After a refreshing breakfast (no fried fish in sight!), we were on the bus and heading back to a Hanoi.After a very bumpy 3 hours, we arrived at a small restaurant for lunch, which alas consisted mainly of deep fried fish. it was quite funny though, as we tried to chat to the Koren couple from our group, but dure to the language barrier, there were quite afew misunderstandings as we left the restaurant, with them firmly believing that we all had a degree in Laos,...

Awaking a little worse for wear, we felt that we didn't have the resolve to take on the whopping 40 hour bus journey into Laos. However, due to Tet, there were no means of checking availability on other available modes of transport, so we decided to cut our losses and make the hour long journey across town to the airport in the hope that we would be able to secure a flight. After being sent to a few different counters, we were approached by this random lady who t...

Up early this morning, ready to spend the day exploring some of the larger islands with the rest of our group. The first port of call took us to Cat Ba Island, which we toured round on mountain bikes, which had very questionable brakes!! We learned a little history of the small island, so called as the legend would have it as a result of the dragon who fought off warriors with his tail and in doing so, carved a large island into a series of much smaller ones, lik...

After an early morning pick up from our hostel, we made the 3 hour mini bus trip north to the coastal town of Halong, where we were to board our 'junk boat'-their name not ours! which was to be our accommodation for the next couple of days. Arriving at the dockside, we were welcomed by the sight of around 70 other boats destined for the same trip. After a sopt of lunch aboard our boat 'Imperial Junk II', we set sail. Despite the cold and foggy weather, the views ...

After the worst sleeper bus journey as of yet, we were dumped on a chilly anddeserted Hanoi roadside a little earlier than scheduled. As it was only half five in the morning, we were a little worried about securing accommodation for that night, so we headed off in a taxi with the Canadians in search of the Old Quarter, where we were reliably informed, lots of accommodation lay. After the driver going round in circles and pulling up outside his friend's hostel and...