(27 October) The next morning we set off early for the long journey across the border. We had a new girl in the group, an Australian called Maria. There was an American girl who was meant to come with us but was sick and never ended up joining us. It was weird only having 9 people, although nice having loads of room on the bus!! Haha. The bus journey wasn't too bad, just long. I watched Never Let Me Go, which is a film which was ok but a bit weird! We got to Lac...

(26 October) This morning we got up early to see the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum side of town. It was quite a long walk...at one point I think we walked into some sort of protest, no idea what for though! Also joined in a bit if badminton with the locals en route which was cool. We went through a park which was really pretty but got stopped in the middle for god knows what...it was actually so bizarre! There were dummies on the ground like dead bodies and people dress...

(25 October) This morning we got a bus back to the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi! It was a bit mad, especially after Halong Bay! Very big city, it has very small streets and millions of motorbikes everywhere! So much going on it actually felt pretty claustrophobic after a few days. We went almost straight out from the bus and ended up staying out all day because the hotel was quite a walk away, which was a shame because I hadn't changed out of my bus clothes! We we...

(24 October) We got off the night train at 4am which was awesome craic, then had a 3 hour bus journey from Hanoi to Halong Bay. When we got there most of us were really tired, but we had a few hours before our boat trip, so I went for a dander along the beach. It was really pretty, not a lot going on in the town bit near our hotel though, just other hotels and a few restaurants and small shops. I went back to the hotel and tried to figure out what I was doing in...

(2 November) Today we were up at half 6 and got a tuk tuk down to get on a boat up the Mekong river. We had a local guide for this part, who was, quite frankly, completely mad! We were all pretty tired, and would have been happy to sleep for a bit on the boat, but this guy had other ideas! The boat itself was pretty cool, it was a long family boat, loads of space for us all and definitely the most comfortable way to travel I've had so far...although I'm sure if...