Arrived in Hanoi and met Alec the next day, Nathan got a Vietnamese hair cut, we showed him the resteraunt up the tower with the best dumplings, nathan got more Cheetos and went to the women’s museum in the afternoon and finished off with a Burger King and a massage at a charity spa run by blind people.

The next day we got on a boat at Halong Bay- had a boat around and went in “surprising cave” then tracked up one of the islands for a view and finished with a swim- came out brown the water is so dirty. Slept on the boat and the next day we went kayaking, made spring rolls and saw a pearl farm and then we had to leave a few hours early before a typhoon hit. So off to Ninh Binh we went on the bus.

Here we stayed at another home stay (which was more like a hotel- amazing). Spent the day riding round on bikes to nature reserve where we searched caves (ordered omelettes- one fried egg) and then to a pagoda and finished the day off with a river tour through the mountains and caves while the sun set and saw a kingfisher to top it off.

That night we got on a 14 hour night bus to Danang.

Paid extra for a hotel for nathan birthday- (which was rubbish, had to change room 3 times), but it had a rooftop pool so we spent the afternoon drinking here before going to pubs and playing charades all night.

Next day was Nathan’s birthday and we spent the whole day on the beach and stayed in a hostel made of shipping containers. Found great places for American food and then spent the day hiking marble mountain and watched the sun set on monkey mountain with a view of the most colourful city we’ve ever seen.

We finished Danang with a day on scooters going along the hai van pass. Which was unreal. One of the scooters was broke so could only go 12 mph but at least we got to see the sights for longer :)

Now we’re in Hoi An where we spent a day walking around the town and then getting very drunk in the hostel. So today is a pool day.