Hey everyone,

Its me again, aren't you all lucky, two entries from me!!

So we said goodbye to Laos and flew into Vietnam. We were slightly concerned regarding the fact that we flew with Laos airlines on the smallest plane we have ever been on, and the Lonely Planet (our bible) says to avoid them. But we didn't have a choice, so off we went. It was actually fine other than the food they tried to give us: what a joke. It was two slices of bread with what looked like a cold burger in the middle, therefore I didn't sample the plane food!!! Our flight was early morning so we arrived in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam with the rest of the day to look around.

We found some accommodation easy enough and we actually got air-conditioning for the first time since Bangkok, its a novelty now. We wandered around the city and got our bearings. There is still a large French influence in Vietnam, with many French restaurants dominating the streets. We went to one for some lunch which was on the way to a prison we wanted to visit. Claire's foot was looking very swollen and was slightly red but over lunch it seemed to get bigger and redder. I looked at the map and there was an International Hospital near where we were, I said I think we should make a trip there.

Off we went to hospital. We went in and automatically felt reassured as everyone spoke good English and the staff were very efficient. Claire had to fill in some forms and the minute they had been processed she was in seeing the doctor. Within about half an hour she was hooked up to Intravenous Antibiotics (IV) with the doctors and nurses prodding around with her foot. The care she received was excellent. The plan for the next few days was IV antibiotics morning and night at the hospital, daily dressing change and on Monday they would look into the wound, when the swelling had gone down. She was a very good patient. Whilst she was getting her drugs I was saying just picture you've got George Clooney looking after you.

That evening before we went back to the hospital we went to get some money out, but the machine wouldn't accept our cards so as we turned round to find somewhere else 4 blokes ran at us shouting boo! It frightened the life out of us, but then we realised it was the lads we had been travelling with. It was so random to bump into them in the middle of Hanoi. We had a chat and they went to watch the footy (which I told them had already been played the night before-but they didn't believe me as Im a girl!!) and we got dinner (more food). Hanoi at night is a nightmare to say the least-it is absolutely manic. There are thousands of motorbikes on the roads and they literally rule the road. They stop for nothing or no-one!! Trying to cross the road is like dicing with death. I now wish Id written a will before coming away (only joking). We even once tried pushing the button at the crossing and waiting for the little green man, but it didn't make any difference what-so-ever. The trick we then found out which we think worked was to just keep walking, look at the traffic coming towards but the essential thing is not to stop. It took some getting used to, just heading into the middle of the with a hundred bikes coming for you but it had to be done.

That night at the hospital I got a history lesson about Vietnam which was good seeing as I knew only a little about the country. It also helped with the tour we did the next day.

On the Sunday we had to get to the hospital early in the morning for Claire's third dose of antibiotics. Then we went on a city tour around Hanoi. The first stop of the tour was to visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. As we didn't have our legs and shoulders covered we had to buy some stunning (not) shawls and sarongs (hence looking really attractive in the photos!!). We had to queue for about half an hour,which was almost unbearable in the heat. I felt like I was going to melt. I do not know how the guards stand there in a full suit, with boots, hat gloves and holding a gun. Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) was Vietnam's president during the war's, WWII and the Vietnam war. He is a 'legend' here. He fought for the people of Vietnam and they all worship him. His body now is in the museum and that is what we saw first of all. He is lying in a glass coffin and you can see his face, its a bit spooky. His coffin is guarded at each corner and you have to walk two by two and you are not allowed to speak. Hence Claire probably would have been shot if she had shouted what she wanted to - she wanted to shout ' Boo'. They send his body to Russia from September to December to preserve it. He was 79 when he died of a heart attack and Hanoi immediately had a 7-day mourning.

Next, we went to the house on stilts where he used to live. It wasn't what I thought it would be like, I thought it would be a really big mansion but it was very small and, normal. Then we made our way to the Ho Chi Minh museum. Inside here is the history of Vietnam, with a huge emphasis on Ho Chi Minh, with many newspapers, letters and photos of him and his life.

