We landed at hanoi airport at about 6pm. From here we got a taxi with three English guys (stu, James and Connor) to old quarter in hanoi city centre. We checked into our hotel, where an incredibly friendly Peter introduced us to the hotel and chatted to us for quite a while before carrying my bag up to our room! We went out for a quick dinner, where we quickly learnt that in the street cafes, the smaller the plastic chairs to sit on- the cheaper the beer and food would be! When we got back to the hotel we met a couple (stu and lu) in reception and did some research on ha long bay tours with them, before going to bed!

We got up quite early to do more research on what to do in Vietnam and which ha long bay tour to do, this lasted until lunch time and got really confusing! We had a break to eat the amazing free breakfast from the hotel, cooked fresh by Peter it included an omelette, bread with jam and of course coffee! After we'd done loads of research we headed out to find somewhere for lunch... much more of a challenge than originally expected. From going the wrong way on the confusing roads which change name frequently, to dodging all the motorbikes and not finding anyone who could speak a word of English it was a miracle we eventually found the lake we were aiming for! We dived in the first place we found, a Thai restaurant!! The food was nice, harry had a new chicken and noodle dish and I had a mango salad. We spent the afternoon wondering around the streets and researching travel agents. We went back to the hostel to tell Lou and Stu about our findings. After a quick check on trip advisor we were back out the door and on our way to book it all. We walked around the lake and had a look at the pagoda before heading up to the city view cafe for dinner. We met Lou and Stu there at 8pm then had an amazing meal, we all shared spring rolls then had main courses and a few drinks. The views from the top of hanoi city and the lake were really nice, so we stayed there a whole chatting. On the way back to the hotel we went through the night market and each got an ice cream.

The next morning we were up really early to pack, have the free breakfast and check out of the room. We then walked to the travel agents office to be picked up for our two day one night trip to halong bay. Son was our tour guide, he was really friendly and enthusiastic! We met another lovely couple called Ann-Marie and John on the bus who we chatted to on the way, particularly when the bus broke down from a flat tire. After the tire was fixed, we only stopped once on the way there to quickly get some cookies and beer for that evening! When we arrived at the halong city pier we were shuffled onto a small boat which took us out to our huge Golden Lotus 'junk' boat - painted white! We had welcome drinks and a refreshing flannel before checking into room 103. Our room looked fantastic, with great views out of the windows and a huge bathroom with power shower. Unfortunately the air conditioning didn't work, which was not enjoyable later in the evening. Anyway for now we headed back up to the main area to eat lunch. The waiters bought out a huge range of food including starters, main course and fresh fruit for dessert. Harry and I sat with Lu and Stu for lunch, we all really enjoyed the food served as we cruised through halong bay. Not long after we docked in the section of the bay we would be sleeping for the night. Then it was back on the little boat to be taken across the bay to visit the 'surprising cave'. There were a huge amount of boats and tourists in halong bay which we were quite surprised at! The caves were pretty special and we guessed the surprise was just the pure size of them! It took 45 mins to walk all the way through, stopping to take photos with Ann-Marie and John. There was a really good platform, on which you could see for a huge distance over the bay - a perfect picture spot! Back on the little boat we were take to a 'secluded' area to swim and hike. Secluded is definitely not the word we would've used as the man made beach and roped off swimming area were full of tourists!! The hike was a nice steep 10-15min walk, with fantastic views at the top. Ann-Marie and I tried to guess what each island was called from the shape of what it looked like; not sure we got any right though!! After walking back down, we were all pretty hot so took no time dumping our stuff and running into the water. We paddled for quite a while, then got out to head back to the small boat to then go back to the big boat. We all had time for showers when back on the boat, then enjoyed a spring roll cooking lesson from Son. The highlight of the lesson was being able to roll our own spring rolls in the rice paper - we felt like experts in the end! Shortly after, dinner was served in the same way as lunch. There was lots of food and the main event was our spring rolls being bought out - they turned the lights off then the waiters carried plates with lit up pineapples in the middle surrounded by our spring rolls! They were so tasty, as was the rest of dinner. Afterwards, john and harry attempted to catch some squid while Ann-Marie and I got started on the cocktails! We went to watch the boys and had a go ourselves but unfortunately none of us caught anything apart from a plastic bag!! We sat out on the deck with cocktails, chatting until we were the last ones up!

