HANOI AND HALONG BAY We catch the overnight train to Hanoi which isn't one of our better train journeys but isn't too bad overall... when we arrive we are met at the station by one of the guys from our hostel, which turns out to be run by the most mercenary guys on the planet. Before we are allowed to check in he is selling us a tour to Halong Bay only when we finally firmly say we want to go to our room and take a shower before we do anything else does he actually let us up the stairs... Grrr...we find out later that he does this to everyone and had been known to not allow people to check in if they don't book their tour through him - nice guy eh? Anyway we do end up booking our tour through him but stress a bit about whether it is going to be any good after witnessing a few arguments between him and other guests in reception. It seems that he may be a total con-man... that said the standard of the hostel accommodation is very high, it's more like a hotel with TV aircon etc so we keep our fingers crossed that we may be pleasantly surprised by the boat trip and happily for us, it turns out that we are. We set off on our mini bus for the 4 hour journey up to Halong Bay and immediately everyone is friendly and talking to each other - we have a great group consisting of 4 crazy Swedes, a Californian girl (Heather) and a British couple who live in China. When we arrive at the harbour we are all anxious to see if the boat looks anything like the one we have been shown on the pictures but we needn't have worried, the boat ( a junk) is gorgeous - just like in the pictures and we have a dead cute little cabin with ensuite so it's all good. Despite the weather being awful - we were assured that it would be hotter up here than in Hanoi, yeah right it freezing - Halong Bay still looks remarkably stunning despite the cold weather. We visit the caves before climbing up to a viewing point to take in the full splendour of the Bay. It's a bit of a climb but worth the hard work, plus it means that we can take off our hats and scarves for the first time since arriving. We also work up an appetite for a few beers which is great as that evening turns into a bit of a session (it's all Hans's fault - one of the Swedish guys - he's 68 and totally mental, having just backpacked through China with the Mrs) we sink quite a few beers and have a cracking night. The following morning we go kayakking which is really amazing and strangely not cold as the water is pretty warm even though the air temperature isn't. This is really great fun and makes a great end to what has been one of the highlights of Vietnam, plus we still have Hanoi to explore... When we arrive back in the City we have time for a few beers with Heather before she catches her train. We all decide on Beer Hoi - which is draft beer sold by little shops all over the city for about 20p a glass, you sit on small stools on the street just outside the shop - it's a great way to soak up the atmosphere of Hanoi but you have to make sure you have enough Beer Hoi to get the beer coat on as like we have said it is a little chilly up here! On our final day we stroll around the lake and take in a few sights. Hanoi feels strangely European in places, it is so weird to see the old men wearing berets riding bicycles and people sat drinking coffee at the outdoor cafe in the park - tres Parisian. We are really glad we made the effort to come right up to the North of the country as despite a few bad reports that we had heard we have had a wonderful time here. Finally, we have to mention the taxi to the airport the following morning at about 4.30am, which rates as one of THE scariest experiences in the whole of Asia. Basically the guy has very likely been working (or drinking) all night as he is asleep when we get in the cab and doesn't do a great job of waking himself up. So the whole 40 mins to the airport he keeps dropping off whilst driving on the motorway, which is oddly pretty busy at this time as people in Vietnam don't seem to sleep ever, to the extent that we have to watch his eyes in the rear view mirror and shout at him when we see his eyes closing! He just smiles back at us like there is not a problem. An interesting end to our time in Vietnam! Other than the drive we have no other problems we catch our Vietnam Airways flight into Laos (again no horrific 24hr journey border crossings for us) no problem and arrive in Vientiane early morning. Again, we must end by saying that VIETNAM ROCKS! It's a fascinating and beautiful country, the spirit and strength of the Vietnamese people is impressive and undeniable and these guys really know how to have a good time. So it's a fond farewell to Vietnam with a hope that we will be back here again before too long.