For the weekend we went away to Cat Ba Island (an island pretty much in Halong Bay). We left on the friday afternoon and caught a bus to Haiphong. When we got there we found out that the last boat over to the island is around middayish, so it turned out that we would be spending a night there. Not too bad but there is really anything there, and even when we went to the lonely planet recommended places it didnt get any better. Literally what was LP thinking?? An ...

With the need to get out of the noise, pollution and general busyness of hanoi, we headed off for a weekend away in Cuc Phuong national park. It was everything we were after and highlights include seeing the sun and almost a blue sky!! We didn't do all that much whilst we were there, but it was incredible to just relax and breathe clean air, and then not be woken by loud traffic in the morning. Did some trekking on the sunday, and saw a massive tree from around ...

I arrived in Hanoi with a little bit of time to stay in the city. I stayed in an incredible hostel and had one really good last travelling night. Before I started volunteering I had anumber of things to buy and jobs to do, so I spent about a day and half trying unsucessfully to get these done- apparently nowhere here sells jeans big enough for me! Oh I forgot to mention......hanoi is cold, like super cold! And I was so unprepared for it as id sent the last of...

Apologies for the slight lack in recent blog entries, i could have sworn i wrote more recently. Hoi An is no longer so fresh in my memory, but I'll give it a whirl.... I was still travelling up with Rebecca at this point, so we arrived early morning in Hoi An and didn't manage to find somewhere to stay for a couple of hours as nowhere was accepting people until around 11am. We ended up wandering the streets until then. Once we'd managed to check into a very basi...

Arrived in Nha Trnag around midday and were pleasantly greeted with a much warmer climate. Although it is very hot there as it is right on the coast there is also an incredible breeze all the time. Had a really nice time in Nha Trang doing my usual list of things when I arrive in a new place. So we walked and walked and walked the first day. Second day rented bicycles and went to some thermal baths, regardless of the fact that the man we'd hired bikes off had sa...