Well we had a lovely wet day out yesterday. We got picked up at our Hanoi hostel yesterday at 8:30am and had a 2 hour mini bus ride to Hoa Lu which used to be the capital city of Vietnam. We visited two temples that were built in the 17th century and learnt some interesting facts about how one dude wanted to be king so he was going to kill the king, but then the king found out his plans and killed this dude so he didn't become king. Then the king wanted his son to be the next king but he was only 6 years old or something, so obviously that's a bit young to rule a country and make responsible decisions and stuff, so some other guy became king for a while and then I forget if the child ever ended up in power. I'm almost positive that's how the story went anyway.

After the temples we went for a buffet lunch in Tam Coc and then went for a cruise down Tam Coc River in these metal row boats where a Vietnamese lady rows you round USING HER FEET. Their hands work perfectly fine, they've just perfected the art of foot-rowing which means they can sit back and relax, making it look effortless. The river flowed between mountains and rice paddies, and looked stunning in the pictures we'd seen, but unfortunately due to the amount of rain they've had we could barely see rice fields in the water, just sticks and weeds poking out. It started raining half way during the boat ride. Obviously.

After the boat ride we went for a little cycle near the river before getting on the bus and being dropped off at a hotel where our night bus would be picking us up 4 hours later at 8:30pm. The hotel were very accommodating considering we'd not paid to stay there, and let us sit and wait with our bags, and even leave them there while we wandered out to get some tea.

The night bus has actually been quite comfortable. It's got loungers (I can't go as far as to call them beds) that you can stretch out on, and we all slept most of the journey, except being woken up when the driver uses his horn. Drivers here seem to feel the need to honk their horn whenever they are near/approaching someone else. It's the worst in the busy cities as there's always about 20 beeps at any given time.

The plan was to get off the bus at Hué and get some easy riders (guys on mopeds that drive you and your things along a beautiful passageway that was even shown on top gear because of its beauty, doing stop offs if you wish) but it's of course hammering it down so we didn't think that would be too fun, so we booked tickets to get back on the night bus (I just heard my entire family's sigh of relief that we're not getting on mopeds) for the 5 hour drive down to Hoi An where we'll be staying for the next 3 nights. We've been told it's pretty water logged there, but I'm sure there's things we can find to do inside away from the rain. We're keeping our fingers and toes crossed that the weather forecast (that we are constantly checking) fulfils it's prediction and gives us a day of sunshine when we get to Nha Trang at the end of the week!!

P.s. Wishing my brother a happy birthday for today. Hope you have a wonderful day Broseph. Love you lots xxxxx