9/11/08 Hanoi, Vietnam
Well where can I start...Hanoi is crazzzy! V different to clean and modern HK. We do miss HK lots. Apart from annoying honking from cars as well as mopeds, ringing bells of cyclo taxi wanting you to ride them and the fact it was scary crossing the road as they wont stop for pedestrian even with a green man on..apart from all that Hanoi seems ok. Cant wait to start the tour and see more scenic places like Halong Bay. People here are very nice and again very skinny!Dave and I walked to places that looked similar all the time. Shops after shops and streets after streets - getting lost all the time. But when we kept on walking we found a very cheap massage place which we had shoulder and head massage (costing about 3pounds for 30min) and Dave also had a foot and leg. No this is not a dodgy massage parlour as much as Dave would like it to be lol and I would go again i think for a pedicure and a back massage.
Hotel is good, better than expected, however Dave was not completely happy with windowless room and demanded one with a window (not v good views anyways) so we moved today and just remembered I left a t-shirt and my only jeans in the wardrobe and SOO ANNOYED that I may not get it back - have to wait till tomorrow!Thats all for now folks.

14/11/08 Halong Bay, Vietnam
I got my jeans and shirt so im happy again. 12/11/08 we checked in to another hotel and met our tour group that night and tour leader/guide. We are a group of 12 consisting of 2 other British, 1 South African and 2 Germans and the rest are Australians. They are very nice people and we have got on along well. The next day we head out 7:30 breakfast and 8:30 heading our to Halong Bay (4 hours drive). It was a really nice place - one the beautiful places I've been. We stayed over in a boat overnight (they call it Junk boat - pics coming soon) we swam and kinda regretted it as it was not clear water and we smelt kinda seaweedy afterwards - not sure if it was completely clean. But all in all it was a laugh. We saw a really big cave. Halong Bay has many mini islands which was underwater hundreds of years ago. It was definitely a complete relaxation - complete opposite to Hanoi. We have come back in Hanoi today and taking an overnight sleeper train at 11pm to go to Hue, Central Vietnam (no turning back now!) catch up soon.

Overnight train to Hue - well that was an experience. Slept like a baby. We had to share a room with these two old German couple. The lady had either a face lift or serious botox job! Haha. They were nice though and they spoke a lot more English than we thought. Dave and I both slept on top bunk as the other two would not able to climb it.

15-16.11.08
When we were in Hue (Central Vietnam), we went to Citadel, Ancient City used by the Kings (who had 400-500 women!) It was really nice but shame that it was raining.
In Hue we had a look at some more pagodas (temples) and had a cruise down the perfume river. We also had a look at a very cramp market and I managed to buy a Vietnam Star t-shirt for 35,000 dong - 1 pound ish to you and me. The lady was not happy but im learning how to barter! It was very hot and it is when I noticed im quite tanned!!!already.. Aahh!

Update 18.11.08
It is our second day in Hoi Ann (Central Vietnam) and its pouring down with rain - and I mean tropical rain that doesn't stop! Dave and I have been up since 5pm today and took a tour to 'My Son' ancient (13th Century) ruins. It was really really beautiful and amazing architecture, shame it was pouring with rain! Time to get or purple ponchos out! Sexy huh! You will see a few pics of us in ponchos. We got back from the tour around 9:30am and it was time to get back to bed. We meant to have a motorcycle tour around Hoi Ann as it is said to be the greenest part of Vietnam and it is the heart of Vietnam - but it's cancelled due to the weather but guess what!! we still have to pay as it is 100% cancellation fee. It shouldn't be too much - I remember Sonny (our tour guide for this trip) saying it's about $5 USD each. So here we are lounging around the hotel - we should be having a nice bbq seafood dinner in a boat tonight.
Hoi Ann is the best place to get tailored clothes (shirts, dresses, trousers, suits in any material and in any design!) Not bought anything as we are only here for 2 days and 2 nights" and really cannot be asked to carry it around with me and would have to buy plenty of clothes so it's worth it for me to ship it back home.
Last night Dave and I with some of our tour group had a Vietnamese Cooking Lesson and had a blast. Of course we ate what we cooked (sweet and sour chicken soup, spring rolls, green papaya salad, marinated bbq fish with aubergine hot claypot.)

Late evening 18.11.08
Just got back from dinner and now waiting for my shoe delivery. Yes Dave and I went to town in the rain and had a bit of a look around and enđed up buying 2 shoes - I got to choose style, material and colour and they make it to my size..how amazing is that??!! Then I just got the shopping fever and nearly bought dresses but we are leaving tomorrow morning at 7am so cant get clothes done overnight so nevermind. Got myself a little handbag instead. I know I should not be spending but oh well...might ship it off at some point. After shopping, Dave and I came back to hotel, he had a shoulder and back massage and I had a manicure and pedicủre lol - the life òf travelling. The bbq dỉnner was also cancelled due to rain and floods. Ho Chi Minh tômorrow - hope ít not the same as Hanoi.

Update 22.11.08
Cin Chao (Hello in Vietnamese), at last were back in civilisation and I can wear whatever I want without offending anybody. Ho Chi Minh is ok city. Any man who would like to come here will be in for a treat. Im amazed there are so many massage parlours (wink wink) dotted all over District 1 and the girls are not fugly at all. Our Tour Leader, Sonny would say - you can get a haircut in a private room lol.
We only had 2 days with our tour group here, 1st day doing city tour using cyclos. I shat myself as streets here are just as busy as Hanoi. 2nd day we went to Mekong Delta and visited islands famous for coconut products. We tried out coconut candy, coconut rum, rice wine with honey and snake wine. Yep I said snake wine with scorpio too - Dave got the pic of me downing a shot - tastes just like vodka except its a little bit oily due to the animal inside lol.Yuk I know! 3rd day Dave and I with two other people in our tour group went to Cu Chi Tunnel - the place where viet cong used during the war and oh boy was it like a sauna. We walked 20 metres in the dark and that was enough for me. Was scared there was still booby traps lol. Amazing how they all did it. Dave also tried out M16 (gun), I filmed it and hope Dave gets to upload it at some point. It was sooo loud that the ear piece I had did not even help my poor ear drums. Today Dave and I had a really good lay in as we have been waking up like 6am nearly everyday!We had a look around town and went shopping and finally shipped off our stuff. The last two nights been good - strange not being in a group but at least now we have been enjoying our evenings on roof top bars in 5 star hotels sipping cocktails and loving the scenery and music. Tomorrow I think were going to a waterpark and then the next day we fly off to Bangkok. So until then...