Christmas was wild!! We left Hanoi early doors on the 23rd December, 7am to be exact and began our journey to the private Island where we spent the next 3 nights far from sober. Seeing as it was Christmas and for the majority of the group our first Christmas away from home, we decided to splash out a little and book ourselves on a "Castaway tour". Basically a bunch of backpackers get taken to this island deep within the depths of Halong Bay (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world) to then get non stop boozy... We did this with the intention of making Christmas really upbeat and fun, to be surrounded by like minded travellers who would help make being away from home this year just that little bit easier! This was the sequence of transport we took in order to get us to our final destination: A coach, then a speed boat, then another coach, a big boat where on the top deck you had the chance to get the celebrations going by getting the beers in and then finally we were transferred onto a little speed boat which brought us right up to this wooden platform that was placed a way into the ocean, attached to the platform was a wooden walkway we had trundle across to get us right up onto the golden sands of the island. On arrival we were wowed, the view was so stunning... Perfect in fact! A "cultural cruise" was leaving that afternoon, only a few hours after settling in so we decided to sign ourselves up for that as it was a quality way to kick start off our time at Halong Bay. 5% culture, 95% partying... That is all I need to say. Apart from spending most of the next day on kayaks, going further a field and exploring our surroundings more, most of our time was spent getting very merry, playing drinking games. Tessa and I shared a kayak. We paddled off into the distance to then come across a cave in one of the ginormous boulders that elevated so highly upwards out of the sea. We decided to dock our kayak and check it out. The ground beneath our feet was made purely out of the most angelic shells and we even got to witness a bunch of hermit crabs scurrying around, the alcove was such a little gem. So the partying on the island was pretty much out of control, we'd only been there no longer than 5 minutes and already seen this guy who had gone full potato make a complete fool out of himself jump high up onto and walk starkers across one the wooden beams that held up the main hanging out area. Goolies flying here, there and everywhere... It really wasn't the most pleasant welcoming! Haha. When Christmas eventually came around it honestly didn't feel as if it was, jokey Christmas presents were flung through the air at us for us to catch and unravel before we tucked into chicken and mash potato for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent being jolly, prancing all over the tables to Christmas songs - The island has a little magical touch to it, late in the evening right at the very end of the platform that ventures out into the sea you could head down there and either go for a dip or pop one of your limbs into the water and wade around to find a trail of bright white sparkles glowing back at you!! It's unbelievable and to think it's only plankton.. This very moment really made our Christmas Day.

Back to base (Hanoi) on the evening of the 26th, where we jumped on a sleeper bus to Phong Nha the next night. I just quickly need to tell you about a couple of people I haven't yet mentioned as they are important to me and people I've spent a while travelling with on and off. Lauren and Tibor are their names, a couple from North London who I met on the sleeper bus from Laos to Hanoi. They are a brilliant bunch! We went our separate ways for a little while at Christmas but reunited to make our way down to Phong Nha together and we've stuck together ever since. Phong Nha is famous for its caves it has located within the area, so we made it a day thing, grabbed a couple of motor bikes and went and had a browse. That evening we kept the ball rolling and jumped back onto a sleeper train that took us to Hue. We got there at 3am in the pitch black but luckily we had reservations booked at hostel 25 minute walk away. Our time Hue was once again short and sweet as we only stayed there 2 nights. The first day spent there it was hammering it down with rain most of they day, rainy season was really starting to get on top of us so I made a suggestion to try and raise spirits to pay a spa a visit, to go and have some time in a sauna and bring some relaxation, warmth to our bones. We ended up carrying out our good deed for the day and payed the blind massage institution a visit where the money you pay for services goes back into the organisation, to help and supply them with facilities. Strong smelling herbs were put into our steam rooms witch helped ease the congestion we were suffering with. We have had it in our heads for a while now to get from Hue further down South to Hoi An via motorbike as we've been told on numerous occasions how beautiful the journey is. That very evening we organised our bikes to be ready for us at 8 o'clock to then go onto familiarising ourselves with the route we planned to take. After an early night we got geared up with elbow and knee pads which pretty much all the locals we passed found hilarious, I don't blame them for pointing and laughing to be honest we did look like some sort of a joke. Better safe than sorry though! We were so hyped up for the journey ahead, the sun was beaming down on us for the first time in a long time. So we quickly nipped round the sights of Hue, grabbed a spot of breakfast and hit the road at 10am.

It took us in total 8 and half hours, so we arrived at our hostel in Hoi An at 6:30pm. Once again Tessa and I were on one bike so we could share the journey between us and Tibor and Lauren on another. There was two options when it came down the getting there, we could have traveled along the main roads.. Boring!! Or take the more scenic route alongside the beach. It was thrilling! From start to finish. It was far from straight forward though but this added to the excitement, there was a point where we had to join up with main road for a while. There was tons of roadworks going on the bridge we had to climb across and the whole road was blocked off! Dilemma.. So we just followed our instincts and the flow of the diversion which ended up being so intense, at one point we were practically down a narrow alleyway having to deal with constant flood of oncoming traffic whilst trying to pass through. Tight squeeze is a massive understatement. We eventually made it out the other side, alive. In one piece also and at the point very thankful for our knee and elbow pads! The journey was so diverse, just like Vietnam on a whole.. One minute we'd be absorbing the most wonderful sights (waterfalls, beaches, mountain peaks, family of goats) then the next thing you know we'd be living on the edge, heart pounding, tackling the manically busy main roads with motorbikes shooting at us from all angles. On arrival, we couldn't help but feel so chuffed with ourselves especially because we didn't even get lost.

Hoi An was simply so wonderful, bursting with ancient looking rugged buildings but ever so vibrant. I really enjoy my time there, so much so I even felt sad when the time to leave came around. It was the perfect setting when it came to seeing the new year in! New Year's Eve was spent releasing lanterns into the river that ran right through the old town, we chose to do this on that particular night to symbolise letting go of 2014 and all the ups/downs, trials and tribulations that came with it. A very pretty way to start a fresh new year! Obviously it ended up with us partying till early hours of the morning.. Haha. Hoi an is riddled in tailoring shops, the majority of the town is made up them so we used one of our afternoons to go and design some clothes we wanted to have made for ourselves. I was in my element! You could go in there after any style of garment... Modify and personalise your idea in any way you wanted to and pick whatever fabric, then you would be measured so that the garment will sit perfectly on you, ready to pick up the next day! I was astonished when I got round to collecting mine, it was exactly how I wanted it and the same with Tessa. We were so pleased and it cost me just £16!! Another highlight was grabbing a motor bike (it's become second nature to us now) for the day where we headed back to De Nang to go and see what the marble mountains were all about, a cluster of 5 mountains made out marble and limestone. We clambered up the marble staircases which were near enough vertical (So steep!) to then be embraced by huge Buddha statues, viewing platforms looking out over the whole of the city and also a few little alcoves that was the entrance to deep dark caves. We were kept occupied for ages but our legs were like wobbly bits of jelly by the end of it, suffering from the backlash of how hard the staircases were to tackle.

We moved on from Hoi An last night at 7pm on another sleeper bus to arrive in Nha Trang at about 20 past 7 this morning, once again the weather is ropey so we couldn't go visit the beach its known for... Have everything crossed for us that tomorrow will be a brighter day!

Hope you find my update enjoyable x