Day 21 - Well, who would have thought it, a great nights sleep listening to the forest noises and a few squirrels on the roof, or monkeys or bears!!

Off to breakfast all ready to start the trek to the 1000 year old tree as it starts by the restaurant. Pancake and a brew for breakfast and the 7km trek began. A slight climb to start which early in the morning burned the ageing legs! At the top of the first climb I was asked for my photo with a Vietnamese teenager, no idea why. I did look pretty cool with shorts, white ankle socks and walking boots on so maybe he thought I was a bit special. A few ups and down hills in the jungle later we reached our first landmark, another prehistoric cave. Up the hill and a look at the cave but we forgot the torch so couldn't delve any deeper than 'the lounge' at the front!!

We reached the 1000 year old tree after about an hour and had a sit down to take in the vast size of this thing -5.5m across and 45m high. The second half of the trek starts with a massive upward slope which with the hockey boys voices in my head about keeping fit, I decided to have a little run up some of the way. Lucky that Alice was some way behind so she couldn't see me curled up in a ball at the top panting as I struggled to breath!

All in all the trek took about 2 hours and was a nice way to start the day. Back to the bungalow for a bit of chill out time before we were due to be picked up at 1pm. A car pulled up and a bloke starting saying something whilst pointing at his watch. We just looked at him blankly before he produced the paper with our name on it for internal transport. We jumped in and it was down to our next accommodation we went. We pulled up at the restaurant down at Mac Lake where a lady had a key ready for us. She then asked us whether we wanted dinner and demanded we pre order there and then. "what are the choices?" we asked, "70,000, 80,000, 90,000 or 100,000vnd" she replied. "yes but what are they?". "70,000, 80,000......". This wasn't going anywhere, "70,000 please!" (yes the cheapest!). No idea what the contents of the meal will be.

We were then driven to our bungalow and it wasn't actually as bad as feared. Similar layout to the last but just felt more comfortable as it was nearer civilisation as there was a school trip staying in the stilt houses nearby. We dumped our bags and asked the driver to take us to the headquarters so we could grab some lunch at the cafe and order bus tickets to Hanoi for tomorrow.

Whilst ordering we got speaking to a Russian chap who was doing very similar to us but in reverse. A good lunch but we had no idea how much it should have cost as we were told lots of different figures. Alice grabbed a bottle of water and I handed over 100,00vnd. He stared at me for a while before we walked away, think I under paid but hey ho, I didn't care after the transport rip off!!

Back to the bungalow for some chill out time where we sat by the lake watching the sun go down and some people fishing on the lake but not catching a lot. The views by the lake are stunning, huge rolling hills covered top to bottom in huge trees.

6pm came around so we went for dinner. The lady approached us as we neared the restaurant and asked whether we wanted to sit in or outside. I asked whether we could have drink outside first before having dinner inside which wasn't a problem. A couple of beers were brought down to the lake.........followed by the starter despite our conversation 3 minutes earlier. Oh well, some meat, spring rolls and some dipping source. Whilst tucking in, all the lights went out - luckily I had the trusty headtorch. The lady came over with a candle - but the electricity came back on after about 5mins. Apparently it happens every night but that didn't stop 30 odd kids screaming at the top of their voices. With light restored, the main course arrived. With the mains we had another dipping sauce and the conversation went like this, Alice - "could you put those chillies in the sauce please", Chris - "yeah, no problem". A bit of dipping later, Alice - "my mouth is on fire!!", Chris - "we did just stick 5 big chillies in there, hehehehehehehe".

After dinner is was back to the bungalow to again listen to the sounds of the forest. Only this time it included the sounds of singing kids who had decided to give us a rendition of the X Factor outside our room on their way around the lake! "I'm sorry, it's a no from me!"

Off to the capital Hanoi tomorrow which I'm sure will like chalk and cheese compared to this place. We'll see but nice to have some chill out time before hitting Hanoi.