Ok so i'm attempting to write this for the second time as i managed to lose all the stuff i had written for thew past half hour! Nice one Drew!

To update you from our last blog entry, we left Laos pretty quickly after Vang Vieng because when we arrived in the capital, Vientienne, it was crap and had nothing there! We got a flight out as soon as we could with Helen and Paul (a geordie couple we're now travelling with since we've parted ways from the others in Laos) and boarded a tiny little plane powered by propellers destined for Hanoi which naturally excited me but worried Hannah!

Hanoi was such a change from Laos and we were greeted by noise, crazy roads and just general chaos! A mad place. Crossing the roads was a lethal exercise as you just had to walk out and let the mopeds and the occassional car weave their way around you! We managed to meet up with Cliona and Steve on our first night (the Irish couple that were part of my birthday celebrations!) and met a load more people that night as we went to dinner. The following day in Hanoi the boys decided to leave the girls to a lie-in as we made our way to the military history museum. It was a really cool place and very different from other museums as you can probably imagine in a place like Vietnam! There was loads of anti-western propaganda stemming from their wars against the French and Americans and the place was full of old war relics!

We made our way back to the hostel to meet up with girls and then we visited the city's old prison which was a shocking place! Its history was a miserable one and it included exhibits from various eras including Senator John McCain's flight suit when he was a prisoner here after being shot down...funny to think he could be the next US President! After this we went to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, his Presidential Palce and his home. It was a really good day out and interesting to see how much the people still love this guy even now! After all...they call him Uncle Ho!

From here we decided to use the last part of the day the find a B52 memorial mentioned in the guide book. It proved pretty elusive and we eventually stumbled on a side alley that led to it but there were practically no signs showing us the way which we found quite odd! Once we got there it wasn't the impressive sight we'd hoped for. It was a pile of twisted metal that was the remains of a bomber half-submerged in a small lake! Although more moving for me than perhaps the girls, our thoughts were quickly taken elsewhere as an old guy threw a rock at the wreckage upon seeing us. We became suddenly aware that we weren't very welcome in this neighborhood so we made our exit and then back to the hostel! All in all, we got to see most of what Hanoi offered in a single day before we made our way up to Ha Long Bay the following day...

Ha Long Bay proved to be slightly disappointing simply because the weather was so bad with practically no visibility due to the eternal mist that seemed to cling to the rocks! So it wasn't quite as clear for us as in the picture! Despite this we were still able to see how impressive the bay was with massive rocks jutting out of the sea, it felt very much like something out of Jurassic Park or the Goonies. During our visit we saw a couple of impressive caves that stretched for hundreds of metres and got some great pictures. From here we did some kayaking in an enclosed bay within an island which was fun! During the trip we also did some fishing, some random tandum bike riding and yet more pool playing and card games! It was really fun although the weather let the trip down a bit. Once we were back in Hanoi we booked our sleeper bus southwards for the next day to Hue!

Hue was a pretty strange place and reminded me a bit of Kyoto in the sense it had a big reputation as a cultural centre due to its imperial past but i felt it lacked atmosphere. Once again the weather was crap and there was torrential rain and drizzle for most of the day. We took a boat ride down the Perfume River to visit some sights with the most impressive being the Tu Duc Tomb which was set amidst small lakes, towering trees and ancient stone buildings which were impressive! Apart from this there wasn't that much to see which was mostly due to the weather and no English speaking guide we were promised! The next day we did the DMZ tour which took us around some of the American War's most famous sites including various bases, the DMZ itself (De-militarised Zone which was anything but de-militarised for the duration of the war!), the Ho Chi Minh trail and Ving moc tunnels where civilians lived in an expansive tiny tunnel system for 6 years while the Americans dropped tons of bombs! We'll upload pictures of all these soon and we apologise for being so lame on this front!

Once we moved on from Hue we arrived in Hoi An which is famous for its tailors and clothes shops. This was definately the best place in Vietnam so far in terms of friendliness and atmosphere (probably because they wanted our money!) and Hannah had two suits, two dresses made while i had two suits, one winter coat, one shirt and one pair of boardies made all for the price of $270! Amazing! Once we got into our stride we also bought some custom designed hoodies which were quite cool. Apart from this there wasn't that much to do so we moved on to Nha Trang where we are now.

We were plagued by yet more bad weather when we firsat arrived so we decided on a day experiencing the hot springs and mud baths and they were awesome! A lot of fun and a great way to spend a cloudy day. Today we have been at the beach and all of us have walked away sun-burnt! Nice one us! From here we're moving south again to Mui Ni which is another beach-side town where we'll chill for another few days before moving on to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City! We'll continue to keep you updated as we go!

Love Hannah and Drew x