In the morning I got up really early to do thai chi on the top deck... only to be told in was canceled - I was pretty gutted but already awake, so chilled on the deck enjoying the view! At 7ish everyone else came upstairs for breakfast. This again was a huge feast, with eggs, bacon, toast, cakes, lovely coffee and lots of fresh fruit! The six of us sat together again chatting while we ate. After breakfast we had to get ready to go kayaking around another set of caves and a floating village. Harry and I shared a kayak, me in the front and him in the back. We first paddled over to the caves where we could pull the kayak slightly ashore then climb in to have a look. It wasn't as big as the cave from the day before, but was still unusual and we got some good photos! After harry climbed as far as he could, he turned around and we got back in the kayak to head over to look at the floating village. We couldn't help but think the villagers had been picked up and plonked there but it was still nice to see what it would've been like in the past. These were definitely more modernised floating villagers; with their satellite dishes and speakers blasting music out! Our next kayak mission was to go through quite a tight tunnel through an island and out the other side. Ann-Marie and john, harry and I made it no problem. Lu and Stu however took it from a different angle, getting stuck for ages, then having to reverse out, while we were all in stitches laughing! We had a relaxing last paddle around the bay, before dropping the kayaks off and getting back on the little boat to go to the big boat. When back on the big boat we had showers, then it started to rain. Son showed us an oyster farm, although we couldn't go very close so didn't see much. We said bye to lu and stu as they were doing a longer tour, then we went up to the top deck, under the cover, to enjoy the more peaceful and less touristy area of the bay. The rain gave the bay a really mysterious feel. Harry and I sorted out some compensation with Son for our lack of air conditioning which was good, we filled out the feedback forms while eating fresh melon. The rain stopped so we took some last photos of the bay as the sun tried to come out. When we got back to halong city, the boat was anchored and we got a lift on the little boat to the pier. We were served lunch in the restaurant across the road, again the food was really good and plenty of it. We were now prepared for the three and a half hour journey back to hanoi. There were less people on the bus this time so we all managed to spread out a bit. On the way we stopped at the same place, where John kindly bought harry, ann-marie, himself and I ice creams - which were really refreshing. Son was kind enough to ensure we were dropped off first at the office no.2. We checked in for the overnight bus, harry popped to get food then at 6pm we left hanoi. The bus was funny and not what we were expecting, with lots of bunk beds kind of back to back. It was also really hot and didn't cool down for a while, so the journey was not overly comfortable. We did both get enough sleep though, seeing as we were on the bus for 15 hours in total (not the most fun Friday night)!!

Saturday morning, we arrived into Hue much later than expected, but still had three hours before our bus to Hoi An. We were both pretty shattered and it was boiling so we found a lovely French cafe (with wifi) to have breakfast and relax. The pastries were really nice, just what we needed and we managed to sort out where we could stay in hoi an that night. I went for a little wonder around Hue while harry stayed in the cafe because he wasn't feeling very well. The next bus was the same one we'd got off, with the same broken air conditioning. Needless to say the journey to hoi an was not enjoyable at all and even hotter than the previous one because it was during the day and the sun was out. We arrived in hoi an around 5ish and went straight to the hotel to check in. The room at thang binh III was spacious, with a balcony and a nice view of the indoor pool. We didn't spend long in there as we were keen to suss out tailors! We first went to one called Ha Na! They were two lovely sisters in there who seemed to care a lot about what we wanted. We had a look in a few others as well as at shoe, handbag and scarf shops. After not being able to make any decisions we had dinner at cafe retreat. Harry has bruschetta to start and beef with noodle soup for main, he was impressed with both. I had Vietnamese pancakes, which the lady serving us taught me how to eat. You had to put the omelette looking pancake on top of rice paper, open the pancake to add salad, wrap like a spring roll, dunk in satay type sauce and eat! They were delicious and a fun thing to try making with chopsticks!! After dinner we wondered along the riverside and across a bridge to the night market - this was mainly souvenirs so we didn't buy anything. We had drinks at one of the riverside bars which was nice and relaxing, then it was time for bed.

