Our tour has started! On our last free day in Hanoi we finished off the sightseeing by going to see the Waterpuppets great and traditional but a little scary and visited Ho Chi Minh himself, very strange to see him dead and embalmed. That night we got the Unification Express (our first sleeper train! what an experience) for 12 hours down to Hue, luckily we managed to sleep most of it and wasnt that dirty! For the 2 days in Hue we visited the beautiful Citadel and got a dragon boat down Perfume river to a Pagoda. After getting off the boat we were met by a woman with black teeth who followed us up to the famous pagoda where we saw some young monk boys and the car of the monk who cremated himself that time (he came from that place). We were also taken to 2 tombs of Vietnamese kings Khai Dinh and Tu Duc, which were amazing, they looked like they came from the jungle book! Before leaving Hue, we made a stop at Dong Ba market, we were the only foreigners so a little hassled and it stank of dried fish. We drove down to Hoi An on the Ocean Cloud Pass and through Danang. The 2 days in Hoi An were very rainy unfortunately but was packed full of shops and loads of tailors where we picked up a couple of dresses and shoes! We loved this place as it also had the best cake shop ever and we stayed in the biggest and nicest hotel. The next destination was one we have been looking forward to for months, Whale Island but we did have a painful 12 hour coach journey in the pouring rain and with a Vietnamese driver, enough said! The Island was so amazing - although there was an hour in the morning of rain but thankfully it brightened up after breakfast. So we thought wed go on a trek around the island; it took us to several peeks where we could see views of the other islands and beaches which was incredible. We felt we needed a rest so sunbathed for a while and then went for a rock climb and finished off the day with a game of beach volley ball (not something were very good at we found out). After a very lazy next day we were torn away from our paradise island and our little wooden beach hut amongst the jungle. Since being in Nha Trang weve already done so much; 8 of us decided to visit a spa where we had mud baths! Followed by jet showers and a hot spa bath to attempt to clean us off. We came out feeling relaxed with soft hair but smelling a bit funky. We then visited Long Son Pagoda, the reclining Buddha and the giant white Buddha really daunting experience, it was full of beggars, but well worth it. Were getting another sleeper train tonight to Saigon which were thoroughly looking forward to, and hope we get some sleep!