Hiya to you all,

So anyway its now Saturady 9th May nearing midnight here so about 6pm your time. (Vietnam are an hour behind China.) We arrived in Vietnam about 4pm yesterday. Just a quick re-cap as we haven't done a blog entry since our 1st day in Nanning-mainly because theres not a lot to say. We basically stayed 3 nights in total, the 3rd just because we wanted another lazy day. Our days consisted of sleeping late, internet, films and chatting. And then our highlight of the days was the nights for the night market! It was fab and the last night along with a couple of people we had met had fresh hand picked crabs and scampi's. On the last day in Nanning a couple we had met in Xian and then again along the way came to find us and then we hooked up with another 2 couples and spent the day with all of them. We are also now all in Hanoi together. So fun times been had by all.

Friday morning we headed for the bus station about 7:15 as the bus was due at 7:30am. After another pick up in Nanning we were on the road for about 8am. It was about 3 hours to the boarder crossing including a couple of toilet stops (there was not one on the bus). One of these toilet stops also included a money exchange. No not a building but about 4 men and women trying to sell Vietnam dong. Slightly dodgy and we didn't change much as we weren't sure!! Thankfully it hasn't turned out to be fake!!! The Border Crossing took about an hour, you have to check out of China before moving to another building to check in to Vietnam. All this in the rain but thankfully there were little trucks to transport you around. Once the 6 of us were all through and had cleared the health check it was back on a new bus and on our way!! From here it was about 4 hours to Hanoi. It also included a 20 minute food stop. It might have been a bit quicker but an over turned minibus put a spanner in the works! It basically chucked it down all the way!! At least being on a bus we got to see some fab scenery including many a flooded bit of land. There were also lots of animals on the roads to contend with!!

Once in Hanoi us and one of the couples (Natalie and Keith) all caught a taxi together as we are all staying at the same place. We arranged to meet Andrew and Kayleigh later. The taxi was the smallest car ever and four people with four large bags plus day sacks was highly amusing!! Poor Caroline struggled to see a thing!! We were dropped off at St Joseph's catherdral as advised and after a bit of wondering around eventually managed to find it. Hanoi Backpackers Hostel is the only proper hostel in Hanoi and its run by a couple of Aussies who loved Vietnam that much they stayed. So being Aussies there had to be a haapy hour, and we were just in time!! At this point we also then bumped back into Lex and Gareth (also staying here), so by now thats 6 plus the couple from earlier makes 8 and then add Sarah (American working in Indonesia) makes 9. After happy hour had finished we were all hungry so we took over a tapas bar! Great food, service and Sangria!! Even if the bill did come to 1400000 dong!! Still cheap as chips!! From here, we had all put in over so with the kitty in hand we set off to find some cheap beer! This came in the form of 12p a drink sat on a side walk with a lady and a keg!! Not a late one though all in bed by the time the clock struck 12!!