I got up quite early to spend time researching what sort of design dress and suit I wanted, finding pictures on the internet to show the ladies. We had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, which we were really impressed with as they had a large choice! After breakie we headed back to Ha Na tailors to order our clothes! This took quite a while to A decide what styles we wanted and B decide what fabrics! The ladies were hilarious and kept us very entertained while advising us what they thought we should get! When decided we were both measured, very specifically, and agreed a price. Then from out of nowhere appeared a man on a motorbike who grabbed the designs, details and material then whizzed off out the other side of the shop to their family home where our clothes would be made! We left the shop excited to see the designs and nervous for what they would turn out like! We were shown to a recommended shoe shop, where we bartered hard for some smart shoes for harry and a new pair of smart flip flops for me! Once we agreed a price, Mui agreed to have them ready for us that evening! The afternoon was absolutely boiling in hoi an so we didn't want to do much at all. After checking out of one hotel and into the other we had a wonder around the town, shops and central market. Harry still wasn't feeling great so we went back to the hotel where we watched a film in the cool, air conditioned room! After, we went for dinner at a new place. It turned out to have the best spring rolls we'd ever eaten!! We popped to the shoe shop and ha na, neither of which were quite ready for us so we had a wonder around a different area of town for an hour or so. We found a funny game to play, which involved walking towards a dangling ceramic vase, with a blindfold on, then swinging a baton to try to break it. It was so funny watching other people we decided to each have a go! We were both miles off but it was so funny to watch each other because at the time we were convinced we were really close! We went back to the shoe shop first and were impressed with the fit of both our shoes! Next the big moment... we tried all our clothes on, harry first then me. They were all very close to being perfect but still a few adjustments needed to be made. The ladies promised to have them done by 1pm the next day. Overall we were relieved and thought the quality was excellent, so went back to the hotel to sleep.

We stayed at hoa binh hotel for one night and in the morning the breakfast was amazing! A lady even made us pancakes and omelettes! We spent the morning chilling in the hotel as it was so hot and the hotel was really nice! We managed to book hotels for future and tried to make space in our backpacks for our new clothes! By the time we finished we went for lunch but I wasn't hungry after the huge breakfast so just had a chocolate milkshake. Harry had an amazing pork sandwich with French fries from our favourite cafe retreat - on the main tailor street! We went back for our second fitting, both hoping the clothes fit perfectly as we didn't have much time for more alterations! There were a few tweaks which needed doing particularly to Harry's chinos and my dress so they were whisked off by motorbike through the shop and out the other side! Within half an hour they were back for us to try on again, Harry's suit trousers had one more touch up to be done. We went to the market to buy a new wheely suitcase to transport our purchases. After some bargaining we came away with one and some souvenirs. We went back to ha na shop and saw the two sisters. Harry's trousers fit perfectly so they folded everything up, packing it into our new bag for us and we made the final payment. We were both really happy with our clothes. We went back to the hotel so I could have a shower then to the same restaurant as the previous night for their yummy spring rolls and to try more new Vietnamese dishes. Then it was time to grab our bags and head to the overnight bus, before leaving the hotel the friendly receptionist gave us a free bottle of cold water each which was lovely! We left for nha trang at 7pm, in a much cooler bus than the previous journey - much to our delight!! This optimism didn't last long, we soon realised the toilet on board was not working so had to use public toilets (basically a hole in the ground) and then about three hours away from our destination the wheel of the bus came off. Probably due to the drivers speed and the poor condition of both the bus and road. I think we are bad luck with these buses!! Anyway after four hours of the driver and his crew attempting to fix the wheel, using blow torches, hammers and pretty much whatever they could find, another bus turned up. We all swapped over and hoped this one would get us to nha trang. Half way there the driver decided we might all want breakfast so we stopped for yet another 40 mins! We eventually arrived into Nha Trang at 12, five hours after we were meant to. Both absolutely shattered from the journey, we checked into our hotel and went straight for lunch at a really cute little 'French' cafe. After lunch I grabbed an ice cream and we went to Nha Trang beach to chill for what was left of the afternoon. It was really nice to just relax on the beach in the lovely weather! In the evening we walked around the town and visited the night market, looking at all the different souvenirs they had on offer. For dinner we were determined to find a place recommended by Ann-Marie and john, called the grill garden restaurant. After some hunting we found it, it was an outside restaurant with lights dangling above us and lots of trees nearby, giving it a really chilled vibe. We decided to go for the meat combo meal. This involved one of the waitresses becoming our personal chef! First a hot block filled with coals was placed in the middle of the table, then she put a grill thing over and started putting the meat on top. The meat was already marinated in a BBQ sauce which was delicious. First we had chicken, then ostrich on a skewer with peppers. The ostrich was nice, although harry found the marinade on it slightly too spicy! She continued to cook the food, adding it to our plates when it was ready. The other meats included beef, pork and our favourite - crocodile. Vegetables including baby corn, potato and swede were also grilled and served to us, along with cold salad, rice, toasted bread and a glass of wine each. We both really enjoyed the meal and appreciated having something really different - both the different experience of how it was cooked and that it didn't involve noodles!! Although quite full, we had spotted earlier in the day some nice desserts on the menu at the French cafe. We headed down there and ended up sharing two creme brûlée's, they were so nice we couldn't resist getting another one after the first! At £1.60 they were a bargain!! Very full, we went back to the hotel for a lie down and to book more accommodation for the following few nights.

