Arriving back in Hanoi after our trip to halong bay, quickly booking a hotel on the way back at the service station! Getting back to Hanoi only planning on spending one night due to us not loving cities however we ended up being there for 5 nights due to sorting visas and everything being very rushed as only a few days left in our visa for Vietnam so decided not to risk going anywhere else ! We had a couple of really good day and a couple of days just trying to pass time with not too much else left for us to do in the city!

One day we went on the hoa lu - tam coc day tour which is also know as the Halong bay on land! We had a really good day with a nice group of people, had a massive buffet lunch in a restaurant (never seen so many spring rolls!!) and then onto a rowing boat for a 2 hour trip with just two people sitting in each boat rowed by a Vietnam women where they use their feet to row instead of their hands, was quite cool looked difficult though! We went along the river under through some caves that formed tunnels gave it all a lot of character! 2 hours went very fast along with also getting tempted to buy a things from the women on the boat ( I can never resist as dom will tell you all!)

After the boat ride we went on a half hour or so cycle ride through the country side and a village which was so nice! However on the most uncomfortable bikes ever but it was worth it! Then the tour was over and we made our way back to Hanoi!

Next day we were lost for things to do and dom found a massive mall, not like any kinda mall, it was MASSIVE! And it was all underground like 4 storeys underground with us being the only foreigners to be seen in sight! There was a water park, ice ring, cinema and loads more! Of course we went to the water park tried to do some proper swimming but that proved difficult with all the Asians who can't swim gathered at the shallow end together plus the water was so foggy you couldn't see! So we gave up on this and went to the slides 'the thrill section' and eventually convinced ourselves to go on this one slide I was particularly nervous (dom won't admit that he was) getting encouraged to go on it by dom and some Asian lifeguards I really had no choice and it was so fun!!! We went on lots of other slides and then went for food! After also going to cinema to see Jurassic world ( film shown in English and they have to read subtitles) we got a cute couple seat which was like a mini sofa and pop corn!!
After a couple more days our month in Vietnam had come to an end and we have had the best month ever with so many memories and experiences and we certainly won't forget any of it!! Yet we still have much more to come! (Half way through now!)
Now onto Laos, just a 24 hr bus journey away, something neither of us our looking forward too! (But 5 days till my birthday!!!!)