'How Hanoing' / 'Halong Bay WHEY'

'Hanoi' & 'Halong Bay' 24/05/2013 - 30/05/2013

The sleeper bus was ok, we had the whole back row to ourselves. Tried taking some valium to knock us out into the land of nod but the road was SO bumpy, we were actually getting air while lying down. Quite funny, I must of got about 1ft off my bed at one point!

I really wasn't looking forward to coming back into a hectic city again, leaving Saigon had filled me with relief. I hate chaos, although I'm actually starting to quite enjoy the ongoing buzz in the cities, I still much prefer the quiet, laid back vibe in the smaller cities/villages. I'm sure that's got something to do with the fact i grew up in little old Devon :)

HALONG BAY AND MY BIRTHDAY!

We got a 3hour bus ride to Halong Bay and boarded our boat, our room was stunning, we had a private balcony off the back of the boat, it was clean and cool.

After checking in we had a few early beers and then lunch followed. Stuffed crab, calamari stir fry the works.

After lunch and sailing for a couple of hours we reached the islands.

We took the smaller boat to a huge island which had a cave system inside, it was fab. The cave had been created when the sea was much higher. Inside you could see the shapes on the ceiling where the water had lapped against it. The cave itself was over 1.5 million years old.

Haha. This one looks phallic. Natures got a sense of humor

After caving we Kayaked to another island where there was a beach, we were going to have a swim here but it was too late and the beach had closed, so we decided we would come back early in the morning.

The boat moored up in a secluded little cove and the beers started flowing, dinner was AMAZING, the chefs on board had gone to such effort. They cut 'Happy birthday Kelly' out of carrots for me (Yeah i no they got my name wrong) they turned all the lights off, i thought we'd had a power cut, they came out with hollowed out pineapples with tea lights inside and sang happy birthday to me, so cool. (I hadn't even told them it was my birthday so it was all such a surprise)

Then the cake! It was as delicious as it looks.

We sat with the crew most of the night and knocked back some more beers, the music and disco lights inside got us all having a bit of a bogey, all together a beautiful evening.

The next morning we were up at 7 am, my head was pounding. It didn't get me down though as i reflected on how lovely and friendly everyone had been the previous evening. We were off to the beach for a swim so i was sure this would help wake me up and revive my senses.

After a leisurely swim, we headed off to Cat Ba island, we were spending one night on the island in a hotel, the hotel was pretty good considering the standards we were used too. We had some ridiculous 7 course meal, the food was sublime, I felt 100 times better and was now ready for my actual birthday celebrations that evening (26th).

We took a boat in the day to 'Monkey island' we had a swim and climbed about 200ft to the top for some spectacular views. When we got back down the monkey's were everywhere, stealing peoples drinks and all sorts. They were cute but i kept my distance, I didn't wan't birthday rabies!!!

This is the view from the top where we climbed onto the beach and monkey island. The tide is actually really high as there was a full moon the night before.

This little one managed to steal someones sprite. Hilarious

In the evening we went out for drinks and met some amazing people, we even met a couple who were chefs in New Zealand. They said they'd made some amazing friends on their trip, most of them had come from Plymouth. I couldn't believe it.

The following day we returned to Hanoi, we had our own private mini bus to a boat. There was no one on the boat either, just us, we did tobacco bongs with the crew, it's a strange high. Didn't help with my hangover. After that we got a private car all the way back to Hanoi.

The whole experience had been magically epic.

Tonight we go to a water puppet show in the center of Hanoi and then we fly down to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. To think, this is just the beginning...

'That's the Hue'

'Hue' 20/05/2013 - 23/05/2013

We arrived here after taking the train north, my first experience of the train was that I much prefer the buses. The trains are over crowded, smelly and hot. The buses are air conditioned and more comfortable. PLUS the train is double the price and doesn't get you there any quicker...

We visited the old citadel, learnt a bit more about history. I didn't overly enjoy the citadel, it was much the same as things we had seen before and on top of that most of it had been bombed by the Americans, again, and was quite expensive!

We decided to rent a moped in the afternoon and go in search of the Du Tuc tomb, on our map it looked like it would be pretty simple getting there and back. This wasn't the case we got lost, and the map i was using which was 3 times the size of me fell to pieces in the wind.

We stopped and asked the locals every so often but the language barrier proved difficult and we kept getting pointed in different directions, joy. We finally came across a village where they make incense sticks, it was really enjoyable watching them hand roll each one, they each make up to 3,000 a day. They gave us directions to the tomb, finally we were going in the right direction :)

When we finally got to the tomb it was in such beautiful surroundings but again we felt it was 'same same'! I regretted not getting a guide so we could actually make sense of what we were seeing. We tried to sneak into a few groups and get a free history lesson but they all spoke french, fail.

We rode back and stopped off at a few places to take in the surroundings, we found a beautiful little cafe and got some photos of the sunset.

Off to Hanoi next, 15 hours on a sleeper bus! Yikes.

'Just Da'nanging around'

'Da Nang' 15/05/2013 - 20/052013

First impressions of Da Nang were that we weren't going to enjoy it much, It's very much a city on the move and the 3 huge bridges which connect parts of the city reminded me of America.

There was not much of a backpacking scene here, and on a coach load of backpackers we were the only ones who got off here.

First day we hired a moped and wen't off in search of some beauty outside of the city, we found it! We had lunch in a secluded spot and swam in the ocean, so lush!

We ran out of petrol on our way back and I had to mission into a random house in the mountains in search of help, luckily we met a lovely couple who helped us out. They didn't speak a word of English which made the whole experience confusing but funny. It turned out the bike was second hand and the petrol consumption was all dodgy, we got our money back and hired another one.

We came to Da Nang to stay with Lesley, a friend of Susanne's who knows my dad. She was so generous to us letting us stay in Ocean Villas, the properties were mind blowing and only 5 minute walk from the beach. We chilled here for 3 days, washed our clothes, relaxed, ate well and enjoyed evenings of wine and conversation.

For the first time since we have been travelling, we could see the stars in the night sky. It made me smile A LOT.

'Ahoi An'

'Hoi An' 12/05/2013 - 15/05/2013

I've named this city, 'The city of a thousand lanterns' they were everywhere and by night it was so magical to wander the markets which were illuminated by a beautiful array of colourful lights.

We rented push bikes the first day and took a ride about 3km out of the city to a beach where we relaxed all afternoon. I forgot the camera so there are no photos of this :(

On the second day we did a tour to My Son temples, they are over a thousand years old and there is much speculation about how they were built, no one can really explain it. There were over 70 but 50 were destroyed by american bombs. I LOVED My Son, such mystery and history it was just great! Hottest day yet though at 39 degrees. The day ended with a boat ride back along the river (I forgot the name) It was breezy and yummy, compared to the still heat in the valley.