We got up early to get the bus to Dalat at 8am. Before getting on the bus we got breakfast from a lovely little place called Rainbow Bar. It was good value, so harry got a baguette for his lunch as well! The bus actually left 10 minutes early for Da Lat - very unusual. We spread out as there were spare seats and hoped this would be a better journey than the previous three (it helped that it was a normal bus so we could sit upright!)... thankfully it was and we even arrived half an hour early into Dalat. Stepping off the bus, it was noticeably cooler than it had been elsewhere in Vietnam, probably because we were now 1000m + above sea level! It took a while for us to work out where we were on the map, then we had a 20ish minute walk to the hotel. Walking through Dalat, our first impressions were that it seemed much smarter and more upper class than previous areas we'd been in Vietnam. From the way people dressed to the french style of the houses and the immaculate gardens! It was also strange to see quite a few people exercising around the lake in the centre- we hadn't seen any joggers in Vietnam before! When we arrived we were greeted by a friendly lady and checked in, she showed us to a clean and newly decorated room on the third floor. We had a look into what to do in Dalat, sorted our washing, then headed out and about. First walking up the road in and out of several shops, then to the central market. This place was an absolute maze with hundreds of clothes stalls on one level, then below on the second level were loads of food stalls. The ground level was pretty busy with motorbikes all over the place. As we wondered through, they were just setting up the night market. We went back to sinh tourist to see if we could book a half day tour for the following day, but they had none going on. Next stop was a huge lake in Dalat, which made a really nice evening stroll before going to a restaurant recommended by the hotel owners. The food was nice and a really good price, we were really impressed with the hot chocolates! After dinner we went back to the night market, browsing the stalls but again didn't buy anything. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a bakery, where I bought some banana bread for pudding! Back at the hotel we enquired about the tours etc they offered then researched what we could do the following day, ending the evening quite late watching a film.

