Vietnam

So... Vietnam. The girls and I arrived in a wing and a prayer into Hanoi, and after our pleasant and peaceful surroundings in Luang Prabang were in for a shock. Hanoi, although only an hour on a plane, is a completely different kind of place. Having haggled our way onto a taxi/bus thing into the city of Hanoi, we made our way through the city to look for somewhere to stay. It's a pretty scary place, Kathryn held onto me tight to make sure no one stole me as her and Zoe battled their way through the millions of motorbikes and people, just sitting on the street, cooking some meat, or cleaning their shoes...sometimes at the same time, very strange. Having decided to go to Halong Bay asap, we took the first beds we found, and thankfully survived. Having booked a 3 day boat trip for the next day, we headed out for a well deserved beer. The busiest establishment in the area was a crossroad junction so we perched ourselves on the tiny plastic chairs amongst the other hundred people and enjoyed a 35p beer... yes, 35p!! We had a nice chat with a Irish couple that were on our bus, they really liked meeting me I think, and after a few beers we headed to a nearby bar. A bit loud and noisy, but no different from the rest of the city. I decided to leave my mark on the place... naughty Keith!! See the pics. After a nice rum and coke we headed back to prepare for our early start the next day.

8am and we were all up and brushed, ready for a 3 day "cruise".... the girls were ready with me as their stowaway and couldn't wait to meet the Captain! I'd bought my best floss! We were picked up and transported the 3 hourish journey to Halong city, where we were put on our boat. It didn't take us long to make friends with our fellow shipmates, and also for us to start to dislike Tin.. our guide. We had clearly not done our homework, as we could answer none of his questions on Halong Bay and he was not happy.... what were we paying him for?! By the end I was ready to show him my gnashers!! We went out on the boat and ate lots of yummy seafood! We headed to a cave on one of the 1969 islands in Halong Bay and saw lots of rocks... which according to Tin were a variety of different objects and animals ... we smiled and nodded, although one was pretty obvious!! Back to the boat, and we settled on top deck with a few beers, and our friend Pat's guitar... and we jammed. Yes jammed!! It was brilliant. The sunset, we ate again, and sat round drinking til bedtime! The next day and we headed to Cat Ba Island. We walked to the top of a mountain, thank god the girls carried me! It was a good trek, and then we headed off to check into our hotel. Once in, we were back on a boat and off to Kayak for the afternoon... Again, the views were amazing, and the lagoon that they took us to was brilliant. Back on the boat we could swim, and Zoe was jumping off the top of the boat with some of the others. After dinner we headed out for a few cocktails, a pudding, some beers, a shisha..... and KAREOKE! Kathryn and Zoe felt it only fair to perform for their new friends, and the other crazy people/men/women/bit of boths in the bar with 2 amazing duets of Especially for You, closely followed by Mysterious Girl! Brilliant! Numerous other songs followed, with us pretty much having to drag Zoe off of it!! Us and the gang, and some nice locals, finished off the night with We are the Champions. Off to bed to get some beauty sleep befor Tin was waking us the next morning to continue of his strict itinary!

Our last day on the boat, and we gently sailed on back to Halong City...still jamming. Kathryn and Zoe have great potential as rockstars... their new friends told them so, so we are off guitar shopping later!!! Having survived the boat trip and bus journey back to Hanoi, we have just booked into a nice hostel and are looking to move South tomo night. Sooooooooooo much to look forward to...

So... in true star style.... ROCK ON!

Over and out,
Keith