7th August - Nha Trang
We treated ourselves to yet another long lie ... We were needing it, I swear!! Had a wee saunter through nha trang to get some lunch and then picked up our laundry to take back to the hotel. Emma joined us and we went to the beach where we happened to bump into our 'lush' welsh pals Abs and Ellie who were now joined by their friend from home Gwen. Delighted to be reunited the three of us joined them and we all filled each other in on what had been happening since we last saw them in Saigon. Ellie wanted to go parasailing so I said I'd go with her, it was hilarious, and the scenery was beautiful; we both crapped ourselves when the guy dropped us low over the water ... And then again when it seemed like we were going to clothesline a bunch of locals on the beach below when they were bringing us down to land. It was great fun. It started to get overcast and we needed to go meet the others for dinner so said bye to the girls again but made plans to meet them in a few days when we'd all be in Hoi An at the same time, we already miss them from the group! Before dinner the heavens opened and torrential rain poured down; we'd never seen rain like it - decided that we'd brave it anyway and head out for food ... V lost a flipflop in the floods but managed to recover it. The rain was so heavy that it soaked through all of our waterproofs! We all found it pretty funny though. After dinner we head to get the sleeper train - this one is supposed to be the worst, we've heard horror stories about cockroaches and rats, so we're all pretty apprehensive. When we get on it does look pretty grimey and there's a few bugs that Emma and V quickly squash. Not keen on the journey I just get out my sleeping bag, crawl into it and close the opening as tight as it goes, put in my headphones and pretend I'm somewhere else. My tactic worked pretty well, slept most of the journey and noone saw any cockroaches or rats thankfully!

8th August
We arrived in Danang then got the bus to Hoi An. After a quick lunch we got possibly the best ice cream ever (I got 2 scoops of sorbet; 1 passionfruit 1 strawberry) then walked around the shops and visited one of the tailors the town is so famous for. Jen got a dress tailor made - it'll be ready the next morning for a first fitting and finished by the next evening which is pretty impressive. We met up with Lexie and Jess who arrived a few days before us but only got to see them for 10 minutes as they had to head to get a sleeper to Hanoi that evening. It's good to see them nonetheless, they were both hilarious! After dinner we went to a bar for some of the local brew 'beer hoi' which costs 4000 dong which is about 15p... It's rice beer so isn't the best tasting in the world but at 15p I'll take it!!! My first impression of Hoi An is that it is a beautiful and relaxed town. It's really strange to see such an obvious mix of French and Asian styles but strange in a very good way. We find it even more chilled out than nha trang and definately more beautiful and clean - we all agreed that the hotel is our favourite so far as well.

9th August Hoi An
Wake up early and go pick up bikes from a local guy who rents them out (Victoria doesn't fancy the cycle so her and Steph are going to have a shop and beach day while I go with the others) . We Head out and cycle around the local villages surrounding Hoi An in the countryside, cycling through rice fields, lotus fields and herb gardens. The lotus flowers are my new favourite - they're so vibrant and bright and have just a tiny fragrance that smells really fresh. We cycle past ponds and little bridges made from bamboo - it's very picturesque and we were lucky to have a very sunny day for it, even although we left at 8 in the morning it's absolutely roasting. The local kids run out to wave and shout hello as we cycle past, they're all so adorable. It felt good to be out on the bike, can't remember the last time I was, although it has to be said these bikes aren't in the best condition - mine has a thing against steering to the left, not ideal on all the winding corners that turn to the left. The others find this hilarious; cheers pals! After a few hours we stop for a quick drink then cycle on to a small jetty where we fire the boats on to a boat then sail up the river back into town then cycle back to the hotel. Afterwards we go do a bit of shopping then head to the beach to meet V and Steph. We enjoy the beach for a few hours (which is even nicer than nha trang) then head back to get ready for dinner. We all meet up with Abs, Ellie and Gwen. The rest of the night consists of lots of buckets and Saigon beer, more torrential rain, motorbikes to the sun bar, writing SCOTLAND and Cymru over any inch of wall we could find (it's the done thing in the sun bar) free shots of warm rum, pool and chats with some British guys, skidding along the floor and general messiness which results in me and Jen getting a motorbike back to the hotel and V joining the others to anther bar... I'd had too many warm rum shots...

10th August Hue
Feel.Like.Death...
I'm last on the bus which means I get landed with the s*** makeshift seat, coupled with my hangover and the ridiculously bumpy roads of Vietnam results in me getting out my sleeping bag and resorting to napping in it in the isle of the bus which is much comfier believe it or not. It's official: I can sleep ANYWHERE. I think I've inherited it from Papa Pete. We arrive in Hue and I head straight to bed while the others go to visit the citadel. V and I watch a film when she gets back which we both end up loving but have no idea what it's called. Then we head out into Hue, V in search for food, me for something sugary. I'm glad of being able to just chill as I'm really not feeling up to much at this point.

11th August Hue/Sleeper Train
Supposed to go on a 4 hour motorbike tour of the area but when I wake up I still feel terrible and run down.  We have the sleeper tonight before we head to halong bay so I weigh up my options and I decide I won't miss much if I dingy the motorbike tour and rest as I can't bear the thought of still being ill the next day and missing halong bay. So V goes off with the others and I go back to sleep for an hour or so, when I get up I repack my backpack (it's pretty unorganised lately) and reading my new book 'first they killed my father' written by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime - I had heard about it in Cambodia and managed to get a copy in Hoi An for $2. Force myself to eat some lunch and feel a bit better for it. Then we all head to the station - our train is delayed by 2 hours. Eventually we get on and start on our 13 hour long journey to Hanoi. The guys play cards while I sit engrossed in my book - definately a worthwhile buy. Although it has me in tears a few times - such a whitey. This train is the nicest we've been on so far but it's also the bumpiest. Started to feel quite motion sick actually. Got to sleep eventually but woke up a few times because of the movement. The air con and electricity also cuts out for about 2 hours - woke up suffocating in the heat- kicked off my sleeping bag then realised we were in the middle of a massive lightning storm. It was actually pretty cool. We were all awake so tried to watch out of the window for a bit, then the air con whirred on and we all fell back asleep....

Xxxxxxxx