The journey to Hanoi was an experience as we travelled from Hue to Da Nang by sleeper bus even though it was day time. The bus was very battered and none too clean and the air conditioning wasn't very effective so the bus smelled a bit of sweaty bodies (ours included!). We secured the best seat for Rog, on the upper bunk level and over the gangway, so that he just stretched his legs and feet out. I did feel rather sorry for the people below as we had all had to remove our shoes and Roger's feet are (to put it politely) not his best feature but selfishly it was much better for him than trying to fit his legs into the tube that other seats entailed. Luckily the journey was only 3 hours and we flew the rest of the way to Hanoi.

We are enjoying Hanoi and staying in a really lovely hotel ideally situated just a few minutes walk from the Hoan Kiem Lake which is the spiritual heart of Hanoi. We spent the first day walking round the lake where legend has it that the folk hero Le Loi threw his sword into the lake where it was collected by a giant turtle (shades of King Arthur I feel). There is an island in the lake where a small temple to an ancient Mongol- beating general has been built which contains the mummified remains of an enormous turtle - just to prove that they are not just legendary creatures.

Half way round the lake we came across a memorable sight! A large group of Vietnamese women, (under the guidance of a young male instructor) were all energetically engaged in dancing the birdie song! Even old ladies in their eighties, dressed in traditional pyjamas, were sticking out their bums and wiggling away with the best of them. Truly the sort of experience which makes travelling such fun. One woman was intent on getting Roger to join in but remembering his line dancing skills he wisely refused all her blandishments!

Having explored the streets of the old quarter where local guilds operate out of narrow shops (due to tax on frontage) in streets dedicated to one product such as shoes, seals, or paper votive offerings we visited the Women's Museum which really impressed as it celebrated the part women play in Vietnamese life - often the prime earner and the sacrifices they have made over history. Social customs such as marriage, religion, children and costume were all displayed.

We have finally come to accept that it is pointless trying to walk on the pavements in Vietnam - they are nothing other than parking areas for motorbikes while the green light at zebra crossings means that some motorbikes will stop for you in one direction, not all and no traffic coming from the other way.

The next 3 days we spent cruising on Ha Long Bay which has been designated a UNESCO world heritage region for very good reasons. It is simply stunning - limestone karsts rising from a turquoise bay - and seems to go on for ever. We had upgraded our boat to a 5* treat called "Au Co" which seemed to be the biggest and best boat on the bay. We had a lovely cabin with a balcony and once again were really lucky in that we were 2 of only 16 passengers on a boat designed for up to 70 - consequently there was 2 crew to every passenger and we got incredible treatment. Shortly after boarding we were adopted by a barman called Son who, once he had discovered we were English, singled us out for special treatment because he was an ardent Chelsea fan and was delighted to learn that Bon supported Chelsea. As a result we were plied with free drinks and every time we returned to the boat from an excursion he would knock on the door with a drink for Mr Roger and Mrs Lindsay. The first time this happened we were taken by surprise - I answered the door wrapped in a towel (having just showered). I think he was a bit panicked when I told him to come in and put the drinks on a table and asked plaintively "where is Mr Roger?" at which point Rog walked out of the bathroom totally starkers! The poor lad fled in terror but his desire for a good tip obviously overcame his better judgement as he was back after the next excursion and we took care to make sure that we were both fully clothed.

We loved every moment of the trip. The scenery was incredible, the weather kind and the food out of this world. We became quite accustomed to a huge breakfast and 5 course luncheons and dinners plus constant nibbles on the bar. We really enjoyed the company of the others on the boat - there was a great mixture with us, a young Irish couple on honeymoon, a young NZ couple also on honeymoon, 3 Aussie couples, an American couple and a French couple who cracked us up as they were always doing their own thing and getting lost. The American lady immediately endeared herself to us by saying how sorry she was about Margaret Thatcher's demise as she had been such a good friend to her hero - Reagan!

There were plenty of activities so we were always busy. The first excursion was a trip to a floating village where we were rowed around by a local woman and saw some fish farms and the local school which is staffed by a teacher from the mainland who comes out for a couple of weeks at a time. The kids seemed to run in and out of the class at will so I am not sure how much learning was actually going on. We then had a cookery class with the boat's chef who showed us how to make the Vietnamese fried pancakes and then we all had to have a go. Apparently mine were the best! After dinner there was squid fishing and in the morning Tai Chi. The second day we had the opportunity to go kayacking around some of the islands and through some rock arches and swim from some beautiful sandy beaches. Rog had his usual international race but France 1 went hightailing off in the wrong direction and were consequently disqualified! We didn't see them again until we returned to the boat! We managed to capsize as we were setting off from the second beach - it took me 2 hours to forgive Roger although it probably wasn't his fault but when he was "racing" he put so much effort into the paddling that we rocked perilously from side to side. That afternoon we visited Cat Ba Island and cycled up to a local village to see the organic farm that the boat sponsored and from which all our fruit and veg came. We then ploughed on through the jungle to visit a cave where the local people would hide from the American bombers. Apparently about 10 years ago a group of people were discovered who had spent thirty years hiding in another cave nearby. They had gone in as children and were too afraid to come out not knowing that the war had ended. Incredibly sad story! The final excursion was to "Surprise Cave" which was again quite spectacular with the most enormous central cavern.

We were really sad to leave the Au Co, Ha Long Bay and our new friends and return to Hanoi, especially as we had to change hotels and the new one was a bit down market (particularly after the Ha Long luxury). We cheered ourselves up by taking a city tour which was really interesting and took us to the Temple of literature, a museum of ethnology where we learned more about the various peoples of Vietnam, a couple of pagodas and the Ho Chi Minh complex where we filed past his embalmed body (which looked a little too well preserved!) and saw the simple way that he lived. One of our group was Sri Lankan and when we explained that we lived on the South Coast about two hours from London, he went to his phone to show us two photos- one of the Seven Sisters and the other the place he had worked, Eastbourne DGH. Small world eh?

Our penultimate day in Hanoi was spent taking a day excursion out to the Ninh Binh region where we visited the temples of Hoa Lua and then took a boat trip down the river to enjoy the Tam Coc countryside which is like a landlocked version of Ha Long Bay with the same limestone hills. Our boatman was Speedy Gonzales incarnate and despite rowing with his feet (as were most of the others to be fair) we set off at a rate of knots and overtook just about every other boat going in our direction. He rowed us through 3 low hanging caves, which become impassable after the rains, and we had to duck to avoid banging our heads. On our return to dry land we set off on bikes for a shortish trip into the countryside and rode through rice fields an little hamlets to yet another temple. Still it was good to get off the beaten track and pleasant to be on a bike as opposed to the bus. Got friendly with an Australian couple from Adelaide - he was a teacher and she was in HR! We exchanged email addresses and so if we ever get to Adelaide we will have somewhere to stay.

The last day we just wandered around the old town soaking up the sights and visited the Hoa Lo prison where Vietnamese dissidents were imprisoned under the French colonial government and saw displayed the guillotine and baskets to show off the heads of executed prisoners. Later on the prison was used to hold US pilots shot down in the war but according to the official propaganda their spell in the "Hanoi Hilton" was one long round of games and sport and they ate better than the Vietnamese themselves, soon coming to appreciate the error of their ways and repenting their crimes against the local people!

On to Luang Prabang in Laos in the morning