So intrepid provided us with flights between Hue and Hanoi which thankfully cut out the 17 hour journey I'd have to make otherwise! Went crawling back to them in the morning and avoided all talk about the fact that I wasn't actually going to be staying with them in Hanoi until we got there. That was awkward... but I think it was pretty clear to everyone that we didn't actually have hardly anything in common, lovely as they all were. Hightailed it out of the hotel as soon as I could and checked into Hanoi Backpackers. This place is insane. It's MASSIVE, and having a bit of a monopoly on backpackers in Vietnam means that pretty much everyone stays here. There's a massive bar and beanbags and pool tables and everything, I like it.

I managed to get onto the Halong Bay cruise for the next day, which is the one everyone I know who's been here has done, and all of them said it was completely mental. And they weren't wrong! There's an option for a party boat or a normal boat but literally nobody does the normal boat, party boat it is! We set off at 7am on the five hour bus to Halong Bay, then got on the boat with the 29 other people on the trip and got straight down to shotgunning some beers. There are three rules on the boat: no drinking with your right hand (BUFFALOOOO!), and no saying the words 'ten' or 'mine', or you have to do press ups. Everything else is fair game.

So yeah, we got drunk. To be fair though we did enjoy the scenery a fair bit too, and it is AMAZING scenery. There are limestone islands sticking up from the ocean everywhere (3000 of them), some of them worn down on the bottom so they look like they're about to topple over. We ended up having amazing weather for our trip which is lucky cos the last 4 tours got rain. We jumped into the water from the top deck of the boat for a bit which was fun, then we went kayaking, where I was once again last but only cos I was taking photos the whole time while the guy I was with did the work. Obviously karma wasn't keen on this so I ended up getting water into the bag I was keeping my non-waterproof camera.... and it exploded. Three cameras dead, great. I wasn't going to let it get me down though so I went exploring in some caves, had a bit of a headtorch rave, and then got back to the boat.

We played a load of drinking games, which all got a bit extreme (people had told me that everyone gets naked on the boat but Jesus), I won't go into the sordid details. James our tour guide somehow managed to convince me to eat this really hot chilli, which considering I can't even handle the mild one at Nando's, was a bit of a stupid idea and I was a total mess for about half an hour afterwards. We danced around a bit then eventually all passed out somewhere.

Next day we were gonna be staying on this deserted island in some huts. Seeing as my camera had exploded I'd wrapped my memory card in some tissue in my purse. I went to the bar and it fell out but I assumed it was rubbish and left to get on to the island. Boat drove off. No more photos of Vietnam. I am completely gutted about this but am going to have to let it go, I suppose life isn't ALL about taking photos. Probably.

Anyway the island was awesome. We had a lot of activities included in the tour so I got to show off my (complete lack of) climbing skillz, and we went speed tubing. Speed tubing is when you hold on to a few straps on a rubber tube and get dragged behind a VERY fast moving speedboat, bumping up and down as you go over waves and being spun around in circles. It's terrifying but so much fun! It also bloody hurts cos your chin keeps getting whacked against the other person's arm, your legs are hanging off the tube getting bashed against the ocean which feels a bit like whacking them against concrete, while your arms are so stretched trying to hold on that it feels like what I imagine being drawn would be like. Three days later I still can't fully extend my arms and my legs are covered in bruises... So worth it though.

Spent the rest of the day lying on the beach and burying James in the sand, trying to get over the hangover so I could start all over that night. This night turned out to be even more out there than the first, definitely an experience. Best bit was playing with the fluorescent plankton in the ocean. Every movement sets off a trail of white swirling dots and the ocean actually glows. I've done this before in Madagascar but it never gets old, I could have quite happily sat there all night being a big kid...

Next morning we crawled back to the boat and made our way back to shore. Had a pretty painful bus journey back to Hanoi then ended up watching the Hunger Games with the crazy kids in my dorm; Calum, Ross and Tally. Calum and Ross it turns out were at full moon at the same time as me at the same bars and spoke to most of my friends, stalky. They're all 18 and 19 though and make me feel like a grandma. Next morning the four of us set off to explore the city, a plan that was slightly foiled by the fact that everything closes in the morning here! We did go to see the prison though which was a bit strange; half of it is dedicated to the torture the Americans subjected the Vietnamese prisoners to and half of it is all about how well the Vietnamese took care of the American prisoners (apparently Christmas roast and parties and everything!) The museums in Saigon are the same, maaaybe a bit of bias going on, keeping a good level of skepticism about it! Then we ate ice cream and wandered around a lake.

That night we played a pub quiz in the hostel then went out in Hanoi with the guys as well as Holly and Brittany; the girls I was travelling with in Laos who had just turned up. Was really nice to catch up with them! Ross and Calum have all the energy of a pair of puppies, so we ended up having a pillow fight with this random Vietnamese girl and the night ended with them trapping me in the hostel lift and sending me up to the 8th floor 5 times in a row... bloody kids!

I've loved Hanoi and the last week since I've left the tour has been one of the best of my travels so far. but now it's time to leave Vietnam... sad face. I'm not massively keen on it as a country to be fair but I've met some awesome people over here and the fact that I now only have four days left in Southeast Asia is bumming me out. I was going to fly to Koh Phi Phi but my friend Ed's been trying to get the boat over there and says there's been storms every day so I decided to give it a miss, which I am pretty sad about, but maybe one day. So I'm flying to Bangkok tonight and spending all day today writing really long blog posts and maybe FINALLY putting some photos online before a freak accident destroys them all again. Quite happy to just spend the next few days doing nothing but I doubt that'll happen!