It's been a while since I last updated you all and we have done so much!

Hanoi continued to be fun and we ended up exploring and befriending an Australian girl which was cool we had lunch walked around the city and shopped!! Later on we chilled out and had a few drinks with another English couple where we followed the hostels famous pub crawl. We got to a bar where we drunk the night away. In Vietnam lights go out at 11pm and everyone is expected to be home, however rules are made to be broken so we entered the bar before the shutters went down with us inside, an illegal rave. Was so surreal the police came and we all had to be quite and once they had gone we carried on. We knew we had an early start tomorrow so we headed home and said our goodbyes.

In the morning we awoke and headed downstairs all packed ready to be shipwrecked. Us and 14 others had signed up for a castaway trip in Halong bay. We met the group and ended up getting on really well we all clicked and I was happy to be sharing a private island with these guys for the next 3 days.
The coach took 4 hours and then we hopped on a boat which took another hour where we were anchored up in the middle of the ocean with nothing but small islands in sight. We got in our swimming stuff and all got in the canoes rowing our way across the ocean through caves and entering small lagoons which was amazing. We had a Vietnese guy explaining the history of the country whilst we floated in the sea.

After the canoes we then headed back to the boat where we took it in turns to run and jump off the boat. Ed did his usual trick and belly flopped off the roof....ouch!! We were cooked for by the boat staff which was amazing. Fresh fish, vegetables, noodles and rice. After dinner we started to play drinking games which were interesting but a great way to get to know one another. There were only 4 English including us so it was nice to get to know other nationalities. yet again ozzies were the majority, they own asia!! We had our own twin rooms which was lovely with an ensuite, felt very spoilt.

In the morning we were picked up by another boat where we then headed to the hostels private island. This was breathtaking, in the middle of the sea with no sight of anyone. We had open air bunk beds and a bar which is open 24/7. We changed and spent the day canoeing, swimming, playing volleyball, rock climbing, wake boarding and tubing. All of which was amazing fun, silly ed lost his money whilst tubing so opened up a tab. After another delicious fresh lunch and dinner we showered and started to play another drinking game. We had so much fun playing forfeits and card games. We found out one of the Australian guys is actually a sky news reporter as we couldn't take pictures of him. Such a nice guy and I will definitely look out for him when in oz. We went swimming very late which was incredible the water was luminous and we could see fish swimming around us. After we slept under the stars in our bunk beds covered by mosquito nets.

The next day we spent travelling back to the hostel in hanoi stopping for meals. Once we got back we were extremely excited to shower and clear our bags of sand. We met up back at the hostel and had dinner altogether, all lovely people of which were such a laugh to be around. I was sad to say goodbye but a lot of us will be in Australia in December so have agreed to meet for another messy night. It was nice to be around girls, they painted my toes which has made me feel more feminine. We would love to travel south with some of these guys but we have decided to meet them again in hoi an as we have been convinced to join another group of people to head south as they plan to bike ride and trek and me and ed are craving some activity. It was so strange that a guy I met on the castaway trip had mutual friends with me and ed and happened to live in Woburn sands. This world is extremely small!!

The next day we met the new group and got on a coach, an Irish couple, a French guy and a kiwi. We hit it off and travelled 4 hours to cuc phong national park. Once we arrived I got talking to the kiwi that had lived here for over 6 years and he listened to the symptoms when I was Ill in India and it turns out I had dengue fever. I had exactly what he once had and it can be dangerous but rest is all that can cure it of which I tried my best to do. Anyway I have recovered from dengue but have woken up with a massive swollen finger which is also common out here as different tropical bacteria. It was so gross and we have had to cut it open to release the infection.

Anyway once getting to cuc phong in the middle of the jungle we visited a monkey sanctuary where there are endangered species. They were adorable some there are only 40 left in the wild because Chinese are sick and eat their brains for good health and luck!!
We walked around calling the babies and they ran to the front of the cages, so human like. We then visited the endangered turtles for the same reason that Chinese keep them and eat them. They were so slow, what amazed me is they can keep them incubated longer to determine the sex of the turtle which baffles me. After walking about we then grabbed a push bike and started our 20km ride through the national park which at times was very tough. We stopped half way and went and climbed dead mans cave which was so steep to get to. In the cave they found skeletons of three cavemen, it was huge and about 100m long. We got all the way in and saw nothing but when walking to get back out we saw massive spiders, cockroaches, centipedes, bats and lizards. We finally made it to where we were staying which was in the middle of nowhere it was unreal. The butterfly's were huge, there was massive black squirrels and all sorts of spiders, snakes, stick insects and crickets.

There was a group of around 40 women Asian students and when seeing me all ran towards me. They kept touching me and telling me how beautiful they thought I was. They then proceeded to all want a photo with me. They were lovely and friendly far better than the creepy men in India. The occasional boy wanted his photo with me too, it was flattering but so strange they are fascinated with my eyes and hair. We got to our accommodation which was a dive with bugs EVERYWHERE you couldn't escape. We headed to dinner which has been tough in Vietnam as they are big meat eaters so I filled up on veg and rice once again. We then tried Vietnese rice wine which was similar to whiskey....blergh!! After dinner we agreed on a jungle trek and walked through the jungle looking for wildlife. Leaches were everywhere we had to be careful and so was spiders, stick insects, crickets, lizards and rats. We really wanted to see a snake as in the day a python had been found but we had no such luck. Sleep was interesting I awoke every couple of hours scared what was in the bed. But we had a guard dog so when getting up for the toilet he showed us the way waited and walked us back was so sweet.

Today we have spent travelling for the majority so I have had the chance to write out this blog. The views have been amazing as we drove through the hoh chi ming trail of Vietnam. Our driver is from Vietnam and is convinced he knows the roads well so he has sped the whole way it's been a bumpy ride to say the least!! Since being over here I have learnt so much about the war and it is so interesting being where it happened encourages you to want to learn more. My finger has thankfully started to get smaller!! It has been so hot but we have had rain its the strangest thing but it feels great standing out in it!! It's nearly been 4 weeks since we left, in some ways it feels like a lifetime but then I think of all we have seen and done and its going incredibly quick!!

I'll update you all when I again have the free time to write. Big love and hugs from us both xx