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We've been in Vietnam for 5 days so far, but it feels like weeks! The hour long taxi drive into the Old Quarter of Hanoi was terrifying with the thousands of crazy mopeds and strangely no cars, but we were so glad to get there after the hours of travelling. After thinking we had escaped jet lag we left the hotel the next day after lunch, and walked down to the Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre - risking our lives crossing the manic roads. We then paid 10p to cross the bridge to see the Ngoc Son Temple which had a really big old stuffed turtle - one of Vietnam's four holy animals symbolising old age we found out. We pretty much walked around for a couple of hours, slowly getting used to the city and people - constantly pestering us in the streets and spitting! The night market in the evening was busy, but there was nothing to buy.We got up early the next morning and had to trek with our huge rucksacks to the pick of point of our tour to Halong Bay where there are 1969 islands (looking forward to some sun). After a 3 hour drive we got on our junk for a seafood lunch at HaLong City and found that actually it was cold (luckily millie had bought 2 scarves on the way). We were then taken to some famous caves where we had to 'use our imagination' to see the animals in the rocks. There are lots of floating fishing villages in the bay and and after lunch we kayaked through one and amonst the junks - weve found our new talent! We moored between the islands for the night and it looked really beautiful with the lights from all the other junks shining in the dark... until one of the other junks rammed in the back of us, but luckily we stayed alfoat and went to bed in our mini cabins (where we were awoken by the boat rats under cherry's bed)!The next morning we had the challenge of trying to clamber onto another boat in the middle of the sea, which was interesting! This took us to Cat Ba island - the biggest and only inhabied island, famous for its pearls. We set off for a 2 hour trek in the Cat Ba National Park which started with dodgy steps and ladders throught the jungle and then we literally had to rock climb to the top of Ngu Lam Peak, but it was amazing and well worth it (and we were thankful for the weather for once). We next went to the beautiful monkey island which was scary because, before geting off the boat, we were told that they bite and attack - which they did, but we just ran away down the beach and into the trees.On Wednesday the junk took us back to Halong City but on the way we stopped off at one of the fishing villages for a boat trip through the caves. The plank of wood, our 'boat', was so close to the water that we had to hold on to one another to stop us falling in. After our fifth seafood lunch we travelled back to Hanoi and were glad that we had slept through most of the journey as theyre driving is a little different in this country (totally ridiculous!). Back in Hanoi we set off for a day of sightseeing looking like typical tourists with our rucksacks, cameras and guide books. After walking miles past the army museum and flag tower we finally reached Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum to find it had closed for the day. We were so annoyed but hopefully we'll get to see him tomorrow. However, we still visited the One Pillar Pagoda, the yellow Presidential Palace and Ho Chi's house and cars in the Botanical Gardens, as well as their one peafowl! We then learnt about Ho Chi minh in his museum before finally visiting the Temple of Literature - typically stunning Vietnamese buildings and gardens.We are now in our hotel from which our tour starts and we get to meet our tour guide and fellow travellers tonight which we are very excited about. Today we have set aside the day for shopping! We have also booked tickets to see the Water Puppets later on. Check out our photos of the last few days and look forward to our next blog when we'll be on our tour!
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Jim Steph, Love your stories-they are insriping to say the least! I miss you! I met Tamding by the way and saw your pic on his wall-I was like "I miss Stephanie so much!!" He's cute by the way:) Will get one from him before I leave for sure.xoxoxo