Day 129 -

We woke later in the morning and went for breakfast which was included in the price and so it should be. Before we checked out we went in search for a much lower priced guesthouse which we did in no time at all it was called The Bamboo Guesthouse ironically because everything was made out of bamboo. Once we told the woman we'd be back in a minute we went back to the over-priced hotel and checked out.

Back at Bamboo, we checked in, put our bags in our room and went in search for the post office which we needed because our parents had sent our Australian visas via Poste Restante. This happened to be excruciatingly hard work as the woman who could talk little English was so unhelpful and rude that we didn't manage to get our parcels and the whole chaotic journey to the stupid post office turned out to be a waste of time. No worries though as we rang the Aussie bureau ASAP and they said we didn't need the paper part to the visas anyway. Turns out that my parents received the returned parcel a couple of weeks later, what a journey that had!

We spent the rest of the day taking in Hanoi. What a place! Millions of motorbikes, thousands of people and hundreds of market stalls all lined up on the road side. Crossing the road seems more trouble than it's worth and trying to get anywhere without being pestered by salesmen is near impossible; we love it.

In the middle of the city is a really big lake which we walked around for about half an hour before we went back to Bamboo for chill out time.

Day 130-138

The following 8 days may have just been one long tedious day. Each day during this time span felt like Groundhog Day with each hour being as repetitive as the last.

Basically we weren't due to leave Vietnam for Australia until 7th February (my birthday woop!) which meant that we had 8 full days until our departure which also meant that we had to fill our time in a city that doesn't have much to offer. Most people would spend maybe two days here to see it, experience it and go so you can imagine how bored we were after day two.

We did our best to fill the time we had left in Vietnam and Asia for that matter but even that turned out to be more of a laborious task than a pleasurable one. Therefore I'm just going to list the memorable bits in one go as even I could tell you which days they fall on. So: -

·Watched Avatar - wicked!

·Watched some Vampire film - rubbish!

·Went to the shopping mall - no money.

·Checked Oz jobs out - no point until we arrive.

·Read heaps of books - started the Harry Potter collection.

·Mooched around - and around and around, didn't see anything that we hadn't seen at least 1000 times.

·Halong Bay - AMAZING! This was a full day out. Apart from the scary bus rides to and from the bay the day was really one to remember. We went inside a really intriguing cave with bright colours and funky stalactites, had a really nice lunch on a cruise boat and sailed around 100's of rock formations in the ocean, pretty darn cool! Plus we met some really nice people and had a right laugh about the bonkers driving in Vietnam.

·My birthday - 24 today! Celebrated by a full day of travelling!

That's pretty much it and I mean that in more ways than one. The end of Vietnam, the end of Asia and now we're off to Western civilisation, the land down under.

Can't wait to leave but pretty sure we will miss the freedom, experience, madness and sheer chaos of Asia and India which feels like such a long time ago.

Unforgettable points of this journey so far, erm where do I start; the Taj, bareback elephant riding, tubing in Laos, Christmas in Cambodia, bus crashes in Vietnam, Angkor Wat, Thailand beaches, Anthony's flashing fiasco, tuk tuks, RICE, barbeques on the beach, Vodka Lao, orange shakes, Full Moon Parties, Ted Friggin Bane, dead dogs, Khao San Road, the baking sun, cockroaches, MOSQUITOS, motorbikes and so much more memories that would just take too long to write.

One thing I will say is that it has been the best experience we have ever had and will never be forgotten. Roll on the next part of our expedition, Australia baby, here we come...