We have changed our itinerary from what we had planned... instead of heading to Laos from Vietnam, we decided to fly from Vietnam to Bangkok then go to Chiang Mai from there where we work in an elephant park. Then go to Laos overland from Chiang Mai.

Arrived in Chiang Mai this morning on an overnight train from Bangkok... here's what we have done since Hoi An:

From Hoi An, we took a sleeper bus heading to Hanoi. On the bus (which was much older than the last one we took, and very cold!) we met two Canadians from Vancouver; Lesley and Cory. They were going to Ninh Binh, a couple of hours south of Hanoi so after a quick read of the guide book we decided to join them! We arrived at 5.30am to find a complete change in the weather from Hoi An. It was freezing!!! After some argument about prices (the night porter only wanted to show us the most expensive rooms at the hotel we had been dropped off at), we finally agreed on an $8 per night room. Went to bed for a couple of hours sleep before going to a walk around the town... mainly in the hope of finding some warm clothes to buy, with a German girl called Jule who had the same idea.

After some soup for lunch we headed off to Tam Coc along with Jule, Lesley and Cory to visit some amazing limestone karst scenery. We went by boat (paddled by two Vietnamese ladies, and Alex for a bit until he got too tired!), through rice paddies and limestone caves. The scenery was spectacular, but it was nice to arrive back at the hotel and warm up with some Vietnamese tea!

The following day, after a lot of persuasion we managed to get a fairly reasonably priced taxi to the national park, first stopping off at a Monkey Sanctury where they rescue monkeys and gradually reintroduce them back into the wild. We set off for a 7 km walk through the jungle in the pouring rain, visiting some caves and the biggest tree in the park, but saw very little wildlife because of the rain! Arrived back to our hotel soaking wet with no way to dry our clothes as the rooms didn't have heating! The evening was spent in Jule's room, drinking beer and trying to keep warm under our duvets!

Set off with all our bags towards the bus stop to find a public bus to Hanoi, but on the way one found us and stopped to pick us up! Arrived at some unknown bus station (know one could understand enough English to tell us where we were!) and we all piled into two taxis who took us to the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, while overcharging us. Lunch was bought from a street vendor - spring rolls and deep fried pie things! Then Alex and I headed to the post office where we sent our first box of things home: all the souvenirs we had bought so far and the clothes we had made in Hoi An. Met Jule, Lesley and Cory for dinner at an Indian restaurant before visiting the night market then back to Lesley and Cory's room for a bit (they were staying in a hotel so had heating!)

The 27th was spent wandering around the old quarter of Hanoi, visiting the temple on the lake and lots of small shops down all the side streets. We took a cyclo to the market (who wanted more money than we gave him so instead we gave him half a pack of oreos which he seemed happy with!!). Then we checked into our hotel, which Alex told me he had booked for $15, but it was clear the minute we walked into the entrance that it was much nicer than that!! The entrance was huge and all made of marble with lots of Vietnamese ornaments and water features. We were shown to our room, which was by far the nicest place we had stayed in since going away! I opened my birthday card from my parents to find $60 for a meal out, and Alex and I headed to a Japenese restaurant recommended by the hotel. We chose the $30 set menu (partly because we didn't know what anything was!), and it turned out to be huge! Every time we finished one dish the next one arrived... sushi, tempora, miso soup.... all amazing!

My 22nd Birthday was spent walking around the old quarter, before returning to the hotel to move to our next room, according to Alex, we were moving into a cheaper one, but it turned out to be the Junior Suite (best room in the hotel!).... complete with our own covered balcony and garden and complimentary wine! There was a knock on the door and the two hotel porters came in with a huge bunch of flowers and a card from Alex, singing happy birthday in brilliant Vietnamese accents! It was the most amazing room I have ever seen, so I didn't want to leave it half an hour later when we headed off to see the Water Puppets show. The Water Puppets is a traditional show that originally started when the fields flooded and the farmers had little else to do. Today, many glamourous puppets are made to dance to hectic music whilst at the same time telling a story. The colours and scene is just amazing - a must do if anybody is to visit Vietnam in the near future. We met up with our old intrepid group for dinner - it was their last night on their trip, and their tour guide even organised a huge chocolate cake for me! Two of the girls had also bought me a really strange pink cake!

Breakfast was served in our room the next morning before we headed off on a trip to Halong Bay. The bus took about 3 hours with a stop off at a craft shop. We boarded our junk and set off into the islands. The first stop was at an amazing cave with huge stalagtites and stalagmites, lit with colourful lights. After sailing for another few hours we arrived at Cat Ba Island where we got a very decrepid minibus driven at a ridiculous speed across the Island through incredible karst landscape and tiny villages. Cat Ba town had a huge harbour full of fishing boats, although the front was all hotels. We walked to the beach for a view over some other Islands, bumping into Jule on the way, and saw a dog being killed on the side of the road for meat - very disturbing. After skimming some stones, we headed back to the hotel where we chatted to some crazy Malaysian people who persuaded us that we have to go and visit them in Malacca when we go to Malaysia.

Back to the boat in the morning, and on the way back to Halong we visited some caves in a smaller boat that set off from a small floating village. Despite being secluded, this village had funding from the British Government to build a small school which is currently used today. After constant hassling from fruit sellers we boarded the boat and sailed back to the bay through the wind and numerous Sea-Eagles. After a brief lunch we took the bus back to Hanoi where we relaxed in the hotel before we flew to Bangkok. The flight was unfortunately delayed by an hour but the flight itself went very quickly as we made friends with another Aussie who lives and works in Melbourne - yet another person to visit! We landed in Bangkok just after 11pm and after collecting our luggage we took a taxi to the infamous Khao San road.

We will leave it there for now as we have some bargaining to do in the market. Our next update will be in a week or so as we are off to work in the Elephant Nature Park tomorrow and we will not return until Sunday. There is no internet or phone connection so if you wish to contact us we will have our mobiles. See you soon,

Heather and Alex