Thursday, the bus took about 4 hours, we dropped our bags then went for some dinner, after, we had showers and went to bed. Friday, we had a bit of a lie in, ate breakfast then walked to the Indian Embassy to collect our passports, we were all really pleased to have them back, so weird travelling without them after spending months keeping them safe! After, we walked around the shops, the boys had Ca Phe Sua Chua, a Vietnamese ice coffee with yogurt 'on the rock...

Monday, we were woken at 4:30am for our arrival into Hanoi, we had to walk to a hotel where they were holding our bus tickets to Cat Ba for us. We were very early but managed to wake the security guard and sleep in the lobby with him for a hour and a half until the receptionist came around 6:30am then off we went to catch our bus. Our bus was at 7:15 and took about 4 hours in total including the ferry across to Cat Ba Island, we were so tired when we finally arri...

Friday we arrived in Sapa at 6:00, we went straight to a cafe to warm up and use WiFi then headed to a travel agents to sort out what we want to do here. We decided to spend the day in Sapa, hire some bikes and explore so we checked into a Guesthouse, another big sleepover as we are in a room with 2 double beds with Katy and Matt. We hired bikes from the lady who owns the Guesthouse and set off exploring in the direction she pointed, the roads are up in the mount...

Tuesday we arrived in Hanoi at 19:30 after a long 27 hours, we were on a nice bus this time, a easy boarder crossing and we had double seats which meant a 27 hour cuddle! We luckily were on the bus with the couple from Bath that we met doing our rice field experience in Luang Prabang, Katy and Matt, so we decided to go to the same hostel. Our hostel is really cool and has double bunk beds which is a bonus! We went for some dinner, had showers and went to bed as w...

Friday, the train to Hanoi only took 3 hours, by time we found a hotel it was 17:30, we quickly freshened up then went for a Indian... Delicious! Saturday we were up early to visit Uncle Ho! We went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which was very strange, we stood in a long queue of Vietnamese people paying their respects and few tourists. The rules of the queue were enforced by a number of guards, visitors must be silent, and walk in two lines, hands must not be i...