Breakfast on the boat and then it was time to work our way back to the jetty - a beautiful place and it has been designated a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1994. Already want to go back for longer... We worked our way back to Hanoi, stopping off along the way, and then went to a local restaurant for lunch. Good to take it easy and just watch the busyness of the Old Quarter go by. Then some of us headed off to the water puppet show - a traditional vietnamese s...

After the hustle and bustle of Hanoi - think too many people living in too small a space, add in thousands of scooters and cars, them mix in a good sprinkling of noise and finish off with the fab smells of vietnamese cooking and that's a taste of what it is like!! - we headed off on a 150km trip on Thursday to Halong Bay. The bay is a body of water approx 1500 square kms and consists of a dense cluster of 1969 momolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle veg...

Another country, another time zone - arrived in Hanoi mid-afternoon and am now on tour with 10 others (mainly from Australia and America for the next 17 days. Dinner at a local restaurant - meal less the a quid (including drink) and then a wander round the old quarter. Off to Halong bay tomorrow....very slow computer so brief blog as typing takes ages!!!

My last night in Malaysia was an introduction to one of Malaysia's favourite pastimes - karaoke!! Ana, owner of the cookery school, took me and some of her friends to REdbox - a massive karaoke bar/restaurant near Petronas towers. WE had a private room, food cooked to order, drinks and a choice of 1000's of songs. Tina Turner started us off and then we sang along to everything from take that to the Carpenters (yes, they like their music old...) Around midnight I ...