Just to pre warn you it's getting to the point where we're beginning to forget what we did the previous day..soo bare with us please!! Also we're just about to go to a karaoke bar to cebrate Tess' 19th birthday so don't have too long..here goes!!
Yesterday we were super keen and woke up early to set off for the forbidden city. It took us about half an hour, which in the sticky heat of Hue was actually quite a killer..we're not as young as we used to be! When we got there we were very excited to see rehearsals for Chinese New Year including chinese dragons and dancing men-basically the whole shebang! Unfortunately the palaces themselves were beautiful but rather bare and limited!! Main excitement was Hanne claiming she'd spotted an elephant...an elephant that seemed to disappear into thin air as soon as the rest of us turned around..as Árni said 'how do you manage to lose an elephant?!' Eventually the elephant was discovered (was actually pretty fast) but of course we were all too stingey to pay the 6 dollars to ride it!
We stopped off at the supermarket on the way back to stock up on fruit (yes mums we are getting our daily dose) biscuits, water and crisps - our favourite new found train diet - for the 14 hour train ahead! The train was rather more decrepit than the previous one but we got ourselves by on snacks followed by Taken 2 and Tomb Raider...very comfortable viewing with 8 of us in a 4 bunk cabin..!! No cockroaches this time though just some broken toilets and flirtatious guards!
This morning we woke up at 4:30am..despite the train not getting in until 6:30..lucky Tess on her birthday but after a quick singsong and blown out candle we set off for Ha Long Bay. We spent a lovely day on a boat and went kayaking around the gorgeous if not slightly eerie islands!! Lucky Tess was also made to have birthday dance on board..
Back for a quick shower and change and now karaoke time..Time tk get Tess drunk :):) ..might improve her vocal chords..!!
Lots of love to everyone, Flo and Tessx x