Hello Everybody!
Wrote a maasive blog yesterday then the computer crashed..damn!
Im still in Vietname near the Chinese border in a mountain village called Sa Pa - its so beautiful! There are tribes that live in the hills here and the traditional dress they wear is amazing! We got here from Hanoi by sleeper train.
But before that we left Hoi Chi Minh city and headed north by sleeper train to a place called Danang, train took 17hrs but we slept well. We got motorbikes to Hoi An a tiny place on the coast known for all the tailors and beautiful beaches!
The guys who gave us a ride did tours on motorbikes so Jen and I sorted one that would take us from Hoi An to Hue where we would get the sleeper bus to Hanoi.
In Hoi An we had some clothes made, they are amazing! I got 5 dresses and a pair of shorts doen for about 70quid, my favourite is the silk maxi dress - its so beautiful !
We were in Hoi An for 2 nights, we then headed to Hue on motorbike to catch bus.
We were picked up at 9am and we first headed to the Marble mountains just outside of Danang, they were amazing. After that we headed up the Hoi Chi Minh trail to the Hoi Van pass which was used by teh Americans during the war to watch the road from teh north. A building from the french was there from when they were in Vietnam and the Americans added barracks to guard the road - it was so beautiful it look out to the China sea and the beaches at Danang! After this we carried on the winding mountain roads with the most beautiful scenery to a waterfall where we had a swim. It was amazing there were little huts along the edge and the fall split into sections like pools - we stayed there for 2 hrs just chilling! Then arrived in Hue for night bus - which was a nightmare! We gto no sleep on tehe bus - we had beds but they were made for folk that were 5foot 3 or smaller so we were squished! They also overbooked the bus so 5 folk were on the floor - 3 of them were by Jen and I, they were from England and one from Oz so we chatted to them which was cool. Arrived in Honai, which I have decided is the worst place I have been so far! Really dont like it.

1st reason we arrived - we given a taxi ride to hotel from bus which we were told was free, turned out only was if we stayed in there hotel which Jen and I didnt need and the other 7 folk with us didnt want to, so then they tried to charge us all $1 each when it should only by the meter reading be 5000 Dong each. Argument started and a Vietnamese guy punched a guy in teh group, he kept his cool though and we all walked away.

2nd reason - our hotel sold us tickets for night train, we arrived at station for 8pm as that is what it said on our piece of paper hotel gave us. To find we were meant to pick ticket up from hotel reception before we left (which they forgot to tell us!) and out train was at 9:50pm not 8pm! So we rushed for nothing! At this point we hadnt slept in 35hrs due to rubbish bus! I was upset too really didnt need it..I was upset because reason 3

3rd reason - we bought soem beers talking to soem blokes from Oz - I paid gave them what I thought was 50,000 dong..got back to hotel to get train to realise I had given them 500,000 dong and they thieving arse's didnt say anything took it and gave us change for 50,000 I couldnt believe it!

We head back to Hanoi on Sat ready to head to Bangkok on Sun for our last night together when Jen and I are going out for a drunken night! Not looking forward to Hanoi though - we are going to go see Water puppet theatre though!
But apart from my dislike of hanoi (where I will never return too...) I have loved Vietnam!

Anyway hope all is well with everyone! Sarah and jamie hope you had an amazing engagement party! Email me on this blog though I cant reply to messages on the message board!

All my love Sarahxxx