I could have had a long lie this morning but we both seemed to be awake at 8.30am, which was in good time to get ready and manage to still make breakfast at the hotel. This was by far the best hotel we had stayed in, and the breakfast was lovely.

Nikki, Lauren and I all headed out at 10.30am to explore Hanoi. We had a few things on our list we wanted to see but we had planned a quite chillaxed day! Well actually there's no way Hanoi could ever be described as a chilled or a relaxing place so maybe I can't say that. We walked towards the centre and had a look around the market shops as both Nikki and Lauren were wanting leggings or trousers. We were just taking in the vibe from crazy chaotic city. All the shops closed at lunch time so we headed back to the Gecko cafe Charles had taken us too yesterday. On our way to the cafe we met Justine, Karee, Tasha and Jordan who were also heading there so all 7 of us had lunch together.

We then walked towards the Hoan Kiem Lake which made up the centre of Hanoi. It had the Ngoc Son Temple on an island that you got to over the Red Sunbeam Bridge. The bridge was so pretty and made a gorgeous reflection in the lake. We all walked over the bridge and took some photos but neither of us were interested in paying to go into another temple. Next on our list of sights that we all wanted to see was the Hanoi Cathedral, our maps weren't the best though and it took us a while in a round about way to find it. It certainly was worth seeing the building even though we couldn't go in, it was huge and a gorgeous building but it sat slightly off balance. On our way to the cathedral we got distracted and found the famous Fanny Ice-Cream shop... and I had never experienced an ice cream shop like this one before. Then menu was huge and had every possible flavour of ice-cream or sorbets you could think of. The size of their ice cream sundaes were massive. I only had two scoops of ice-cream as I wasn't hungry at all but since everyone else was having one, it would have been rude not too :) You even got alcoholic cocktail sundaes!!!!

The afternoon flew by and after we eventually found the cathedral we all went our separate ways. Nikki, Lauren and I headed back to the hotel, having another rake around the small shops on our way. I had found a Clinique shop but when I went in and checked out the prices they were all ridiculously expensive. We managed to have some chill time before getting showered and ready to go out for tea.

Tom and Kjetil had been on the tour through to Ho Chi Minh and then were touring Vietnam and Laos by themselves but basically they were doing the exact same itinerary as us so they kept meeting us for trips and dinners etc. Tonight they joined us for tea but Tom had tendonitis in his foot so couldn't put any pressure on his leg. Our hotel was a good 20 minute walk from the centre of town and obviously Tom couldn't walk so Nikki and I ended up getting a taxi with him to the restaurant. We went back to the Gecko restaurant where we had been for the lunch the last 2 days, as Charles said the choice of good places to eat here were very limited. Nikki, Tom and I arrived super early to the restaurant and managed to get a few drinks in before the others arrived.

It was Justine, Karee, Taylor, Paige, Will, Mica, Jordan and Tashas last night on the tour and a couple from England.. Liz and James were joining us so the table was huge tonight. There were Vodka shake cocktails for 91p and they were super strong. By the time my actually food arrived, Nikki, Tom and I were quite tipsy :) Since I didn't drink last night, I was up for a few drinks tonight but we also knew we had to get up at 5.15 in the morning. By the time we all left the restaurant everyone was ready for back to the hotel and I was shattered, a few of them headed out for more drinks and to a local club but I got a taxi back to the hotel with James and Liz. They are a really nice couple and Liz is a Cardiac ITU nurse so I'm glad I'm no longer the only nurse on the trip.

Super glad I came back to the hotel early. I packed my bag in preparation for the early start and went straight to sleep xxx