So we eventually made it onto the second bus that was to take us to Hue. On we got, all of us sat on bags of rice (!) and amongst various members of the Vietnamese population. Initially I thought that I was lucky as I was sat next to a young woman who force-fed me what tasted like gherkins dipped in vinegar for the duration of the journey. However, whenever the bus stopped I came to realise that this act of kindess was actually so that I would look after her baby while she went off to eat- she even made me take said child to the toilet! Fun times. After this stop, another Vietnamese woman got on the bus and sat on the bag of rice opposite me. She insisted on babbling away in Vietnamese to me for the entire journey whilst sharpening what appeared to be a mini-machete. Although this was definitely an experience that not many would have, we were quite glad to get off the bus...at least we thought we were until we realised that the bus had actually dumped us in the middle of nowhere 14km outside of Hue. There was no public transport or taxis and it was about 9pm by this time so to say we were a tad concerned is an understatement. After a while, three Vietnamese men approached us on mopeds and said they would take us into Hue on the back of their mopeds for a small fee. After a mini-conference in which we pretty much said we may well die but it was pretty much our only option unless we fancied a hike we decided to go with them. As we all piled on, with about 4 massive bags each (!), I crossed my fingers and said my prayers as I was pretty certain that they were leading us to death/robbery, however after a slightly hairy 15 minutes we were in the centre of Hue. Phew! We checked into a lovely hotel for only three pounds a night each and enjoyed the air conditioned haven before we embarked on our moto tour of the city the next day.

The following morning we got up and went to meet the guides that would be taking us around Hue on the back of their motorbikes. The day that we had was one of the best of the trip so far. The men that took us around had a fantastic knowledge of Hue and being on the back of the motorbikes was actually really, really fun. Amy has now decided that when she gets back to Norwich she's having a moped instead of a car! We went around all the temples of the town, a traditional museum, rice paddies, pagodas and a viewpoint that looked over the beautiful river, all topped off with a gorgeous traditional lunch. The company that we took the tour with actually offer trips all the way down the East Coast of Vietnam and we would have loved to have gone further with them but unfortunately funds and time did not allow it. The following day we had an early rise to catch the bus to Hoi An. Hoi An is famous for having fantastic clothes makers so we headed straight off to a tailors where Charl and Amy had dresses made and I had a coat and skirt made. It was an absolute bargain seeing as they were made to measure and we were all very pleased but had to remove ourselves from the shop pronto before we spent away our life savings. We had a wander around the gorgeous old town of Hoi An and then went for some dinner and onto a beach party that our friend had recommended at Hoi An beach. Very fun! The next morning we got up and went to collect the clothes we'd had made and then spent the day at the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful, one of the prettiest we've seen. That night we caught the sleeper bus to Nha Trang. The seats were fully reclining and in a bunk-bed fashion. Once you'd got used to the fact that you felt like you were going to fall out everytime you went around a corner it was actually really comfy.

We arrived in Nha Trang the following morning and got on a moped to a hotel which again was lovely and an absolute bargain. We really were lucky with the hotels we had. We spent the next few days in Nha Trang being pretty lazy on the beach, going out for meals and more parties on the beach, as well as visiting Nha Trang's famous reclining buddha. We then travelled on another overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City. Although the city was nowhere near as beautiful as the other places that we visited in Vietnam, it was certainly really interesting. We spent the next few days visiting the War Remnants Museum and Cu Chi Tunnels which was fascinating as we learned loads about the Vietnam War, it was pretty emotional though and we couldn't believe how people managed to actually live in the Cu Chi tunnels after we crawled through a section that had been specially modified for tourists and we thought we were going to have some kind of panic attack.

After two days in Ho Chi Minh City we then flew to Bangkok and caught the overnight bus straight down to Koh Pha Ngan for the infamous Full Moon Party where we would be reunited with the rest of Team Sheffield....