In the morning we got up quite late as both of us were tired from all the travelling we'd been doing recently. Our washing was ready for us to pick up, so we sorted that out then walked up the road to get some breakfast and decided the plan of action. We thought the best way we were going to see what we wanted was by hiring a motorbike for the day from the hotel. The friendly couple gave us lots of advice of places we could visit, explained thoroughly how to get to them and drew us an easy to follow map. The male owner taught us how to use the bike, then we were off! First stop was just down the road at a petrol station to fill up, they actually do it for you in Vietnam, you just tell them how much to put in in dong. Petrol almost full, harry driving, with me hanging on behind, we were on our adventure to try to find the famous elephant waterfalls! About 10 mins out of dalat we already went the wrong way, taking a side trip to a very muddy farm to see loads of cows walking towards us! We turned around and went back to where we'd gone wrong. From here all we had to do was follow the road until we saw the sign for the waterfall. The drive was quite far, with bumpy, winding roads, but the scenery was amazing and unlike anything we'd previously seen in Vietnam. Lush green grass as far as the eye could see, coffee plantations, greenhouse-type marquees growing flowers, street stalls with traditional villagers selling their fruit and veg, wild dogs, lots of cows walking along the road as well as a few chickens trying to cross it- it was so nice to see this different side of the country. I think this scenery must've distracted us, as we missed the huge sign to the waterfalls and carried on going quite a way. When eventually we stopped, I hopped off to ask a local - none of which spoke English. We guessed from what they were saying and pointing they were telling us to turn around!! This is what we did and shortly found the waterfall. We had to pay to visit it and the surrounding area. The walk down was incredibly slippy and dangerous but we both made it ok! The waterfall itself was huge, and standing as close as we could get it was really loud! We took some photos then climbed down lower to get a better view - this involved walking along a tree no wider than our feet with not a lot to hold on to! It was definitely worth the extra wonder as we saw much more of the falls. When we walked back up the lady suggested we went to look at the pagoda, so we walked up the steps and inside. It was the first one we'd been in and the designs inside were lovely. After taking more photos we walked to the area where some ladies were making silk items, including scarves and tablecloths. We spent a while watching them, asking all sorts of questions and I tried on some scarves. We went for an ice cream just next door, while I decided which colour scarves to buy. After going back and agreeing a deal I ended up getting a couple for presents. Harry took a photo of me and the ladies so that I can remember who made the scares and to show my mum and grandma. Back on the bike we had a few issues starting it, but with some help from a couple locals we were on our way! We stopped once to put some more petrol in so we didn't run out, then as it was raining we headed straight back. When we lasted the hotel we decided to ride all the way around the lake- which was much bigger than we originally thought! When we got to one end, we parked the bike then went into a lovely little cafe, which looked over the lake, to have hot drinks. After, we carried on all the way back round, looking for somewhere to have dinner. Eventually we stopped outside a nice looking restaurant. We had spring rolls to start which were really nice, then my main came out and I noticed there were lots of bugs crawling in my food. Completely put off eating, we paid for the spring rolls and left rapidly, deciding the safest option was to go back to the place we had eaten the previous night. We had different main meals which were both really nice. Harry enjoyed the sauce on his as well as the short noodles and I liked my crispy noodles - neither type of noodle we'd tried before! We couldn't resist having a hot chocolate each as they were so nice the night before! We popped to the bakery to get bits for breakfast and lunch the next day, then hopped on the motorbike to go back to the hotel. I decided to drive it the last bit down the road to hotel, which was really fun and meant we could now both say we'd driven motorbikes in Vietnam!! Shattered from our day out, we did some planning and went to sleep!

We left dalat early on the 23rd August, heading for our final stop in Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon). The bus journey seemed to take forever, the traffic coming into Ho Chi Minh City didn't help. When we arrived we went straight to the hotel to check in. After leaving our bags there we went to book the next couple of days activities. It started raining while we were on the way, so we dived into a restaurant to have dinner. We went back to sinh tourist to book our one day mekong delta tour for the next day and the bus to Phnom Penh for Monday. We also booked a hotel close by for Sunday night so we could sleep a bit longer! After a successful time organising we rewarded ourselves with another trip to a market. We both bought a few bits, the best purchase being a belt for harry. We spent quite a while looking around the market, then realised it was getting late and we had to be up early for our tour. When back at the hotel I couldn't resist having a bath as we hadn't had a bath tub in any of our previous hotels.

