I'm writing the final chapter of my Vietnamese blog from Hanoi, the capital city. We arrived here on Friday lunchtime, after taking a 3 hour bus ride from Halong Bay.

I thought that Ho Chi Minh City was busy, but this is without doubt the busiest city I've ever been to. The place is at virtual gridlock 24/7, with massive polltion from the millions of scooters and fires being randomly burned everywhere. Even a 'smoggy' can't deal with that level of pollution!

The further North we have travelled in this country, the less civilised the people's behaviour has become. In Hanoi, there is a strong Chinese influence, not only in people's appearance, but also in their behavior. It appears to be perfectly acceptable to piss or spit wherever you want - I've seen guys all over just relieving themselves at the side of the road, at busstops, on the street etc. Last night we went out for our final meal as a group. As we were walking down the street, there was a shop shutter 2/3 closed and some guy started pissing from behind it - right onto the street and onto my left foot! Our group leader Mil says that this is common place in many areas of China. Nice.

We went to a water puppet show, then out for a meal locally on the first night we were here. Yesterday, the common consensus was "get out of this city", so we took a day trip 2 hours away, where we travelled up a river with locals rowing the boats. The scenery was beautiful and we saw Kingfishers diving in the river and birds of prey soaring in the skies.

The boats took us to a landing site at the bottom of a mountain, which led to a cave and the most sacred Buddhist shrine in Vietnam. Although there was a cable car to the top, we decided to take the 4000 steps to the top - a good work out - especially as 3 of us chose to get some exercise and run up most of it! We were absolutely sweltering at the top, but hopefullly it did me some good. I can't wait to get training when I get to Oz (not as much as you though Greg!).

After having our farewell meal in a lovely restaurant last night, it was an early start and on to the airport.

I've really enjoyed Vietnam. This leg of my trip has flown by and I've made some really good friends along the way already. I'm looking forward to chilling out on the beaches of Thailand now, as it certainly wears you down, packing your bags and moving on every 1-2 days. So I'm boarding my flight back to Bangkok shortly. As I'm only there 1 night, I thought I might look for some Thai Kickboxing. Apparently there are a few places that you can watch it, not that i'll be getting involved of course...

I'll be in Koh Samui next time I write. Au revior Vietnam.