Now we are holed up in Hoi An on the central coast, while we wait for the torrential rain to stop. But I don't think it ever will, it has been raining HARD for the last 36 hours. At last we can do our chores - blogging, uploading photos and planning next steps. It may not sound like chores but it does become wearing at times.

Anyway...

We were right to be apprehensive about going on a tour. Within 10 minutes of getting on the minibus some very loud and hungover Americans got on (claiming to be Canadian but we later saw their passports). Ok, lets not be prejudiced we thought, but as their (loud) conversations continued, the worse it got. (eg. "I know there's a lot of people, but there's no need to ear facemasks"... "yeah, germ freaks" - by this point everyone was so weary no-one pointed out that being in the motorbike fumes you need a bloody facemask. We nearly choked just crossing the road. Anyway, after a crappy bus journey with a tetchy driver we made it to the boat. We've heard good/bad stories about this trip - we opted for the mid-range option and the boat was quite nice. There were 13 of us in total, 5 French, 5 US/Canadian and then me, Lawrence and an Indonesian guy who had been living in the States for the last 7 years. Each group was obviously a 'group', although we did have fun with the French people the next night. So we sailed through lots of karst peaks, lounged in the sun, had a nice dinner and then went to 'surprising' cave - huge limestone caves with lots of interstingly shaped stalactites and stalacmites (check out the phallus one), along with hundreds of other tourists being chivvied along - ok, but we are starting to miss China and its lack of tourists already. Then kayaking which was great in that we saw a lovely cove, went through a tunnel in the rock etc, but also a test of our relationship (we nearly lost) in that we seemed to either zig-zag everywhere or just go round in circles, each blaming the other. But we enjoyed it and at least we were away from irritating conversations. Back on the boat it got funnier in an 'outsider looking in' kind of way as the American/Candadian contingent got more and more drunk. One guy reminded us of the Mel Gibson character in South Park - all mad eyes and flappy mouth and crazy. But still a very 'all American jock' as portayed in teen frat movies. He proceeded to hump the bar far too often (once was plenty), hug and kiss all the crew, pumped up the awful music, and slapped Lawrence on the back so hard he nearly bit off his tongue. After failing to get a party going they jumped ship to go and annoy a different boat. I should say he was a good-natured guy but you know what a very drunk person looks like to quite sober people. So me , Lawrence and Supita stayed up playing cards and we had a very nice evening (Jesus, we are getting old). The next day we went on a trek in Cat Ba National Park which was great fun (and also the group was now smaller) and we bumped into Jack and Amy who we met in Hanoi. It was very jungly and full of mosquitos, but the climb was rewarding. We went to the top of a very rusty watchtower used during the war (check out my sweaty vest in photos for proof of the humidity).

Then to the beach at last - we needed some beach time after all this travelling. We left the tour to spend some time chilling on Cat Ba Island with Jack and Amy... brilliant. We lounged, tanned, drank bia hoi, stayed in a beach hut etc....

We also hired motorbikes for the day and went round the island - it was amazing. Great to travel independently, see little villages (both floating and on land), amazing scenery etc. We even helped some locals to turn a boat over. On the way back (now in darkness and still wearing sunglasses to stop the mosquitos and flies getting in our eyes), our bike just cut out. Oops. Jack and Amy were futher ahead and came back but we were in the middle of nowhere 10km from the town. Some Vietnamese people came to help, but then said they would call their friend to come and fix it - for 200,000 dong! That is extortion! At this point we decided to send Jack and Amy to get the guy we rented it off, while we would walk it to town (round the mountains, in the dark, getting bitten by mosquitos). But then it fixed itself (sort of, the accelerator still jamming a bit) and we tootled back to town much more carefully. All in all it was fantastic and we definitely want to do more of this, in fact we want to go everywhere by bike.

Then back to Hanoi to get the sleeper bus to Dong Ha. Not much sleep to be had next to the toilet and the usual mobile phone irritations. In Dong Ha after much early morning distress we got into a car with four others to get taken round the Demilitarised Zone by a veteran. We saw an old American base, part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Ben Hai river, North Vietnamese cemetary and also the Vinh Moc tunnels, where unbelievably 17 babies were born, and hundreds of people sheltered and lived whilst under bombardment, both civilians and the army. It was very interesting and it helped our understanding of the war, although our (South) Vietnamese guide did not go into too much detail on the actual living and fighting at the time, more the general stuff. He said that propaganda was so important back then, and that the North were much more committed to their cause, having more 'spirit' to fight. Both sides had massive loudspeaker systems on each side of the river to publicise their cause. Actually that reminds me, while we were biking round the countryside in Cat Ba we heard some announcements on a tannoy and asked what it was - a local girl explained that it was news that the students who had gone to study in town (maybe Hanoi) had passed their examinations. Very local news and interesting to see how things happen out here.

Back on the bus to Hue where we had some more great food, stayed the night, and then went to Dongba Market where we had pho (noodle soup), and mine also had a big beetle in it. Nice. But now I am used to such things and just fished it out and carried on. Then we went on a cyclo ride as we were short on time and wanted to see the town, and we were also getting weary in the heat. We almost missed the bus but ate some very nice cakes at a French charity place that helps orphans. We also tried che which is a weird shake like drink only again we're not sure of the ingredients. One was banana and tasted good, the other tasted of potato and/or beans. Lawrence said it tasted of dead bodies.

Now we are stuck in this pouring rain. I can't describe the pain of choosing/finding a decent hotel for the right price in the dark, getting hassled in different directions (probably all leading to the same place) and trying to avoid making mistakes when you are tired, hungry and carting a heavy backpack round. Anyway we got a place for $8 per room, and it even has a pool!! Though the pool is too tiny to bother with. We do have a TV and we have enjoyed watching English films even though they were a bit crap at times. We have lazed and had two 'Sunday' days, although I think it is Friday now.