After a comfy nights sleep we got up and had the included breakfast, then walked to the office where we waited to get on the bus. After about 20 minutes of being on the bus, we had a flat tire and had to stop to change it, luckily it only took a few minutes to fix. Back on our way we passed lots of rice fields, many of which had tombstones in- the graves of the previous people who owned the land. The first glimpse of the mekong river was travelling over a bridge over the top, from the My Tho city to Ben Tho side. It was ridiculously wide and it was clear right away how important the river was to transport goods throughout the country. We got on a huge motorised boat which took us for a trip around a few of the islands including Phoenix island and turtle island. The tour guide explained how the floating villagers caught their fish through the fish farming and we got quite a close up view. We got off the boat for our first section of the tour, we learnt and saw all the different types of coconut trees, as well as the products produced from them. After looking around the coconut plantation we were served lunch on the island. The waitress made us spring rolls which had noodles, cucumber and elephant fish in them. We also were served spring rolls, rice, morning glory, a pork dish, a hotpot pork dish and another fish dish. After lunch we were back on the boat heading to another part of Phoenix island. This time we walked through jungle to see how rice paper was made and to try some. There were more coconut products for us to buy. Back on the boat for a gentle cruise along the mekong and the estuaries running into it. Anh (our guide) told us about the different fruits growing along the banks. This time when we got off the bus we went to a place where they make honey and keep the bees, we tried the honey tea, which was really nice. It was surprising how many products they made using the bees, including honey, royal jelly and lots of medicines. Next we faced a ride in the back of a trailer behind a skinny horse (which didn't look strong enough to pull six of us along!). Our next stop on the tour was to try their traditional fruits including dragon fruit, water melon and three with Vietnamese names which all tasted pretty bland! Our favourite was a red spikey one, which you peeled to make it look like a lycée. A traditional Vietnamese band then played and sang for us, which was nice to hear although its not really our sort of music. Anh handed us all spotty ponchos to put on as it began to rain heavily and our next activity was a row boat trip down the mekong. A lady rowed us all the way down in a little wooden boat, showing us mini turtles on the way. Back on the main boat we were on our way to the last stop - the coconut candy workshop. We watched them make and wrap the candy before trying lots of different flavours. I wasn't very keen on it, although harry quite liked the original flavour. There was a huge water buffalo there which we took photos of but didn't want to get too close! We got back on the boat for the last time. It was perfect timing to see the fish farmers feeding the fish, there were so many in each section! It took over an hour and a half to get back to Saigon on the bus. Once back we booked the Cu Chi tour for the next day, went to KFC for harry to get dinner, back to the hotel to leave our stuff there then out for me to get some traditional Vietnamese food. We were both shattered after a really busy day so spent the rest of the evening chilling.

We were up early on our last full day in Vietnam. First having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, then back to the sinh tourist office to go on our 1/2 day tour to Cu Chi Tunnels. We were luckily in the minibus and not the big bus this time which meant our ride there was slightly more comfortable! When we got there we paid the entry fee the walked under a big airport-style tunnel to get into the actual site. First of all we watched a video about how the tunnels were built and what there purpose was. Next the guide showed us the size of the entry gates to the tunnels, which harry definitely wouldn't have fit in! We spent the next hour or so learning about the different ways the Cu Chi people invented to fight the Americans during the war - including the traps they used and weapons they created. It was really interesting. The best part of the trip came up next, where we got to actually climb inside the tunnels. Only a metre high this meant we were quite a bit slower than our tiny Vietnamese soldier guide showing us through. Harry didn't last long at all, getting out after 16m - he was definitely too big! I wasn't much comfier either but wanted to go further and see the deeper tunnels so carried on the furthest out of our group! It was so hot and cramped down there we couldn't imagine how soldiers crawled along with guns. The guide did mention that the tunnels had actually been made bigger since it opened for tourists - 'so that westerners could fit in them!'. After experiencing the tunnels first hand we tried one of the traditional potatoes in Vietnam- which you dip in a peanut mix, actually tasted really nice. They also gave us tea, which neither of us liked. Back on the bus to HCMC we both fell asleep. When we got back we had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant then spent the whole afternoon shopping in the different markets. We bought a few last bits, including some pressies and souvenirs. It was nice to see the rest of the city in the daylight, as we'd mostly see it in the dark previously. We'd had a productive last day, so went for a really nice traditional Vietnamese meal to spend what was left of our dong. I eventually had their famous pudding - banana pancake and was gutted I hadn't eaten more of them as I didn't realise before that the banana was actually in the pancake roll. The waiter was nice enough to ask for extra chocolate sauce on mine as well!! Back at the hotel we showered, packed our bags and set alarms for 5.30am.

After a busy 12 days travelling the whole way down the country, it was time to leave Vietnam and cross the border to Cambodia. I couldn't wait to meet Georgie at the airport so hoped the bus journey went smoothly.