22 hours later we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam. Much to Ryans disappointment, the death road was actually a pretty smooth ride.

With the assistance of our hotel we didnt get so ripped off by a rigged meter taxi, the driver wanted 500,000VND but we only gave him 200,000VND in the end. Some how his meter jumped through the kilometers quicker than you could blink. Exhausted from the long day we slept amazingly well on the worlds hardest bed. We got up pretty late so only had the afternoon to explore the city. Not knowing how far we would have to walk we haggled with a cyclo driver to take us to the temple of literature. Walking would probably been slightly quicker but the blistering heat was too muc. The driver had quite a task getting us there, he was old and we didn't quite fit in the seat. once we arrived he also did his best Oliver impression holding his hat out asking for more. Before visiting the temple we went for lunch in Koto, they take kids out of poverty and provided them with a job/training for a better future. Lunch was nice however Maz made a mess of the make your own fish cake rolls, unsuprisingly we had cakes for dessert. Temple of Literature was the site of the countries first university. It also had turtles carved out of concrete with head stones on top of them with all the students that had passed the Royal exams.

We took a casual stroll back to the Haon Kiem lake. Rumour has it that in the mid 15th century Emporer Ly Thai To recieved a magical sword from heaven which he used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. after a war a giant tortoise swimming on the lake took the sword and swam to the depths of the lake. Since then the lake has been named Ho Haon Kiem, also known as the Lake of the Restored Sword. Because the tortoise returned the sword to the devine owners. Ngoc Son temple found at the top of the lake has a embalmed giant tortoise

We didn't plan our evening very well, well the unplanned afternoon nap meant we didn't have enough time for dinner so the fastest option was KFC. Just like home but you could get rice and it came on a plate with cuttlery. Our evenings entertainment was the vietnamese water puppetry. This an ancient art form created by farmers during the rainy season. It was amazing, we would be able to tell you more about it but Maz left the programme in a bar. They had a tradition band playing music throughout the performance. We saw a number of short stories including farming, fishing, frog catching, a buffoon tua - birds courting each other and having a baby, carps turning into dragons, coconut picking and the emperor seeing a dragon in the clouds. The puppets were controlled mystically as they didn't have any strings.

Another bus journey later we got to Ha Long Bay to get a junk boat to Cat Ba Island. In the prictures we've seen all the boats are brown, as it turns out most of them are white. Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba island are beautiful, hopefuly the photos will do it justice.

Wildlife is abundant here and we were lucky enough to see some close up action when visiting the beach. A Black Kite (the bird, not toy) started fishing close to us when we were swimming in the sea, so close we started to worry about the safety of our toes! It was amazing to see such a big, powerful bird close up and knowing it was completely wild. It was also nice to be swimming with what appears to be new species of polystyrene fish and carrier bag jelly fish.

Some how we spent so long in Cat Ba Island we nearly left with out actually doing much there. We visited the hospital cave which was built for the vietnam war. It took 3 years to build and is incredible. If soldiers were injured this was one of the place to go. It had treatment rooms, family rooms, training areas, a swimming pool even a cinema. Their was even a secret exit, incase they were attacked by the americans. Some how they even got massive cast iron doors for the entrances.

Our other accomplesment was a day trip on a brown junk boat around the islands. We went kayaking in a secluded bay and went through caves into lagoons with large limestone peaks surrounding us. We only got to do this for 40 minutes but could have spent much longer there. After spending the afternoon bobbing around the lime stone islands we stop for a quick swim, jumping off the boat into the warm waters were very refreshing. Getting back into the boat was particularly difficult, the ladder wasn't long enough so you had to wait for the boat to dip down so you grab the bottom bar. After haulling yourself up the ladder you then have to flop yourself over the side. Our last stop before heading back to the Cat Ba Island was monkey island. Not sure why its called this as theres more tourists than monkeys. The 3 monkeys on the island enjoyed drinking stolen beer and red bull and even ventured into the bar to steal crisps and nuts. It was quite entertaining. We then had another crazy climb on the boat. Safety doesn't seems to be the standard round Asia. We then had a chilled evening with the people we met on the boat before heading back to the hotel to pack as we heading back to Hanoi the next day.

After more buses boats and taxis we got back to Hanoi. again we had a limited agenda. We had an amazing hostel which even had breakfast included and a hair drier. Maz got rather excitied by this, Ryan was more impressed with the flat screen TV.

Ho Chi Minhs Mousoleum was what we came back to Hanoi for it was a bizarre experience firstly you get dropped off some where near the entrance and pointed in the wrong direction by the taxi driver which ensued aimlessly wandering around looking for the entrance. Eventually we found it we had to leave our empty bag and carry our belongings at the bag store. Walk along a weavy path way in the blistering heat until you get to a security check point where your belongings get x-rayed. Once your cleared you then get assemblied in pairs much like the animals going into the ark. much shuffling later your into the mousoleum. Ho Chi Minh is presserved in a class box for all to see if your eyes havent gone funny because of the heat change extreme hot and bright to extreme cold and dark then back to extreme hot and bright. Ho Chi Minh wanted to be cremated but gets restored every year for 3 months by the Russians or possibly Madame Tussauds. wWe found it very bizarre and we thought he looked like a wax work. we also wandered around the grounds which had a museum, his house, palace and a house on stilts. A deserved Bia Hoi was needed at the end of the day. It was nice rubbing shoulders with the locals and could chat to some of them. More importantly it only cost 15p a glass.

Were now catching a sleeper bus to Hue, pronounced Hoy-A.