Our next stop was Hanoi's Temple of Literature, the first one in Hanoi. It was later established as a university for the education of Mandarins. They trained mainly doctors here and all their names are written on walls surrounding one of the courtyards. It was very pretty and nice to see traditional Vietnamese architecture. It was here that we heard local music and Claire had togo on stage wearing a very nice hat and dance with them!!! We sampled Vietnamese food for lunch which was good, seeing as the night before we were not impressed with our food!!

After lunch we went to another Pagoda but we were not allowed in as our legs were not covered, so we walked out in straight in through a different entrance. Whilst we were here the heavens opened so we were stuck there until it settled. I was in front and suddenly I heard someone fall to the ground - I looked back expecting to see Claire on the floor, but luckily it wasn't so don't worry. We asked the bus to take us to the Market but it wasn't worth the trip, it was a lot of rubbish and some of the things they sell you cannot believe anyone would buy.

That evening we made our regular visit to the hospital for Claire's final dose of 'juice'. We were in a restaurant and we saw the lads again - it really is a small world!! I had took great delight in saying 'I told you so' about the football the night before!!! We went to a couple of bars and had a few cocktails before being asked to leave by the local police.

We spent the next day shopping!! yay....for some souvenirs. In Hanoi they have a different street for each thing to buy, so if you want sunglasses you got to the sunglasses street, if you want shoes you go to the shoes street!! weird. Whatever the road starts with is what they sell! However this was after the final visit to the hospital. The doctor we saw on the first day was looking after Claire, he gave her a local anesthetic in the the cut (she did very well) he then proceeded to pull out a piece of bamboo nearly a centimeter long!! At this point I felt very bad as I tried my hardest to see if anything was there when it happened and I couldn't see anything, so it must have been deep under the skin. Claire immediately said 'can I keep it' so if any of you want to see it when we're back Im sure she'll show you!! So the hospital bandaged her up and after some more paperwork, we were on our way. We both have to say that the hospital were fantastic and we couldn't fault the care they gave.

The following day we headed about three hours out of Hanoi (with only our small backpacks-hooray we got rid of the big heavy ones for a couple of days!!). We went to Halong Bay which is a collection of 3000 small islands rising from the clear waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. It made a big change getting away from the hustle and bustle of the the city.It is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Vietnam's natural marvels. Ha long means, 'where the dragon descends into the sea'. Legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out valleys and crevasses; as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by its tail became filled with water, leaving only bits of high-land visible. Hope you are all impressed with my memory - Im afraid to say though that I took that bit from the bible (the Lonely Planet).

We arrived at the port ready to board the boat, and who do we see...the lads again- we just cant get away!! They had just come back from their trip though. We had to climb over many boats to actually get to ours, but the boat was nice and Claire and I headed straight upstairs to catch some rays. The boat went around many of the stunning islands and the scenery was out of this world. We stopped at Thien Cung cave one of the largest caves in Halong Bay and it was only discovered in 1983, 24 years ago by a fisherman. The cave was stunning with many different colours of limestone inside. In 24 years many myths and stories have been made up about the cave.

We then changed boats as our original one was for a day trip and we were staying one night on Cat Ba island, which is the only populated island in Halong Bay. We arrived at our hotel and it was very nice and we made the most of having a TV with a movie channel (in English). We met up with some other travellers that would be on our boat the next day and we all went for a few drinks in a plush bar on the island.

The next morning we had our included breakfast and then boarded the boat to make our way back to Halong City. En route we passed beautiful scenery of the islands, mountains, floating fishing villages. Every so often a small boat selling fruit would come along the side of the boat which looked like it was going to sink!!! The boat stopped and Claire and I went sea kayaking for while, then we got so hot that we just dived into the sea and went swimming. It was bliss. We spent the rest of the boat trip back to the city sunning ourselves on the deck.

After a three hour journey back to Hanoi we showered and got ready to leave Hanoi on an overnight bus for 15 hours. Discussed in the next entry.

Sorry it was so long, I probably rattled on a bit but nevermind.

Hope you are all well

Love and Miss you loads

Carly and Claire
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