet whilst travelling. Free spirited, fed up of life at home and willing to pitch up anywhere and start a new life. We spent most of the evening talking to him and watching him try to hit on Natalia and Fanny with no success!

We left around 02:00 and when me and Natalia got back we decided to do our face pack’s Amelie had gave us! We both looked like extra’s out of a horror movie!