Climbing 421 steps to see the view of Halong Bay was well worth it and there was also a sense of achievement having done it in barefeet. Returning to the boat we jumped off the top deck (more than once) to find the water boiling, after a warning it would be freezing from our Vietmanese tour guide Hanh. After an early lunch we returned to the habour and then onto Hanoi, where I put my clothes into the laundry for the first time. We then met the remaining members of hte tour, instantly annoying Alice by saying I preffered Boston to New York. After supper Jon Helen and I went for a beer hoi with Claud and Mary an elderly South African couple.

A jog around the lake at 7 the following morning was a good wake up before heading to the museum of Ethnology to learn about Vietmanese History, the rationing of the last 50 years was especially interesting. After a quick shop to buy a secret santa gift ( I bought Alice a xylophone). Charlie, Jon, Helen and I headed to Baguette and Chocalat where we ate baguettes!! Followed by a bar overlooking the traffic and lake below. For supper we went to restaurant 69, where I tried to be clever and order in Vietmanese, I ordered the wrong thing and ended up using a straw to eat/suck it! We then caught an overnight train to Hue which left at 11.