S: We left the island in the rain and although it was raining heavily, the scenery was still breath taking. It eventually got out sunny, and we decided to stop for lunch, numb bottom time lol. I impressed myself by ordering in Vietnamese, and was so happy until the lady started talking to me and then I had no idea lol. When James popped to the toilet, the lady serving us just stood tall, and made the even taller gesture and I just laughed and replied yes. James is like a giant in Asia, and the locals always comment. So we continued on our journey, it's quite amusing to ride in Vietnam, because as soon as the locals realise it's a westerner they slow down/speed up, shout and wave to get our attention. It's going to be very difficult coming home to not being famous lol.

I'm sure we would get to these places quicker if James didn't moan about his numb bottom so again we stopped for coffee and a man who was about to leave sat down with us, just to practice his English. Just to let you know the journey was only 150 kilometers to Ninh Binh.

J: Once the sun got out we were bombing along the road, at one with the locals, when the police jumped out and waved us down..... 3 of them stood around us, one said "hello" I said hello back and another waved us through, I was slightly confused but I think they either wanted to say hello or couldn't be bothered with the embassy line lol.

S: I did start to think, 'oh dear - here we go?' But I think they were just being nosey lol.

J: We went to the Trang An Grottoes. Once you have a ticket you get in a small boat and get rowed on a still river that winds between the beautiful mountains and through the middle of some of the mountains. These caves were so small, everyone in the boat had to duck at times, I was kissing my knees constantly. Some of the caves were used to make wine due to the consistent temperature, apparently it wasn't for sale so I think the boat ladies just drank it to them selves. Although our boat guide spoke no English we had 3 Vietnamese girls in our boat, Phoung, Phan & Tran, they where really helpful and translated for us. They also guided us at the points we got of the boat to walk to the different temples on some of the mountains. They were lovely and really helpful but they found it funny that strangers wanted to say hello and take photos of us just because we are English, it's the norm these days lol.

S: We hopped back on the bike and visited Bai Dinh Pagoda, it was huge. There were 502 statues to look at, each a different Buddha. The main temple was fascinating, and the shrine was massive, and just to let you all know it's about a kilometer continuously up stairs.