Dear diary, It's been a while since I last wrote & so much has gone!! Went to Halong Bay for 3 day/2 night trip along with 5 others from the Hostel in Hanoi. Bit of a pain to get to the boat (3.5 hours by bus) at Halong City, but when we did arrive & eventually got on our boat, we were all really quite impressed (considering that there were over 300 other boats dotted about the harbour!!). There were about 30 people on boat & most were travelling i...

Dear Diary, Well what can I say about Hanoi? Probably can sum it up in just the one word - mayhem!! It is both the most frightening & wonderful place. Went for a stroll around the old quater & absolutely loved the experience of trying to cross roads with hundreds of mopeds racing towards you in both directions. Went to a local market which was really vibrant & colourful - baskets of all the spices, vegatables you could imagine & some stranger i...

Dear diary (I've lost trackof how many days I'm intomy travelling & what the actual day is - just surviving by date only!!), Arrived in Vietnam (Hanoi) last night (25th) & was more than pleasantly surprised to find that my rucksack was there waiting for me in Lost & Found! Hostel is really nice & owner very helpful & friendly. Threw my stuff in my dorm & took the plunge & went to talk to a few people! Sharing dorm with 5 others (Cana...