Friday was the day of my trip to Halong Bay. A group of 20-odd young'uns gathered in the early morning drizzle outside the backpacker's hostel, of whom at least half were severly hungover having been to 'snake village' the night before (where you kill, slice open, and eat the still-beating heart of a snake, before drinking it's bile and frying the rest of it up!) I'm pleased to say I wasn't one of them!! UGHHHH!! The three hour bus ride to Halong City passed in s...

I was greeted at Hanoi airport by hoardes of taxi drivers all wanting to charge me a lot more than it cost to get into the city. Luckily I had the know-how that airport shuttle buses went to and fro for a tenth of the price. Now I thought Thai drivers were pretty bad, but I'm pretty convinced that Vietnamese taxi drivers don't even have lessons, I think they're just made to sit in a parking lot and see how many times they can honk the horn in one minute. I have n...