Hello again,

Its been a few weeks since our last blog entry and we've been quite busy.

We left Nha Trang after 2 days as it rained constantly for 2 days and we couldn't be bothered to wait till it cleared up. I can hear all your sympathy from here..."rain! poor darlings, they must be so distraught!"

In this scenario we camped out in the nearest bar and played cards. We would have gone to another bar, but since the rain was so hard we couldn't see the other side of the street we decided to stay in the first one we came to.

We took a overnight train to Danang as soon as we could and then a bus to Hoi An. The train was OK, but cramped, bit smelly, didn't get huge amounts of sleep, but we got there in one piece so all ok in the end...not that different than going to work.

Hoi An is amazing. The whole centre of the town is a UNESCO site and hasn't changed in 200 years. We spent mosts of the time just wondering around and taking in the great restaurants and bars. We also got some clothes made up for $300. This included 2 suits, 3 shirts, 2 Dresses, 2 Winter coats and a skirt....i'm not sure what steph got, but it was all a bargain.

We left Hio An after 3 days but would loved to have stayed longer..a 8km cycle to the beach in the pouring rain swayed our decision to leave. We got a Bus to Hue which is the ancient capital of Vietnam. Its nowhere near as nice as Hoi An but fine all the same.

After getting molested by crazy hotel touts and Rob almost getting into a fight with them we found a place to stay and did a tour around the ancient tombs (I say ancient, but they're really only a 150 years old..they just look ancient because they're crap builders over here and clearly aren't the great civilisation they believe they are) and citadel...all quite interesting but that was it and we left the next day.

Once again we got lazy and flew to Hanoi. It was only $10 more expensive than the overnight bus and Train so was a good decision.

Hanoi is OK. Not huge amounts to do here, we toured the city in under a day. We couldn't go to Ho CHi Minh's corpse because he's in Russia having his make up re-touched, but we're enjoying the Beer Hoi (fresh beer) at 10p a pint.

We visited Halong bay an few days ago on a 3 night cruise. Very very good. Beautiful scenery, good company and food. We also kayaked around the bay.

We also went to Tam Coc yesterday for a boat trip around the rice paddies. The scenery is the same as Halong bay but the river goes underneath the the rocks through caves. Really beautiful.

Tonight we head into the Highlands to Sapa where there are lots of ethnic tribes and villages. We're both really looking forward to it, but not as much as the 15 hour train journey there and back.

After this we head to Laos. This is supposedly a more chilled place to hang out so will be a welcome break for the hustle of Hanoi... i think Steph is ready to maim any scooter rider that comes within 10ft and beeps his horn....to be honest i'm not far behind her! and i'm welcoming the peace that should follow in Sapa and Laos.

We hope you are all well. Please let us know how you are. Its great to hear form you.

Our Love and congratulations go out to Jim and Annie and Luciana and Rob who got married this weekend. Hope it was a great day and look forward to hearing all the details.

lots of love Rob and Steph