Hello all,

Well, I have finally arrived in Hanoi after a 14 hour journey via Singapore. I booked my flights with Singapore Airlines and I'm so pleased I did - they were amazing! Nice plane, lovely food and loads of great films at the touch of a button. Unfortunately I had a ten year old Vietnamese girl sitting next me, who insisted on asking me questions throughout the 12 hour flight. At first I enjoyed speaking with her and hearing all about Vietnam, but after a few hours I began to lose patience!!

After arriving in Singapore I had a two hour stop over before heading to Hanoi, the starting point of my journey. I couldn't get over how large Singapore's Changi airport was! They had a roof top terrace, an array of shops and even a Butterfly Garden!! At this stage I was really excited about getting to Hanoi, but also very nervous as I had a day and a half on my own until I met with my Intrepid travel companions for my journey through Vietnam and Cambodia.

I finally arrived in Hanoi feeling exhausted! Luckily my bags arrived promptly and my transfer from the airport to the hotel was outside waiting. Excellent!! I was sharing my taxi to Hanoi with an Australian guy called John who was also booked on an Intrepid trip, although we were not on the same trip. This put me at ease as it was nice to speak to somebody who was also travelling alone like myself! I arrived at the hotel and crashed out straight away. I woke up about 14 hours later and was ready to explore Hanoi!

I was lucky enough to bump into a girl called Jess who was booked onto the same Intrepid trip as mine. Jess was 24 and from Melbourne, Australia. We decided to spend the day exploring Hanoi together and it was a start of a fab new friendship. Our day was great and we visited Hoan Kiem Lake, meaning "Lake of the Returned Sword" or "Lake of the Restored Sword". Surrounding the lake were bride and grooms posing for photos. According to locals Vietnamese brides can wear their wedding dress up to a week before their wedding day and often go on location for pre-wedding photo shoots. All very well posed!!! Some were very over the top!! Jess and I were also hoping to visit Hoa La Prison, commonly known as "Hanoi Hilton", however, our taxi driver did not know where to take us and dropped us off on some corner and also charged us $30 for the privilege! A lesson quickly learnt. Always make sure they switch on the metre and always used the white coloured taxis! We NEVER made that mistake again!!!

On the Sunday 31st October, I met up with my travel companions for my Intrepid trip. Of course there was myself and Jess, Olanna from Toronto, Jim and Margaret (or Marg as Jim likes to call her!) from Sydney, Jane and Graham from Gloucestershire and Julia and Alan from Birmingham and....Bill and 82 (yes 82!!!) year old from Darwin, Australia. A real mix of people of all ages. Me, Jess and Olanna quickly became good friends as we were similar ages. Our Vietnamese tour guide Tuyen Vu (or TV for short) is also the same age as me and I soon realised what great fun he was going to be!

That evening we went for a lovely meal at a restaurant called Hanoi Kitchen, followed by some drinks in town.

Our next stop - Halong Bay!!! Yippee!!