6.30am start to head to Halong Bay for our Castaway trip. Arrived in Halong city at lunchtime and jumped on the boat. We arrived on Castaway island about 5pm, there was a little strip of sand and a few bungalows and that's it! The drinking started from then and we danced all night. Woke up early the next day so we didn't miss the breakfast and our activity day began! Wake boarding followed by kayaking followed by rock climbing left us feeling pretty tired! At 5pm...

Slept in and woke up to go for lunch with Vi and her family. Went to Vi's house for tea before heading to a japanese restaurant. Had a delicious feast then we decided to spend the afternoon at the pool near Alex's. In the evening we all went for a massage and had dinner at a little Vietnamese restaurant. On the way home we booked a backpackers trip to Castaway Island for 2 nights for tomorrow.

Woke up with a horrific hangover and set off the supermarket to buy Alex's birthday breakfast and candles. We made eggs, bacon and pancakes & bought a little piece of cake for him. After breakfast we chilled out whilst Alex went to get a birthday haircut. In the afternoon we did a little sightseeing tour of Hanoi to the presidential palace, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and stopped for a drink at Spy bar. On the way home we stopped at the Oasis deli and stocked up on...

Woke up early for a stroll along the beach of Nha Trang and breakfast. At 8.30am our bus arrived to take us to Buon Me Thout to catch our flight to Hanoi. The journey took about 4.5 hours on the bus, with the driver beeping his horn incessantly all the way, we drove through the central highlands of Vietnam. After a short flight we jumped in a taxi to Alex's apartment! Alex was not very well but he insisted on taking us out for a few drinks, first stop was Finnega...

Arrived in Nha Trang at 6am, had a good nights sleep on the bus! We checked into our hotel and booked a full day boat trip around the islands off the coast of Nha Trang. We were collected at 8.30am & got on the bus to the pier. We were the only English people on the boat along with Vietnamese, Koreans, Indonesians, Filipinos, Chinese and a Dutch couple. First stop was Mieu Island, followed by snorkelling at Mot Island & lots of stingy jellyfish! Next stop...