We arrive in Hanoi and go for brekkie with our new crew from the bus and then check into a dorm room in a backpacker hostel - proper backpackers we are now! We check out a few city sites - a pagoda in a lake and a little temple where the temple goers wanted us to help them out with their silver leafing duties. The temple was being set up for a wedding it seemed as there were loads of little gifts wrapped up. We've seen a few weddings in Asia where people line the streets carrying gifts of cans of coke, chocolate bars and other sweet goodies. Not the kind of presents I'd love at my wedding, but I guess it beats getting 4 toasters?

We met our bus crew for dinner and went on a little bar crawl. One particular crawl lasted 45 minutes as there aren't many bars here so we were wandering the streets for ages until we found a dingy little club on the river - it was charging nearly 2 pounds for a beer! That's extortionate to us now, we're going to be such cheap skates when we get home!

Next day I insist on making the most of my free brekkie leaving Carrie and Steve in bed. All talk around the breakfast table is the weather and will the rain ever stop, it's like being back at home! But later we all make the decision to book a tour to Halong Bay with our fingers well and truly crossed that the rain might stop. We negotiated a good bargain of 45 US$ each for a 3 day, 2 night trip, but we've heard the rumours that you get what you pay for, so we weren't exactly expecting it to be 1st class. Later on we found a cinema to watch the Quantum of Solace which was a bit of a let down (thank goodness Daniel Craig was in it, otherwise it would have been a complete waste of time!) then we stocked up on food and alcohol to make the most of our cheap boat trip the next day.

After the 4 hour trip where we were literally crammed into the mini bus we had our lunch on board our junk boat, along with the million other boats ferrying tourists around the Bay unfortunately. 1st stop is a cave which is beautiful, but it has been made into such a tourist attraction that we were herded around like cattle and they had put multi coloured lights up around the stalagmites etc that it just looked so tacky - such a shame. But at last we were setting sail amongst the limestone karsts and the hundreds of boats dispersed so we could enjoy the natural wonders and to make it even more enjoyable... IT'S NOT RAINING! We have the most beautiful blue sky which just made the karts stand out in all their glory. We reached the kayak area just as the sun was beginning to set. We set off on our kayak and watch the most beautiful sun set and backdrop I have ever experienced, but I didn't get any photos as I was on a kayak! Realising that it would be pretty dark once the sun had finished its glorious display of disappearing past the horizon, we thought we'd better start paddling back to the boat so we weren't stranded - and we had to paddle pretty fast, thank goodness Carrie had previously been on a kayaking course!

Dinner was ready for us when we arrive safely back on the boat, an exciting spread of exactly what we'd had for lunch. As I went for the veggie option, I was treated to steamed rice, tofu and egg, yum! Although after some complaining when we'd finished our meal they brought us a bowlful of boiled cabbage, their generosity is just too much! Anyway, much fun was to be had and we all sat around in our group on the boat, put the ipod on and tucked into our vodka supplies for random drinking games. We all started discussing what clothes we'd had made in Hoi An when Finn, a Norwegian and a new member of our group, told us he'd had a 70's suit made. A few vodkas later and Fin re-appeared sporting his new suit - it was hilarious! He kept explaining in his strong Norwegian accent how the trousers were meant to fit and the fact that they were "soo tight" This gave us much amusement and we are still using this expression now!

Next morning feeling slightly worse for wear and 'enjoying' our breakfast of egg, we docked at Cat Ba Island. (I haven't mentioned our tour guide before - 'Morning'. Or as we affectionately named him "Morning Breath" due to his incredibly furry teeth, or "Chocolate Teapot " due to his abilities as a tour guide.) Morning tells us to get off the boat taking all our belongings with us as we'll be swapping tour guides. We ask what we'll be doing on the island, but in true North Vietnamese style, he looks me straight in the eye and walks away, its hilarious, they just completely ignore you here! Anyway, me and Carrie get off the boat wearing our flip flops and all we had in store was a trek through a National Park which included a few steep scrambles up rocks to get to the top of the mountain! I really wouldn't recommend flip flops for mountain scrambling - or a skirt, which I had also usefully worn. Later though we did check into a really nice hotel on the island which actually served vegetables to vegetarians.. We headed to a lovely beach with great views of the karsts. As the sun was setting we headed off round a little cliff path and came across a beautiful scenery of the karsts and a little floating fishing village. Another perfect setting for a sunset and this time armed with a camera! Later on we find a local bar and persuade the barman to put the karaoke machine on. Another phrase we are still using from this trip is "Sleeping in my car" in an extremely gruff voice, thanks to Kris' rendition of Roxette's song. I haven't heard the original before, but I'm sure she sings nothing like this. We'll try and upload the video, but you probably had to be there (more for the ears and eyes of Billy, Ellen and Steve!). Unfortunately the karaoke was cut short when Steve rudely pulled the plug on mine and Carrie's mic as we were singing/screeching 'Boogie Wonderland' (who knew it was so high pitched?!).

Anyway, with another sore head the next morning, we set sail again through the beautiful karts, enjoying the sunshine on deck (yep, still no rain!), then we head back to Hanoi on a generous half a seat on the 4 hour trip back. It was then time to say bye to Kris who was off to spend 3 weeks in a Buddhist monastery in Laos where he can't talk to anyone, drink, smoke, read - just meditate and sleep. But fear not, after all that he assures us he'll be back to normal for Christmas and heading to Ko Phangan to "make a party" - which is exactly what we are intending to do!