So another day another country (its so weird this travelling malarky!!). Well me and george made it safely on our own to Vietnam on the so called 'party bus' which takes 24 hours!!! not so much a party really but not actually that bad. Set off about half 7 on friday night and got to Hanoi about 8 o'clock the saturday night. Spent about 5 hours at the boarder crossing cause we arrive there at 4 in the morning but i doesn't actually open till 7 so have to wait around on the bus which is a bit silly but hey ho. then took about 2 hours to actually cross over the boarder (far to much paper work and queueing involved!!) but anyway slept for a lot of it and managed o get my own seat inamongst the big bags of rice and stuff they transport with us! actaully slept in the aisle on the bags for some of it to stretch out a bit! So when we got to hanoi we checked into our guest house and then had to dump our stuff have a quick shower and then rush out the get to a bar to watch the FA cup final (george insisted!). Liverpool won she was dead chuffed. it was a good laugh pub was full of english people and got chatting to a few. Since being in Hanoi (3 days) we have done loads of sightseeing and far too much walking!!! my bum should be reducing after all of this if not i shall be most upset! We have also been to the circus (never been to one before, very good apart from the animal bit at the end). Went for a massage the other day which i have also never done. we made sure we found a respectable one (obvious what they could be used as!) but it was still very strange! Ok though nothing too dodgey. Also went to see Ho Chi Minh Masuleom which was very strange, bit freak showish looking at some blokes embalmed body and the museum which was very arty and i come out none the wiser about what he actually did but it was good anyway. To sum up though hanoi is good, the roads are very scarey, the people like to point and laugh at the 2 fat western girls (good for the self esteem!) but everyone here is a size 8 so not that bothered. Tuk Tuk drivers like to hit me for attention not so good and the food is hard to come by but it has been an experience which is what its all about. Moving on to Ninh Binh today so i'll let you know what its like there. sending you lots of luv, thanks for the messages, keep them coming!