Thurs 25th: got into hanoi at 7:30. spoke to these 3 people at bus stop and walked to a hotel with them. room wasnt ready till 10 and then had to share with a guy as the hotel then said a room wont be ready till 12. got really pissed off, 1st time on trip. daytime just strolled around hanoi, saw tortoise lake and botanic gardens - gardens were absolutely crap and i had to pay to see them. really s***, avoid!. in evening booked ticket to halong bay through hanoi backpackers hostel. planned to go out with the 3 people but they went without me. so got some rubbish food, came back and fell asleep.
FRI 20th: moved into room with sophia as my and her roommates checked out and it was $4 cheaper. we hit the sights today. HCM museum, B52 memorial, west lake, musoleum (was shut), hanoi hilton, st josephs cathedral. had my hair cut on the pavement of a main street for 20k baht. hanoi is very expensive. lost my photos whilst trying to upload them, so annoyed! in evening went for meal with sophia and then saw her couch surfing buddy play bongos in this expensive cafe. what a slimball he was.
SAT 27th: Halong bay tour. $50 booked. there was a $110 party boat option tho! but too expensive. 4hr drive to halong city. boarded a junk boat, very nice, food was lovely -tried squid! liked! unfortunately again the group of people wasnt what i was expecting but they were really nice. group of 19yr olds doing a volunteer teaching thing, 11 or so, 24yr old german guy and a couple from swindon. met a girl helen in the group from uplands in swansea. boat took us to a cave, then a tiny fishing village (no pub like on top gear) and kayaking for 45mins. then jumped off boat, once, it was so cold and windy. bought beers off a boat shop as it was cheaper than on the junk. drunk with all the volunteers in night, played drinking games, went to bed at 2:45. most boring group of 19yr olds ever met.
Sun: from halong bay to cat ba island. only me and the swindon couple went today. hotel was lovely - it had a bath!! got all afternoon to explore. place has alot of construction work going on. 2 nice beaches, a huge floating village and a nice short walk around the peninsula. feeling a bit homesick today. thought id meet more solo travellers on boat and hang around with them and for a change im worried about stuff, flights, china, looking for accom in hanoi and what to do for 2 1/2 days i still have there. played pool with vietnamese guuys in the night - betted games on beer and lost, lucky it was the cheapest place i found all trip. 50p for a large bottle of lager. lost 8 bottles but he gave me 3 of them - sympathy i think. then went to a bar and had 3 shots of rice wine. heavy stuff!
MON: got the boat back to halong city, bus back took 5hrs, so got in at 6pm. booked into dorm at hanoi backpackers. immediately started talking to people. went for food with 3 ozzies. thgen went to hair of the dog bar. stayed there till 2:30. walked back with amber. got lost. and stalked.
Tues: quick walk this morning to see where i could keep my bag b4 the tour. met the dutch girl tess from yesterday. we both had nothing to do so we spent the day together., walked for like 4hrs but really enjoyed the day and the company. i left at 7 for the tour. got lifdt by scooter to train station. in a 7ft by 6ft room, 6 bunks, all vietnamese people. im in the middle bunk and its worse than prison.

WED: hotel is very nice, but i cant stay in a room. only shower and have food. spent day walking with these female sherpas people. 1st group were really nice. trek was quite demanding. bought a bag off my sherpa - very hard to say no to them. lunch was crap. in afternoon walked again to village and homestay. sherpa - red hat tribe was really pestering me to buy things off her. after her getting the hint she told me i was an evil man and i was going to die soon. the homestay was a young families house, where their main room space had been filled with 12 materesses. and there was a communal room below and a patio outside. they were really nice peole, but were very busy as they had a little 1yr old girl. the food was incredible. the guys brother cooked food for all of us (6). very noisy eaters. when our bowls were less than half full they would just top up our food without telling us and they used the chopsticks that they were eating with. not very healthy. but its really rude to reject food etc. after food, about 6pm they brought out a litre of rice wine. we drunk it between the 3 of us. one guy was sick all night and the other was rough the next morning. me..i was great!! apart from that there was nothing to do in the village as it was really a minority village.

thurs: only 2 of us treking today. only 9km today and wasnt to difficult as yesterday. also didnt have sherpas which was even better. they really did spoil the day as they were around you all the time. finished walk at 2. chilled in the hotel till 5. then bus to trainstation. weather on way was really bad. heavy downpurs and fork lightning. same situation again with bunks but hasd an extra 2 kids in the prison. slept well tho.

FRI: got into hanoi at 4:30am, walked from train station to hostel, about 1/2hr just to pass the time. there were a few night markets on so some areas were extremely busy. couldnt have room till 10. bumped into erinn -girl i was below last time, she told me of the annex where u can crash out and watch dvds etc. so watched the hurt locker. rained in morning. girl in dorm wanted to come with me around town so walked around for a bit. cameback and slept till 5. met up with sarah from thaintro at the bar. rained again. after bar went to hair of the dog, about 20 of us. then followed this kid thru some backstreets, over motorway, more back streets to this club - the door was like the old rolling storage doors, then walk thru like a garage and then into the club. the view out the back was cool. 2 bridges either side in the distance and wasteland everywhere else. dont know how far we walked. got in at 3.

SAT:not a great sleep. building work opposite started at 5. as i was getting up the guy on the top bunk next to me kneels up on his bed and starts pissing on the wall. girl below shoots up out of bed. i told her i was getting ready to leave so she could have my bed. caught bus to airport. flight was fine and kl fine except no money! got to hong kong about 9:30pm. beth met me at the airport. stayed in the marriot sky city. what a change in accomodation!!