So Singapore was a one night stop. But....it did make us feel like Westerners again. It was so clean and everything worked well and there were nice shops and Stace realised that she missed wearing nice clothes and heels and make up. Plus now really wants a Louis Vuitton bag. Anyway, we didn't have time to see any of the sites but are heading back for a 2 day stop-over in May so will do some sightseeing then.

Of course this flight hadn't been changed either, as with our flight to Singapore so we had to wait and get that sorted, but Silk Air were brilliant. The flight to Hanoi was short and we arrived at the Backpackers hostel to find Andy in the bar (surprise surprise). So of course our first night was spent drinking 18p beers and chatting and smoking a hooka pipe (very sore throats in the morning). The next morning Stace was concidering if staying in the hostel was a good idea or not whilst in the shower. Just as she had convinced herself to stay, the man in the shower cubical next to her threw up on the floor and it started heading her way under the partition. We moved out that morning and found a nice little hotel with a private bathroom. After a morning walking tour around the local market with a hangover (watching numerous fish being gutted and toads escaping from their cages) the day called for a 'hair of the dog' moment. So off to the pub we went. The second night ended in much the same way as the first.

The next day we headed to the sights to see the Literature museum, Ho Chi Min Museum and the Mausoleum. For Andy's last night in Vietnam we headed out to the street beer venders and had a few beers more for the road. After picking Andy's brain about places to go next, saying our goodbyes and getting lost on our walk home we decided to head to Ha long Bay the next day.

Our tour guide was named Hieu, pronounced hugh but sounding like a question, a bit like we would say really? We have learnt that the same word can mean many different things in Vietnamese depending on how you say it.

We arrived at the beautiful bay to heavy cloud and mist and drizzling rain. 'I bet this looks beautiful if you can see it' was the saying of the trip. After lunch on our rickety old Junk boat we headed to the amazing Sung Sot cave. Yes it was even better than Wookey Hole. It was so beautiful and huge, I'm afraid the photos don't do it justice.

After heading to the viewing platform above the cave to look at the beautiful bay we realised that what should have been an amazing view of 1969 tiny limestone islands was still a wall of grey for us, but we had paid for kayaking and damn it we were doing it. So the Pearson's headed to the water and into the boats. We were the first out and last back. Turns out we are brilliant at Kayaking, well except for when anything comes towards us and Stace starts paddling as fast as she can. Only learning after the event that just stopping rowing is more effective at avoiding things. But hey live and learn.

Anyway, back in our room on the Junk boat we looked out of the window to find small boats pulling up next to us offering beer, pringles, snickers etc. Amazing that the local women have made a trade from the tourists by offering junk food. So after a couple of drinks we headed to dinner and sat with some fellow Brits. After dinner and a few more beers we decided that fishing was the best thing to be doing and headed on to the deck fishing rod in one hand, beer in the other. There were no fish or squid to catch and at one point we were having a competition with the Aussies. No one won and we suspect that there were no fish and were we being laughed at by the locals but hey we had a good time, and we ended the night playing cards instead.

After heading back to Hanoi we then boarded a sleeper bus for a 14 hour over night trip to Hue.