Left Alex's at 6.30 am this morning to start our trip north. Me, Dani & Helena took turns driving the 4x4 behind Alex, Herman and his son Weibe on their motorbikes. Our first stop was the Vert factory, we went inside and had a look around and saw the production lines. It is all very modern and and efficient, the employees seem to have really good working conditions. After a coffee we continued to a city called Thai Nguyen where we stopped for a quick lunch. S...

Had a much needed sleep in followed by breakfast at the lovely Saint Honoure cafe. Pottered around Hanoi for most of the day. In the evening we went to a Vietnamese restaurant with Vi & family and Herman joined us too. Early night as we are setting off on our trip to the North Vietnamese highlands.

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...