The lights in the cabin were whacked on at 5am to make sure we were all awake, and we were off the train by 5.15am. I spotted a girl I'd seen on the night train up to Sapa getting off and asked her if she wanted to get a taxi into town, as she pointed to her hotel as being on the same side as the hostel I was trying to get to. A few taxis wouldn't take us, but eventually someone agreed and we piled in. He took us the scenic route past the lake, and then past the ...

Well an eventful two days in Halong Bay were had - off to a bad start when the bus due at 7.30am arrived at 8.40. Great. The little man who picked me up failed to apologise for his timing, and didn't even hold the door as I struggled with my bags. I sat down on one of the aisle seats on an already packed bus, and was promptly told to 'move back, more people', to which I replied I would when the bus wasn't moving around and I could stand without instantly falling ...