Good Morning Vietnam!

So we left the noise and bustle of Hanoi and its many motorbikes behind and headed to the tranquility of Halong Bay. It was a 2 day boat trip. Unlike our recent trials and tribulations on public transport across much of Southeast Asia the boat was actually ok. Granted you had to REALLY like the person you were sharing a room with on board cuz it wasn't possible for the pair of us to both stand in the "space" beside the beds and one couldn't roll around in the bed either. It was a one position for the night kind of situation. We sailed around the bay and saw some limestone caves which sadly we found as impressive as the ones in Laos i.e not very! We chilled out on deck while we cruised around the bay and saw the floating villages and markets. We also had time for some Schwimming as our Vietnamese tourguide so affectionately named it! It was as good as it sounds - chilled out, relaxing and sunny (Laura has the burn as proof - damn English "Rose" skin!) The food was disgusting and frankly rather unsatisfying and these stupid ginger American vegetarians (how many adjectives can be wrong with a person?!) stole the only nice food that looked half edible; the noodles! Note to others - always say you are veggie on trips like this else you might find yourself eating some weird pork sliced thing that still makes us feel nauseous!

So we returned from our lovely trip and were delighted with the kind Vietnamese driver that dropped us off in the middle of nowhere and thus we had to lug our baggage around with us for like half an hour in 35C. We then boarded our first sleeper bus to Hoi An with a quick stopover in Hue. By quick we mean we showered and walked over a bridge and that is the extent of our time in Hue.

Hoi An is really nice; a quieter, traditional Vietnamese town....which also happens to be the home of tailored, made-to-measure, you no like you definitely get altered then pay clothes! Incidentally this has led to the depletion of much needed funds (we have four weeks left after all!) Laura has purchased two winter coats and four very necessary dresses! Danielle has purchased two suits for work and two dresses! When in Rome....;) It really is the most bizarre experience though. You go in, you pick what you like and the fabric you like. Then they measure you (and cop a feel) and then magically whilst you're sleeping, in the manner of potentially having the Borrowers out back sewing frantically on spinning wheels, your clothes magically appear the next day. The tailors seem to have taken a fancy to Laura. Often stroking touching and hugging her much to Danielle's amusement!

We also did a cooking course this morning which was actually really fun. If all else fails on the career path we're going to open up a spring roll shop. Yes parentals by delighted by our contingency plan. Apparently we're beautiful at making them!! We also made egg fried rice, tuna with lemongrass, ginger, and chilli, and this dish called white rose which looked vile but tasted quite nice. He took us to the market where you would normally buy the food from and the smells caused a few wretches. Breath holding required around the meat/fish area - yuk! This afternoon we went to a 4* hotel and used their pool facilities for a bargain price of 1squid whoop de whoop! Tomorrow we're going to the beach and we leave on Sunday evening on the overnight sleeper bus to Nha Trang. Not to rub it in too much as we've been hearing the weather is awful back home, it's well hot here and we're loving every bloody minute of it! ;)

Hope you are all well, missing you lots xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx