hey it's loll get prepared for the most moany blog yet (forst moan this is the second time i have started this as the power cut out! well the moaning starts with hanoi as you can gather from the last blog we hated it there. our lovely trip to Ha Long Bay was cancelled that morning : ( it is one of the main things that rich wanted to do and it looked like an amazing trip. however that small typoon we mentioned did bloody hit and it has not stopped raining since.

anyway as the trip was cancelled we thought we would go sight seeing and then get the train to Hue that night and get the cluck out of Hanoi. well we went to Ho Chi Mins moseleum but it is closed for oct and nov to re-embalm his body -rich pissed off that was another top thing struck off the list. then it started peeing down so i brought an umbrella which reinforced the startment 'you get what you pay for!' it was a quid and kept collapsing on my head! anyway managed to go to the HCM museum then to the ethanology meusuem which had about 8 reconstruted tribal huts you could go in. they were awsum. finally to the army museum which rich loved but by that point i was rather tired so i spent most of the time sat in various chairs looking at stuff from afar. at this point i must say i have about 10 bites which we thought were bed bugs but thank god they are mossies after all-still really itchy though!

right so we got the overnight train last night which was nice. cabin of four we had the top bunks there was an old vietnamese couple under us who were sweet, he put on a white vest, pjs and a bobble hat for bed-ah! played cards, read and used the trusty i pod.

arrived in Hue today wanted to go down the perfume river but guess what! there has been so much rain boats cannot fit under the bridges as the water is sooooo high-woohoo! time to break out my 20p blue poncho and look like a right muppet. it did however keep me dry all day where as richs cheltenham tigers water proof turned out only to be splash proof so he has now got a poncho too!

went to see the old citedel, paid a guy to pedal us around on a bike. picture this, he is at the back with a seat on the front rich sat on a wooden plank, me between his legs on seat and feet out the front. the roads in the old city are so flooded but the guy keeps going at one point the water was about 1 foot deep and half the bloody bike was submerged! anyway we went to the forbidden purple city(not purple but old and crumbly and interesting) then the guy charged us double! only about 4 quid for 2 hours but still you are always getting ripped off in aisa the british are so polite we just paid what he said. went for lunch and the guy said we should have paid about 1/3 of that!

fianlly decided to go shower and get dry so walking back through flooded roads when richs flip flop breaks(forgot to mention thay have been death traps the whole time, only today he slipped down 3 marble steps and only missed an injury though grabbing onto the side!) so he chucked it away took one step and nearly stood on a dead rat! great we have prob been walking around in sewage allll day!

anyway we are back at the hotel, have just met 3 americans with some vodka and fruit so prob going to join them and they do take away pizza here so things may improve! getting a bus at 8 am to Han oi tomorrow a nice beach resort but the typoon may be around till friday. vietnam is not shaping up as we expected. so as you read this be glad that you are in a dry place with no one trying to rip you off! we are mssing home today : ( but thanks for all the messages they cheer us up!

love loll and rich

ps thanks jay for writing great to hear from you!

ps merryn did you get your present?

pps briege facebook me you have been lame lately!

ppps miss all you girls!

ppps mum tried to reply to your email but yahoo down, glad you liked the stuff, miss you x x x x x