HANOI

Cripes what a difference 24 hours makes, well 29 hours to be exact, as this is how long our bus journey was! We won't bore you with the details but it was a pretty horrific journey. Anyway after leaving the quiet, peaceful and under-developed Laos we arrived in the motorbike crazed, fast paced, cauldron of noise - Hanoi. Our first encounter was to be ripped off by a taxi taking us into the centre. We ended up getting charged over 20 quid more than 2 nights stay in a hotel! Luckily we shared the taxi with 2 girls (Laura and Sally) we met on the journey from hell. We were felling pretty peed off though but things got instantly better when we bargained our way into a plush hotel for less than a tenner a night, and to make things even better we got upgraded on our first night to the deluxe room which even had a memory foam mattress! Just what we needed considering we hadn't slept for nearly 2 days! By now it was about 10.30pm but we ignored our tiredness and headed out for a bite to eat with Laura and Sally, after munching away we were given a flyer to a club that apparently never closes. We thought we would head there for a quick drink, after a few cocktails, some beers and a good boogie the police came and shut the place down! So much for never closing! The owners told everyone to go round the corner and to come back in 5 minutes for a free shot but we were knackered so went to bed and sank into our amazing mattress!

Next morning we went to explore Hanoi in daylight and this is when we realised just how manic it is. Crossing the road is an experience alone as there are no crossings and if you are luckily to find some traffic light the motorbikes ignore them! You literally just have to walk across the road and let the motorbikes try to avoid you, they don't stop for nobody!! Exploring the centre pretty much took all day, there are loads of cool little side streets buzzing with motorbikes, women in cone hats carrying all sorts of goods on their shoulders on wooden planks, outside seating for eating and drinking plus shops crammed floor to ceiling with traditional gifts. It really is quite a sight, just when you think you have seen it all the side streets open up to the massive centre with a huge lake, rooftop restaurants and temples. We loved it! That evening we planned to watch the traditional water puppetry show however Hickeys belly had a different idea so we cancelled! We still managed to look around the small market and book a 2 day 1 night trip to Halong Bay for the following morning.

HALONG BAY

It took us just over 3 hours to get to Halong Bay port where we were picked up by our boat which we would be spending the night on. Our room on the boat was lush with an ensuite shower and air conditioning. As soon as we put our bags in the room we were summoned to the dining area where we were treated to a lovely seafood platter, next was a trip to the caves which was made very enjoyable by our cute and funny tour guide. The caves were pretty amazing and so colourful. We walked around for about an hour before getting back on board. We then did what Brits do best and headed straight up to the top deck, put our towels on the best sun loungers and sunbathed for the rest of the day! Halong Bay is bloody beautiful, it has 1969 islands and the scenery is breath-taking. We went past a floating village (yes people live in the middle of the sea) and then anchored down for the night in front of some beautiful limestone peaks. We had more lush food before spending the night playing cards, listening to tunes and drinking 333 beer with Laura and Sally (who we pretty much had become inseparable with since meeting them on the bus to Hanoi. Quite freakily Laura has the same name and birthday as Lorry!)

Next morning we were woken at 6am by the engine and then again at 7am for breakfast. By 9am we were kayaking through lots of different islands and caves, it was awesome and we both absolutely love kayaking. Then it was time for more sunbathing and then unfortunately back to land, not before being fed again! When we got back to Hanoi we went straight to beer corner to drink for 15p a pint and watch the craziness unfold before us, people watching doesn't get any better! We could have stayed there for the whole night but had another sleeper bus to catch this time 14 hours to Hoi An.

HOI AN

Just when we thought we had hit the pinnacle of our trip along came Hoi An. We actually stopped in Hue for a few hours which was really cool and bought ourselves a watch each as hadn't known what time day or date it was for a week or so! Then we arrived at what could be our favorite place so far. As soon as we got off the bus we were taken to a new hotel which was amazing and as cheap as chips. We then headed straight out to the centre. Hoi An is a buzzing place with a beautiful river running through it, 2 lush beaches, countless suit and shoes shops, funky bars offering all night happy hours and playing great tunes and little food stalls selling the local dish Cao Lao, as well as some plush restaurants by the river. There is pretty much something for everyone here. Our first night we ate at the little food stalls and then headed to one of the bars offering buy one get one free on cocktails and vodka redbull, plus you could choose you own music as they had you tube on a computer in the corner! As you can imagine we were in our element and with the vodka flowing at a ridiculous rate and the tunes blaring out we had an amazing night. We met lots of people and spent quite a lot of our time with a couple from Brighton. The night ended with a motorbike ride back to the hotel as the vodka had effected our walking abilities!

Next morning we ignored our bad hangovers and headed out to find ourselves a suit and dress for KK's wedding, not before getting on a cyclo and being leisurely taken around Hoi An. Literally as we get off the cyclo we ended up chatting to a mad woman who took us to her store by the market, we choose a design and material and they took our measurements and we were told to come back the next day to pick up our tailored made clothes. Simples! So a tailored suit, shirt and dress for 100 pound isn't bad. We had to nap in the afternoon and that evening we treated ourselves to a slap up 3 course meal at a riverside restaurant (total cost 5 quid between us!). This is where we met a local man called Mr Phong, he invited us to a tour of his village and his house for some food, after reading comments people had made in his book we took him up on his offer. So the next morning we were picked up at our hotel at 9am by 2 old guys on motorbikes and driven 15km outside Hoi An to a tiny village called Dien Thang. We arrived at Mr Phomg's house where there were also a couple from Leeds and a couple from New Zealand. Mr Phong sat us down and gave us a brief history of his life and the wars in Vietnam. It was quite an eye opener to hear his stories and what the country had been through. After our history lesson we went on a tour of the village and met lots of the locals including some of Mr Phongs family, they were all very pleased to see us, especially his old Uncle and Auntie! We were shown how rice wine is made, how rice, tobacco and all sorts of plantation and vegetables are grown in his village before finally gate crashing a local wedding! The groom welcomed us in and we were given a cold beer but as we started drinking an old man got angry and chucked us out, not before we downed our beer though! After the wedding crash we went back to Mr Phongs house where his wife cooked us an amazing meal, better than a lot of meals we had eaten in resturants. We then said our goodbyes to the whole family and headed back to Hoi An. It was a great way to end our stay in Hoi An and something most tourist don't get to experience. We didn't have much time to reflect though as it was time to pick up our clothes and then head onto another sleeper bus to Nha Trang. NHA TRANG

