Hello From Vietnam!!

Well so far vietnam has been a mixed bag of cloud and boiling sun and pouring rain all intermixed with beautiful scenery and lovely towns and cities. we arrived on the evening of 24th to a manic backpackers hostel in Hanoi filled with british travellers! the question was not where in the world ru from but rather where in the uk :) we didnt stay there long, however, as we booked straight onto a tour the next morning to Ha Long bay- filled with british travellers!! :)

After a 4 hour bus ride we eventually hit Ha Long. it was cloudy, the water was dirty and it was a busy, noisey and generally fairly chaotic little harbour. after only a short wait however we got on our transfer boat and headed to our boat for the night- the Jolly Roger, it doesnt really need to be said that we were on the party boat!! slowly we headed out into the bay while eating the most wonderful vietnamese food- squid and prawns and of course the obligatry noodles and rice :) the further we headed out into the bay, the clearer the water became and slowly we left the bustle of boats and became surrounded by a vast number of little islands. cropping out of the sea were huge jagged rock faces covered in greenery. everywhere you turned there we new little islands, slowly disappearing into the misty distance. the layers of islands disappearing into the differnt blues and greys on the horizon was stunning. eventually the boat stopped when we were surrounded by nothing but islands and it was time to jump in!! the water was beautiful! so warm and clear! but after a few jumps in off the top of the boat it was time for kyaking. we all got into our kyaks and headed out into the mass of islands- for it has to be said what seemed like an age :D it was so peaceful though, and emily and i kept stopping for breaks so it wasnt too much hard work. we kept stopping and just staring, it was incredible. at one point, tho we were in the middle of the group we could only just see those ahead, and those behind were round the corner of the island behind and we were almost on our own- it was so quite and peaceful! we were loving it! we headed for a cave and there got out of our kyaks and headed into one of the islands. after creeping through so fairly tight holes, with very little light, i having forgotten both my tourches, we emerged into a cavern in the middle of the island filled with stalagtites, which glistened when u shone ur torch on them-the fairy cave :) it was awesome! after that we headed back to our boat and had another awesome meal and partied the night away with some liverpudlians, two welshies and other random brits! Great fun!

The naxt day was spent heading back to land and to hanoi, which we then spent all saturday exploring with Chloe and Laura-the liverpudlians. Hanoi is quite a small city, but with a lovely feel about it. there is not an aweful lot to do, we just wandered round the lake, which reminded me a lot of roath park lake and we ate icecream and played cards!- btw people who know some good 2 player card games do tell as our knowledge is limited to about 3 games! from there we headed to our first sleeper bus! it is a strange and i would have to say fairly unsafe travelling device. with 3 rows of bed running the length of the bus, with a top and bottom bunk, and beds that were definitely designed for the petite vietnamese it was not too comfortable either! however we survived the night and made it to Hue- pronounced Huway not huw we soon discovered :)

In Hue it rained! again it is a small town with not much to do, but in the morning we headed out with a group of argentinians and explored the citidel, in what turned out to be the worst rain of the day. it took about 10 minutes to realise that our rain macs were not really waterproof- we were infact just getting soaked right through! and after all that the citidel was not much cop either :) we had a fun day! haha!! the citidel was 200 years old and had basically all been collapsed either by an earthquake in the 40s or by the american bombs. and to top it all off there were these really tacky plastic pillars and plastic lion statues-it didnt look great. so we decided to spend the afternoon drying out and chilling out- that was good fun!

However, we are now in Hoi An, the weather has improved and the place has certainly improved! This place is lovely!! it is the first place we have both come to and really fallen for. it is a small quite town, with small yellow buildings with dark woodsen fronts. it is chilled, it is peaceful-in comparison to other places anyway and it is so pretty. Hoi An is also the place to get tailoring done and we have both had coats fitted-we pick them up later on this afternoon and i have to say im a little nervous, but the prospect of a tailor made winter coat was too much to resist, and for only $35-bargain!! other than that we have just spent our time wandering through all the little streets, the extensive market and round all the little islands out on the river. we have also been eating good food! for about 1 pound u can get great noodles or rice- it is all so tasty! and the local beer which cost about 18p is pretty good aswell! but this morning we really treated ourselves and went to a place called the cargo club and had poached eggs with holandaise sauce, normal tea, the nicest orange and lime fruit juice, warm rolls with butter and jam and all for just 2 quid- i love this place!! :D

So all is well here in brilliantly hot vietnam! we are having fun despite rainfall and scary buses, we r now heading further south and hopefully not only to more sun but also beaches!! Yay!!

Much love, keep in touch x x x x