Woke up early after NYE to leave for our Halong Bay/Castaways Trip. Had a bit of breakfast at the Hostel and met our guide Jess (cool girl). Had a four hour bus ride to get on the boat and started drinking. Only had a small group but there were two Candian girls, Shelby and Lindsey who were hilarious. They both studied Education at USC so that was cool. Was a pretty tame night really, just drank and talked for most of it. Most people were pretty hungover from the...

We were pretty tired after not sleeping much on the overnight train back from Sapa last night so we had a fairly chilled day. Got a two hour massage each and waited to check in. We had a quick nap before heading to the New Years Eve masquerade party put on by the hostel. Pretty fun for a while then we went to the Downtown hostel and it was nuts. Had a couple drinks then saw in the new year by the lake. Had to leave for Castaways Tour early the next day.

Had crepes for breakfast this morning then started trekking through rice paddies and mountains, very beautiful. Bought a bandana from a little girl I walked with. After lunch we were driven back to Sapa Town and had something to eat and drink with Bing while we waited for our lift back to the Train Station. Enjoyed the couple days in Sapa but looking forward to get back to Hanoi.

Caught the sleeper train into Sapa last night, was actually pretty nice. Beds were small so I had to hook my feet underneath a handrail to stretch out. Soph and I shared the cabin with four other Asians and their baby, they couldn't speak English but were super nice. Sapa city is very foggy at this time of the morning, around 7.30, hopefully it clears by the time the bus drops us off in the mountains. We were driven to Sapa town and had a rubbish breakfast, then ...

Went on the free walking tour around Hanoi in the morning, lots of cool stuff to see. Went shopping afterwards and scored some free runs for around $50, then had an awesome massage. Had lunch at the Hanoi Social Club (veggie burger). Then we went shopping again and I got a Nike jacket. We had some dinner in the city view cafe overlooking the lake and busy streets. At night we caught the sleeper train to Sapa for our two days trekking in the mountains.