Hi all

We are back in Hanoi amongst the hustle and bustle of this crazy city. The train home was somewhat eventful. We hooked up with Annie and Brian again for the trip home but we were in different carriages so we had this grand plan about trying to swap with whoever was in our carriage, so annie and brian could join us. Sounds simple? Factor in english as a second language/ no Vietnamese, a very long train with carriages that were at opposite ends and a train about to depart and we ended up in a tense situation. Amanda and I went to our carriage and established that the Vietnamese people who were sharing the carriage spoke some english. We then tried to explain that we wanted them to change carriages so our friends could join us. This was somewhat successful to the point where Amanda agreed to go look at the other carriage (annie and brians one) to see what it was like for them. What happened next was a series of dashes up and down the platform as the train was minutes from departing. The train left the station and Annie and I stood in our carriage waiting to see if Amanda and Brian returned and had not gotten stranded on the platform. Serves us right for trying to do something tricky. Thankfully they returned with the Vietnamese couple happily settled in Annie and Brian's much nicer cabin. A bit of stress but at least we got to share the cabin with people that we trusted and we managed to have a bit of a laugh at the same time.

Earlier in the day brian had been set upon by the women street hawkers, who we called the "sapa slapper gang". Brian was crap at haggling and Amanda had to step in to help him - resulting in the sapa slappers claiming that Amanda was the boy and Brian was the girl. That had us doubled over in laughter.

We did a bit of shopping here in Hanoi today and are preparing ourselves to go to Hoi An tomorrow. See you in Hoi An!