So...didn't go to Sapa! On our last day in Hanoi all the trips to Ha Long Bay were cancelled because of a typhoon (lucky we'd already been!) and we heard the weather was going to be bad in Sapa so decided we'd just head South to Hue. Turned out to be a wise decision but will get to that in a mo! We met up with Jo (girl we made friends with in Laos) and spent one night in Hanoi Backpackers hostel where she was staying...highly recommend it! As it was a Sunday there was a free keg of beer for us to help ourselves to and it was nice a good way to meet a load of other 'backpackers'. Stayed in an 8 bed dorm which was actually more expensive than we'd been paying staying in a room on our own but much better atmosphere etc :) The next day (Mon 24th Sept) we bought our hop on hop off bus tickets (about 12 quid for a bus which will take us all the way through Vietnam, stopping off at Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Ho Chi Minh City). Caught the bus at 6pm that evening and arrived in Hue at 7am the next morning, bus was typically cramped and full of people so we couldn't have 2 seats to ourselves...damn! So after a sleepless journey we checked into a hotel and spent the whole day in bed..and the next day!! Turns out Claire, me and Jo all got food poisoning from the last meal we had in Hanoi! So we basically spent the whole time in Hue confined to our rooms...such a shame as there was a big parade one night with people dressed up as dragons etc celbrating the 15th day of the lunar month or something, we heard it from our room and saw one dragon...but basically missed all the fun! On our 3rd day in Hue we decided we'd brave the next part of the bus journey down to Hoi An, 4 hours on the bus was bearable and we made it to Hoi An just as it got dark. We checked into a hotel which we moved from the next day to be in the same hotel as Kim, a girl we met through Jo, who'd reserved us a room. Spent the day looking around town which is basically just streets of tailor shops (with a few lantern shops and cafe's inbetween!) You can have anything made for any price depending on your budget and the quality you want. A place called Yaly Couture was recommended and I had a dress made there, I recommend it too!! Me and Claire had a couple of other things each made in a tailors called Blue which were cheaper, but not as good quality. We also had 1 pair of shoes made each...so cheap though that it had to be done!! Most other girls we spoke to had had about 10 jackets made etc!! Bearing in mind that the next 3 days we had torrential rain and had nothing else to do except for shop/go to cafes and eat cakes/drink tea (how very British) we were actually very restrained!! We had a night out whilst in Hoi An, got crammed onto a minibus from a bar called Before & Now (literally you end up sat on someones lap, with someone on your lap etc) and taken to a hotel on the beach where they had a disco and a pool etc. The weather meant we couldn't go on the beach but had a good night and got a motorbike home in the rain :) The rain was relentless, no break whatsoever, as soon as you stepped outside you were soaked, the locals told us it's gonna be like that for the next week or so so we decided to move further South earlier than we'd planned to Nha Trang. The weather here is much better!! We're staying across the road from the municipal beach (3 of us in a room for 10 dollars) and we've had our 1st day since leaving home sunbathing and swimming in the sea, so happy!! Not sure of our plans for the next few days here but hoping to partake in some watersports and take a boat trip across to the nearby islands which are meant to be good for snorkelling.

Hope everyone is well and will try to update again soon... love to all!! Suz and Claire x x x

PS. We've booked flights to Bali from Oct 24th - Nov 7th...very exciting!!

PPS. Nan I hear Nic is priting off our blogs to show you? Hope you're ok!! GET WELL SOON!! And Mum email me at [email protected] please!!