I am now in Hanoi after an incredible 2 weeks travelling through Vietnam. I have loved every minute though and have done so much.

After leaving Ho Chi Minh City we caught a night train to Nha Trang, a lovely coastal area. The night train was interesting! The trains were not as nice as China and Stuart Little decided to move most of his family into our cabin, much to the delight of the German girls!!! One mouse was caught but there were many more!! Thank god I was on the top bunk!! When we arrived in Nha Trang we dumped our stuff and set off on a snorkelling trip. The water was so clear and we saw loads, including jellyfish which stung most of us!!! Nha Trang was also the site of the infamous "Fish Tank": 1 bottle of vodka, 2 bottles of rum, 1 bottle of gin, 1 bottle of triple sec, pineapple juice, lemon juice and sprite. Needless to say the headache was thrown in for free!!! It was a good night though. In Nha Trang we were also lucky enough (?!?!?!?!?!) to see the Miss Universe Pageant Parade. Funnily enough the guys enjoyed it more than we did but was still fun to watch. Miss UK wasn't the best though I have to say!!! The group verdict was "rough"!

After Nha Trang we caught another overnight train to Hoi An, THE place to have tailored clothes made!! A suit, winter coat, dress, shorts and two tops later I finally stopped shopping, although it only cost 100 pounds all together!!! Good thing we only had a few days here or I would have spent a hell of a lot more money! We decided to hire some mopeds and take a drive around Hoi An and the surrounding area (about 100km round trip in the end). I didn't want my own bike so I went on the back of someone else's. We drove for hours. We passed some locals fishing so we stopped and chatted to them for a while and watched them fish. Their fishing technique consisted of a car battery attached to 2 rods which were used to stun the fish, different but seemed to work. We then passed through a village where there were mounds of chillies drying in the sun outside the houses. Really cool to see. It was then my turn to ride the moped. Only one near miss with a ditch so not too bad! It was so nice riding around the countryside and seeing the locals and being able to stop when and where we wanted! Definitely the best day of my whole trip so far! I really enjoyed riding the moped. The beach here was also really nice and we drove down there to watch the sunset which was beautiful. The next day we took the mopeds out again andI drove again, no problems this time!!! The countryside around here is great and seeing the locals fishing and working is really interesting.

After Hoi An we got a bus to Hue, stopping at Marble Mountain along the way. Marble Mountain was cool, lots of caves with Buddhas carved inside. Lots of rock climbing here. The drive to Hue along the coastline was beautiful, stunning scenery!!! At Hue we did a boat trip along the Perfume River stopping at different sites along the way. It was really peaceful on the boat and we got to see lots of locals out on the water in their small boats. The next day we were out on mopeds again. It was much busier here so I chose not to drive. I definitely would have panicked and crashed riding here!! It was cool riding around here. We stopped at a village and saw the women there working at the markets and then we saw some war bunkers. The best bit was when we stopped at a local school. The kids were so lovely and desperate to be in photos. The kids here love digital cameras and can't wait to see the photo on the screen once you have taken it! They love looking at themselves on the camera, it's a complete novelty for them.

From Hue we caught an overnight train to Hanoi. We arrived at 5am and after cramming 4 of us into a (small) double bed for an unsuccessful nap we went out for breakfast and met up with all the people I had been travelling with in Cambodia. It was so nice to see everyone. We had a chilled out day and went and saw Sex and the City at the cinema, really pleased I've finally seen it!! That evening was a big night out with both my Cambodia and Vietnam groups combined! Was really good fun and so good to spend time with both sets of people at the same time.

After 3 hours sleep that night we set off for Halong Bay. The scenery was stunning!!! Absolutely beautiful cruising along. We stopped at the caves which were cool, much bigger than I expected. We spent the night at Cat Ba Island which is nice, quite quiet though. Delicious fresh sea food for dinner that night!! The next morning we went out Kayaking. I think we had a dodgy kayak, wouldn't stay in a straight line! Obviously nothing to do with my paddling or my steering. It was good fun though. We then stopped in a lagoon for a swim, was so peaceful here. Halong Bay is quite touristy with lots of boats, but we didn't see anyone else when we kayaking or at the lagoon. Was lovely!!!

We then headed back to Hanoi for our final night. We went for a nice dinner and then for some drinks. After the farewells the next day a few of us left the hotel and moved to a hostel. We have one more day of chilling out and catching up with everything that needs doing before we go our respective ways and move onto the next destination. I meet my new group tomorrow and then we head in Laos on Monday. Should be really good. Laos is the one out of the 3 SE Asian countries I've researched into the least and thought about the least so it'll all be a surprise and exciting! Not long left in SE Asia though before I fly to Australia, time is flying!!! I've been away for 2 months now already!

Vietnam was fantastic though, I have enjoyed every minute and can't recommend visiting here enough! I have loved it.

xxx