Vietnam keeps on surprising us - first Hanoi was much more developed and had much more of an exciting atmosphere than we were expecting, then Hoi An was so quirky, cool and beautiful, and now Nha Trang with it's amazing beach, skyscraper hotels and bustling backpacker scene. We were kind of expecting to see poverty and run down buildings, but have not seen that at all.

We got into Nha Trang really early on Sunday after yet another overnight bus, and had the usual barrage of information from touts trying to get us to go on their motorbike or stay in their hotels. Being seasoned pro's we quickly sorted the wheat from the chaff and ended up staying at a really nice hotel for less money than we have spent anywhere else so far. We headed straight out to find the lovely long beach (6km long to be exact), and it was packed at 7am! During the day it completely empties, except for us sun worshipping travellers, as it gets unbelieveably hot. However the women in cone hats are out in force trying to sell you all sorts of crap, from cigarettes to razors and chewing gum to bamboo mats.

That night we went for a meal, and as we really fancied an Indian we consulted out trusty "Southeast Asia on a shoestring"book and headed for a place called Omars. We are so glad we did, the food was absolutely amazing and we both had a chicken main dish with rice, naan bread, samosa's and onion bhaji's, plus poppadoms and beers for 4 quid! In the restaurant we got talking to a American girl called Ann. Her parents are Vietnamese so she knows a lot about the local food, so we arranged to meet her the following night to check out the best food stalls.

The following day we spent the morning and afternoon at the beach, then headed to a brewery to cool off with a passion fruit beer which is one of the best drinks we have ever tasted. So fruity and perfect for the hot weather. The brewery was on the beach front and not at all like the breweries in the UK. Once fully refreshed we met Ann for an evening(well hour and a half) before catching a bus to our next destination. We ate so much lovely food. First we went to see a little old lady who had just one table outside her stall and had a lovely fishy noodley soup called bon ca, then had some more fish noodles that tasted even better called banh canh cha ca. After that we went for some pudding but left pretty sharpish due to the presence of some jumping cockroaches.

HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON)

Man, we thought Hanoi was busy!! Saigon (as everyone in Vietnam calls HCMC) is pretty much a bigger, brasher, noisier Hanoi, with more motorbikes than we have ever seen!

We stayed in a little guesthouse above a Vietnamese restaurant that seemed really popular with the locals. It was 7am when we got there and was so strange seeing people eat massive plates of rice, meat and vegetables for breakfast.

We had planned to have a full day of sightseeing but it absolutely hammered down with rain so we couldn't do s much as we wanted. However we did make it to the Reunification Palace, which is one of the most historic places in Vietnam. For anyone going, we would recommend getting a guided tour - we didn't and it didn't really mean anything to us other than lots of rooms with maps and telephones that you weren't allowed into. After that we went to see the water puppet show, which was brilliant! It is a traditional Vietnamese show that tells stories about the culture through the use of a pool of water, strange wooden puppets and a crazy little orchestra. It is hard to describe it as it is quite mad - a bloke in the row behind us summed it up perfectly be saying halfway though "What IS this?!"

At night we did what the Vietnamese do best - sat on little stools on the street drinking the local beer and people watching. It is a great way to meet people as you are all sat in such a small space. this is one of the things we are going to miss the most about travelling - just being able to chat to strangers without them thinking you are weird!

HA TIEN

On Wednesday we wanted to travel to Cambodia, and decided to go via public transport rather than pay extra for the tourist route. This turned out to be an excellent decision, as although it took longer than expected and we could not get to Cambodia that day, it gave us a bonus night in Vietnam which turned out to be really good!

We got a local bus to one of the main bus stations in Saigon, which was full of local people who couldn't speak English. Luckily we had written down our destination so we got on the bus to Ha Tien ok. We were the only Westerners on the bus, so got lots of stares from either old people or children. In fact we didn't see another Westerner all day. The bus journey was really cool as it took us through all the little Mekong villages so we could see the wooden huts over the river and got a glimpse of their daily lives. Every time the bus stopped loads of women in cone hats came on and bombarded everyone with their wares. It was crazy!

When we arrived in Kien Long bus station we were told we needed to get off the bus and wait 20 minutes for another one. So there was the two of us, in the dark, being told we had to wait for a local bus in what was basically a big gravel car park. This, however, turned out to be the best part of the journey! There were about 10 guys that worked there that had varying degrees of basic English, but using actions, a few words and pointing at things we had a brilliant laugh!!

We got into Ha Tien at about 8ish, so were planning to just get some food from the market then go to bed. But on our way back some local lads asked us to join them for some beers, so we thought "when in Rome" and did. Again they only spoke a little bit of English, we speak no Vietnamese, but they knew some English songs so we had a singsong, got shown some magic tricks and had a really good time. Plus, when the beer ran out they just made a phone call and a bloke on a motorbike just bought some more!

We had heard that the Vietnamese people weren't very friendly, but we found just the opposite. Everyone we met was helpful and nice, and had a great sense of humour. We can't wait to come back and explore more of Vietnam as it is a beautiful country - and the beer is super cheap!!