Turns out that there isn't actually that much in Hue, it was nice though. Just went to see a couple of sights on the 1st day and went to a cafe run by a deaf family in the evening. It was actually really good food and we all got these homemade bottle openers (a bit of wood with a screw on the end) but the guy demonstrated and it seemed to work ok for him, I haven't been brave enough to try it out yet though. It also tuned ou t that in Vietnam 20th October is Women's Day so we all got roses at the restaurant and then got free cocktails in the bar later.. I think Womens day is a great idea! With free cocktails til 10 we had a great night in Hue but still managed to get up in the morning for a motorbike tour of the countryside around Hue, it was a nice day and we went to see quite a bit I managed to hurt my leg again b ut what's new?!
We were meant to get the night train to Hanoi that evening, but the trains were cancelled because of flooding on the lines, so instead we stayed another night and flew to Hanoi early in the morning. Hue airport is possibly the smallest airport I've ever been to! It only had 1 gate and no real shops. Just some woman selling chocolate and a big rail of random clothes. No electronic shop so still no camera! But we weren't staying in Hanoi for long and got straight on a bus to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is very beautiful but is like Yangshuo but on the sea instead of land! Still beautiful though and we got on a boat and sailed around for the afternoon. We got lunch on the boat, and I tried seafood properly for the 1st time, I only tried prawns and crab but in the evening I was really not well, so I think my seafood days are over already! After lunch we went to some big caves, before sailing around til sunset on the deck drinking beer, it would have been nice to have stayed another night or 2 on the boat or go to Cat Ba island but never mind, we still got to hang around the beach in the morning and get a bit of sun before heading to Hanoi.
First real thing we did in Hanoi was go to this really cheapy street corner for really cheap beer, the others didn't seem to mind it but I thought it was minging and couldn't finish one! But after dinner we went out for drinks, which turned out to be the last big night out before the end of the tour. Really good night out, lots of shots, dancing and I turned DJ for a while with the laptop. Good stuff.. until the next morning when we met for a walking tour of the city, which turned into a walking tour to an all day breakfast. Best chip butty ever followed by some sort of pic n mix type frozen yoghurt, random but good! In the end we just sort of wandered around Hanoi until we came across this huge park with Vietnamese break dancers and skateboarders and we just sat and people watched for a while before heading back to pack for checking out the next day. In the evening we headed out to watch a water puppet show. So so random! Not bad just really odd, from what I could see anyway.. this womans big head was right in my way and she just wouldn't sit still! So annoying! It was the last night as a group but I think everyone was still pretty wrecked from the night before and we only went to the Hair of the Dog (?? i know its a stupid name for a bar!) for a couple before heading back.. anyway I had a mission ahead of me on Monday morning. I was at the Thai embassy at 9, propbably one of the few times I've actually been early and I managed to sort out my 60 day visa for Thailand and it would be ready the next day and it was free! Bargain! But the woman in the embassy was asking me allsorts of random question on universities in England and what the International English programs were like... I tried to blag it but I don't think it really worked! Once I got back it was time for me and Lydia to move to our first hostel. It was nice but we didn't really get long to check it out before going to meet the boys and Holly at the Hanoi Hilton Prison. We got to watch another Vietnamese propaganda video and other prisony stuff but it wasn't nearly as bad as the S-21 prison in Cambodia. Also this afternoon we decided to try book flights into and out of Laos as we didn't have time to get the bus and boat BUT prices had gone way up so instead we decided to skip Laos altogether and do a 2 day trip to SaPa in Northern Vietnam. So off we went.. the overnight train was fine.. no bugs and wildlife free! But the weather in SaPa was not good. Really foggy and drizzley, the scenery is meant to be really beautiful but we didn't manage to see a lot of it, but over the 2 day bike tour we went to see some tribal villages and visited a really poor school, saw some really dark caves (total death trap) and had a shot of rice wine with this tribal family who had just had a wedding so had a lot to spare.. yuk. Oh we also went to see a massive waterfall but had to stop on the way because the guide was shivering and the 4 of us sat huddled around some street womans coals while she cooked whole birds on sticks.. nice! We also had a minor disagreement with the hotel manager as to why it was so fricken cold in the hotel and me and Lydia on our free afternoon spent the time wrapped up in as many layers as we could find and watched films on the film channel. I'm starting to learn that I should always check the weather before booking somewhere! In short, sapa is meant to be a highlight of Vietnam and very beautiful but I found it very cold and wet and people follow you round trying to sell stuff. But the train back was fine it was only when we got dropped back off in Hanoi and had no way of getting back to the hostel that proved a problem.. no one seemed to understand where we wanted to go and we got very fed up wandering Hanoi at 4.30 in the morning... only one more day here then on to Thailand!! Hurray.. I've had enough Vietnam now.