Hi, we are currently on Cat Ba island in the north of Vietnam, but I have also been a bit slack keeping things updated so I will recap on what I've missed out...

We were not looking forward to our last train journey in China - everyone had warned us not to travel during the public holidays. But it turned out to be one of the most comfortable journeys we had in China. It was a clean and new double-decker train with comfy seats, even though it was classed as a 'hard seat'. Maybe because it was a public holiday there was a real buzz in the carriage. Less sacks of rice and a sense of daily grind, and more games of cards and general merriment.

Nanning may have been horrible as the guide book suggested, but the holiday vibe was still present as we walked round in the evening, with loads of people out on the streets and lots of stalls selling fruit, toys etc. However the food options weren't great, perhaps because we were tired, didn't understand any of the menus, and knew that dog hot pot is very popular round here. So Mcdonalds had the edge for the first time in China. There was no hot apple pie but instead we had hot pineapple pie and hot taro pie. they were both nice in the usual sweet and fatty way, but we still have no idea what taro is. We have also eaten a taro and coconut ice cream since then and are no wiser. We should google it now really but the internet connection is so slow its not worth the risk...

So the border crossing at Friendship Pass was very relaxed, so much so that we managed to wander through accidentally without getting any stamps or filling out any forms. But we thought something might be amiss and went back to get stamped just in case they wouldn't let us out again. We did notice a difference staright away, the country seemed to have more space and be more rural.

But Hanoi has motorbikes. LOTS of motorbikes. In fact in Vietnam there are 40 million motorbikes, one for every two people. At rush hour it is crazy, engines making loads of noise and lots of exhaust fumes everywhere. At first it was daunting crossing the roads but you get used to motorbikes weaving around you. But still, Hanoi is very pleasant with lots of trees and a big lake in the middle. Whilst sitting there we have spoken to quite a lot of Vietnamese who either want to sell guide books or improve their English. People are happy to chat and want to ask questions, they are not neccesarily trying to sell anything or scam you. We have eaten in some nice restaurants and just wandered round the Old Quarter for most of the time. The Museum of Ethnology was great too, spent half a day there finding out about the cultures of the many different ethinc minority groups here. We also had much fun going to the market to sell stuff we could not be bothered to carry round any more - a role reversal for us in haggling. After much bargaining, discussion, laughter and a bit of stress we managed to sell Lawrence's old phone (no charger), his Adidas jacket, some travel hair straighteners and epilator, and an opened packet of spaghetti for about a tenner. Alan Sugar may not have been pleased with that but over here thats quite a bit of money and we got rid of our stuff at last. And we could eat at nice restaurants for a bit.

We have also sampled quite a lot of bia hoi, the 'cheapest beer in the world'. Its really nice actually. Its a big cooled keg surrounded by little plastic chairs out on the street, and some of the places do great food too. It costs around 3000 VND a glass, which is about 10p. We met some really nice people at one place who we are now in Cat Ba with too.

We decided after four days in Hanoi we were getting restless, and I wanted to chill on a beach and do some sunbathing, which we have not done uptil now. So we went on a tour to Halong Bay and Cat Ba. It has been great, though at first we were very apprenhensive... tbc