Ok, so now I'm in Sydney and have only updated the blog once...a very poor effort, but on the bright side you have A LOT to read about our adventures :-)!
Sapa seems so long ago I'm having to read my diary so I don't miss anything out. We were meant to do a trek and homestay in Sapa but there were a lot of sore feet, it was raining and to be honest we were all trekked out. Saying that, we did end up walking the park in Sapa, which again was all uphill...as everything we seem to do in Asia is, but the views were worth every step.
Hanoi was the next stop in Vietnam. A group of us left Sapa early so we could get an extra day there. The journey was on an overnight train again....but thankfully the Vietnam trains are all 4 in a cabin and there was no fat chinese man snoring...bonus! Hanoi is completely mental...and very french like. We saw the prison, and walked round the city but to be honest I was more excited by all the cheap fruit people sell on the streets. Everytime you cross the road there you are putting your life at serious risk, the secret is just to walk out and hope for the best...it appears to have worked well!
Ha Long Bay..One of our many favourite days! We got a boat out to Cat Ba Island, stopping at the caves on the way. The next day we went out to a floating hut..and picked up kayaks and kayaked to a beach. The best bit about the day was going to monkey island, the beach was mint but we could have done without the evil monkeys. Notably Evil Alan- a monkey with real issues.
From Ha Long bay we went back to Hanoi and then onto Hue. Saw the citidel and had a banquet meal, where we had to dress up and we got served a 10 course meal. The best thing in Hue was by far the motorbike tour we did (not driving it obviously). The first stop on the bike was in a little village where there was a 'rice making' musuem and some machine of an old woman (with black teeth) showed us how to make rice. There was also a fortune teller in the village, who had some interesting predictions for the future. On the bikes, there were many bumps, into chickens, walls, small boys and other bikes. Luckily no-one was hurt in the taking part of trip. The bikes did not stop once at a junction, all they do is beep the horn and keep moving hoping the oncoming traffic will stop/swerve in time. We made it alive to lunch, which we had at a nunnery. Another interesting experience. We were told off on numerous occasions for talking and waking the random nuns asleep outside on the floor. Then it was on to a Pagoda.....there are too many Pagodas in Vietnam!
Hoi An..the home of clothes making. None of us ended up getting anything made...mostly due to indecision and the fact none of us can fit anything else in our bags. Travelling light is not our thing! We spent our time on the beach and playing a lot of ring of fire.
We spent more time on the beach in Nha Trang and we went to some mudbaths. After being in the mudbath we were taken to a mineral bath...pretty much just boiling water, it actually hurt.
The last place in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City/ Sigon, where the sweating reached its peak. It was soooo hot!! We did a cyclo tour around the city and saw ANOTHER Pagoda. The Chi Chi tunnels were good, although not a chance I was going in them, far too small. I chose to wait while the rest of them crawled through the smallest, hottest tunnels, that just got deeper and deeper underground. I would rather see another Pagoda!
Next stop Cambodia....................