GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!

Although not such a good one.... Hanoi did not get off to the best start as it was freezing cold and pouring down with rain for pretty much the whole time, it was like being back in Manchester! We spent the best part of day 1 agonising over which tours we were going to book for Halong Bay and Sapa. It's just so hard to know whether you're getting scammed or not and how much you should be bargaining for things. Anyway after finally deciding on a Halong Bay trip and to do a motorbike trip in Sapa (it only took 4 hours for the hostel to book it for us) we had the longest unsuccessful search for a KFC known to man which did nothing to improve our mood, and everything to encourage a scream!

Next morning was a completely different story as we set off to Halong Bay and the sun was shining! We met Lucky our tour guide who was really nice and funny and straight away we knew it would be a good trip! 3 hours later we were at the port and boarded what would be our home for the next 24 hours. It seemed we had landed on our feet as we had been upgraded to a nicer boat (the Christina Suites) and it was flashpacking at it's finest, and definitely wins the award for biggest showerhead and nicest bathroom of travelling so far!

After a proper Vietnamese style lunch (ie lots of food in the middle of the table which you have to share with complete strangers) we went to 'surprising cave' where we saw lots of cool rock formations which looked like other objects (if you have a very good imagination). By far the best likeness was 'the cannon' or 'the pointing finger' (though it DEFINITELY looked a lot more like something else!).

After that it was time for a bit of kayaking where we explored the bay and the floating village. It was really beautiful and so peaceful that we for once managed not to have a domestic whilst sharing a 2 man canoe! But for the record Jonny my paddling is not unpredictable!

We then stopped off at a small island to watch the sunset which was pretty special. Little did we know though this would be the last time we would see the sun for days! It really was a brilliant day though and neither of us could believe how different we felt from the day before in Hanoi where we just wanted to get on the next flight back home!

After another Vietnamese style dinner (I have come to realise this doesn't suit me because it involves too much p**** footing around and slows down my eating) it was time for another Vietnamese tradition.... Karaoke!! Me and Jonny avoided it for as long as we could by trying our hand at squid fishing... However there was only so long we could loiter on the end of the boat not catching any before we got roped in! It was fun but most entertaining was watching the bar man give it stacks, as if he was auditioning for Vietnam X Factor or something!

Our 6am get up to watch the sun rise next day was abruptly abandoned when I poked my head out of the curtains to see that the mist had descended! So we got ourselves a lie in! Then we headed to Cat Ba island where first stop was the national park. We diced with death to get to the top of the hill by climbing up steep, sharp and slippery rocks and rickety ladders and hand rails made from bamboo covered with rusted metal. We've done bungy jumps and sky dives yet this was probably the most scared we've been! Then at the top of the hill was a metal tower which swayed in the wind and didn't exactly feel firm under foot - it would have been worth it except it was so misty that we couldn't really see anything!

In the afternoon we took a trip to Monkey Island. The monkeys there were pretty used to human contact an didn't think twice about coming and stealing food, drinks, cameras or basically anything they could get their hands on! The babies were pretty cute but the mother was downright scary, really fat with a bright red face and behind and she took no prisoners!

That night we were seated for dinner with and elderly Vietnamese couple, which we were somewhat confused about because the rest of the time we had been sat with other people our age who spoke English! So after muttering things to each other and Jonny joking about wanting to be adopted by them, it transpired they had lived in California for the last 30 years and spoke very good English. Cringe! Still, they were really nice and way better banter than the couple we were usually sat with! After that, Lucky took us out to a local bar where we tried 'happy water' ie rice wine. We got kicked out at closing time but were somehow peer pressured into staying out for more drinks by two 19 yr old Aussie guys. We went to another bar which served us THE WORST pineapple daiquiri ever before also kicking us out! Cat Ba is clearly not the place for a big night out.

Next day we had decided to spend and extra day in Cat Ba so after a long lie in and finally managing to drag a hungover Jonny out of bed (seriously- being almost 28 has taken it's toll on him) we decided to hire a motorbike and drive round the island! It was really good fun- if a little hairy at times with the crazy Vietnamese traffic where small always yields to big! We drove all the way to hospital cave where the Vietnamese hid during the war. It was a kind of building within the cave which was pitch black and we were given torches to explore. I was so creeped out I had to wait outside and send Jonny in by himself... It reminded me of Blair Witch Project or something!

Unfortunately our adventure was somewhat cut short by the fact that we were low on petrol and then we got a flat tyre, which we only realised when several Vietnamese men started yelling at us from across the street! So we just went back to our hotel room to try and avoid all responsibility, which was probably one of the dampest rooms ever- in fact the whole hotel always seemed to have a thin layer of moisture on it and constantly be being mopped!

After a nap we decided we should go for a walk along the sea front before dinner, which was nice except it was so misty we could barely see where the sea front was! Also there had been (yet another) power cut on the island so as dusk set in we could see even less so we gave up and turned back around. Later we went for a pizza and had an early night. Wild!

Bright and early on Tuesday we set off on the journey back to Hanoi. The cruise across Halong Bay was nice, especially as the sun came back out for the first time in days! This was followed by lunch in Halong City, where we found out that all boats due to go to Halong Bay that day had been cancelled due to a cyclone warning!! Seems we had been lucky after all!