Got back from 2 days in Halong Bay this evening - had a nice time and slept on the boat!! Was quite exciting! There was poor visibility sadly, so the photos look a bit misty, but the weather was good - it was hot and dry. Spent lots of time on the deck, went to a cave and saw a fish farm. Would have gone kayaking too, but I can't get my cast wet. Tomorrow we're going to see Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body, the Ethimology museum (wrong spelling but the word sound...

Today we did a walking tour of the old town and saw the sights. Hanoi is not as picturesque as a lot of people had said. It's ok, but not amazing  - loads of  people and traffic - big contrast from Hoi An. The catherdal reminded me a loy of a John Piper painting - think that was my favourite part of the tour - oh - and also the French Patisseries - there are lots of those!!! We also went to see a water puppet show (traditional in Vietnam). That...

SEA MAIL TAKES 3 TO 4 WEEKS!!!!! Can you believe that!!?? I couldn't!! Claire and I went into the post office yesterday to post our 14kg of clothing we'd had made in Hoi An - intending to send it sea mail, only to find out it wouldn't be there by Christmas!!! I was amazed!! We had to spend a fortune on sending it airmail!! I was outraged!! I mean - what exactly do they do with it for 4 months!!?? Surely it can't take that long!!?? Ridiculous!...

We arrived in Hoi An fine. We stopped off at Na Trang for the day - it was a really nice beach town. We both wished we had longer in Vietnam, so we could have spent more time there. The train to Danag was the nicest sleeper I've been on, but still not as good as we'd hoped -for $22! We did get our own compartment though, and a free bottle of water, and a duvet!! (first duvet I’ve had!) We got to Danang on time and then a share taxi here. Decide...

Today we went up the mountain (again-can't remember the name - see the photo with the name) In the end we both got motos to the bottom of the mountain - I didn't cycle - probably a good thing because I didn't have a map and I'm not sure I would have found it!  It took us 2 and a half hours to get to the top and 1 and a half down. we had a few de-tours on the way up - mainly because we'd expected there to be a walking trail up to the ...