Having arrived in Hue early afternoon we went for lunch at the Mandarin Cafe and were then picked up from the hotel for a motorbike tour. Our moto tour was one of the best experiences of our whole trip. It took in a small scale incense and hat making factory, ancient tombs, the demilitarised zone, animal fighting arena, national pagoda and the paddy fields. After returning to the hotel we had dinner and crashed out for the night. A lie in the next morning prepared us for the long journey to Hanoi on the 3pm train. We arrived at 4 in the morning and drove for 3hrs to Halong Bay, where we had breakfast and a nap before departing on our boat at noon. We had a seafood lunch onboard and cruised firstly to a floating fishfarm and then onto caves. We all sunbathed on the top deck in between stops. After dinner we stayed up really late chatting to Olivia. In the morning we drove back to Hanoi and walked around the city, had lunch and did a little shopping. That evening we went to the theatre for a water puppets show which was different but pretty amusing. Dinner at 69 was great, some of the best food in Vietnam so far. The day after we walked around the lake, had amazing ice cream and looked around the temple of literature. Dinner was at little Hanoi and drinks at Dragonfly to say goodbye to Paul, Olivia and Lydia, but when we went to leave there was a complete downpour and we got soaked just getting into a taxi. On the 27th we drove all day to reach the border with Laos, stopping at a breathtaking viewpoint along the way.