We spent around 7 days around the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. The first couple of days we spent getting used to the cold weather! There seemed to be a blanket of mist over the city and the temperature just seemed to be horrendously cold after all the lovely sunshine we'd been having!
We spent some time looking at the sites which included the mosaleum and a museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh which had the most bizarre set of modern art which we weren't entirely sure how were related to Ho Chi Minh! The mosaleum contains the body of Ho Chi Minh which we went. It was a very weird experience! The guards are very stern looking and tell you off if you dare to speak or have your hands in your pockets! The body is in a case and is lit up so it looks like it's glowing! It's very very strange! You're ushered through the room in a matter of seconds, just walking round staring at this dead body!!
We also went to a water puppetry show which Hanoi is famous for apparently! It was a cute little show, depicting some of the histoty of Vietnam set to music and some Vietnamese talking and singing! One evening we went out and I ordered a 'Hotpot' thinking it was going to be some kind of casserole. What I actually got was a meal for about 5 people! A massive pot of chicken and vegetables and noodles all cooked in the middle of the table in theis enormous pot!!! I then saw that the price 300,000 dong (about 12 pounds - that's expensive for Vietnam!!)! Note to self, check the price of what you are ordering - it may give an indication to the size of the meal! We all found it very funny and I did actually manage to eat most of it!!
We booked ourselves onto a Halong Bay trip and just hoped that the weather got better! The trip has been talked about by so many other travellers along our trip that we couldn't miss it. We packed our bags and set off on a bus journey after meeting our guide, a 22 year old who had been out partying every night for about the last month and since he got the job. After our 4 hour jouney to a dock we boarded our boat! It was such a lovely boat, like a floating hotel! Beth and I shared a cabin and it was lovely! We had hot water and everything! The weather didn't get any nicer! There were around 24 of us on the trip and we all sat up on deck in our sweatshirts and trousers!! We drove very slowly to a destination in the middle of the ocean, beautiful scenery even in the mist. Mountains all around us and a few other boats. We had some time to spend swimming but after jumping into the sea from the deck of the boat, I decided it was too cold!! The whole group did a bit of kayaking and caving and got back onto the boat where we enormously appreciated our hot showers!!
We had some amazing food and our guide got us playing ring of fire! He was determined to get us all drunk and staying up for as long as possible (even though he swanned off at around half 10 which he got a lot of stick for the following day!!).
The next day everyone was a bit quiet following our night of drinking games and half the group head back to the hostel. The other half of us transferred to another boat and went to a little desert island. It was so cute! We were the only inhabitants for the day and night and it was amazing to be out there! We were all exhausted so we had a sleep in our little bamboo huts (this time we had really thick duvets provided so it wasn't half as cold as on our trek in Thailand!). After dinner we all sat and froze and waited for the inevitable moment when we would have to strip down to our swimsuits and partake in some water sports! Don't get me wrong, we were all looking forward to the water sports, but we were not looking forward to getting in the water on such a cold day!!
Henry and Mark, 2 English guys who work on the island (I say work, but they have the best jobs in the world! They spend 2 weeks on this island, with a 2 day break, and their only job of the day involves driving a speed boat around the island teaching people to wakeboard for maybe 2 hours a day! They then spend the rest of the time getting drunk!!!! And they get paid for it too!!) took us out on a speedboat to do some wakebaording. Beth, Jodie (an Australian girl we met in our dorms) and me went out on the boat together. I got in the water first and it actually wasn't too cold! I managed to get up on the wakeboard first time! And had 3 other successful goes! It was so much fun! The guys on the boat were telling me how to ride the waves and move around the water and it was great! I was so glad I didn't wimp out of getting in the water!! Beth managed to get up on her third attempt but Jodie didn't get up. She's gonna have another go some time and I'm sure she'll get it then.
The evening involved more ring of fire and our guides just getting as drunk as possible! I don't know how they do it every night!! The next day we left the island and it was quite sad saying goodbye to it! The weather wasn't any better in Hanoi, it was still covered in a blanket of mist!!