So a little bit about Vietnam. Hanoi is a very big busy city I don't think we've ever seen so many mopeds. You definitely risk your life when you cross those roses. A pair of scared chickens! We arrived late that night so just had an early one as we were tired. The following day we bumped into some people from vang vieng and ended up booking onto castaway island cruise to Ha Long bay! We spent one day looking around the Vietnam prison museum.. V bias they certainly don't like the Americans! We went back to the hostel the the roof top (free beer) to play games and meet other travellers.! Another fairly early one as we were up at 6am for a coach to the Ha Long bay port. The boat took us right into Ha Long bay where we were to dock for the night on the boat. Everyone had a chance to go kyacking through the 'dragon caves' Jenna and I spent majority of the time paddling in circles, but soon picked up a rhythm shouting "LEFT, RIGHT,LEFT,RIGHT" eventually got the hang of it despite being in fits of giggles!! When we got back onto the boat it was getting dark and we had the opportunity to jump from the deck into the sea! Which was beautiful lit up from the moon light!! Thought I might die on the way down!! Jenna braved it from top deck I think she was the only one !! The evening was spent playing drinking games, dinner on the boat and getting to know the others... Music and dancing until the early hours !! The next day we boarded the taxi boat to 'castaway island' it's a small island with a collection of open beach shacks with dorm style rooms.. We explored the island a bit and went high speed tubing !! This was hilarious it's basically a giant inflatable circle you lay on your stomachs and hold on for dear life!! They take you right out to the middle of the sea and try and throw you off as quick as possible. We had such a laugh doing this. We have photos but were unable to upload these at the moment as the computers here don't have the facility to do so! That afternoon Jenna did some rock climbing up to around 215ft!!!! She made it!! Bruised legs and grazed knees but still smiling. Jenna wouldn't let me climb because of my back ;( it's like having mum and dad there !!!! Though probably wise. More drinking games that evening and a midnight swim... The following day was spent heading back to hanoi which took most of the day..
We spent one more day in HAnoi looking around the natural history museum the weather was rainy so we decided to book our bus to Hue. We purchased a hop on hop off bus ticket which takes us all the way down the Saigon.
Next stop was Hue. Jenna woke up around 6am to a Vietnamese man caressing and kissing her hand ?? The bus is a sleeper bus as some of the trips are over night! It's basically just reclining chairs in pods..
We spent our time in Hue renting bikes and cycling to the old imperial city and the tombs. Around 10km out of town. On the way we managed to stumble on some martial arts. Jenna has a video which we will upload too. Day two we were up early for a bus to Thong Nah caves.. To then catch a boat over to the actual caves. You split into groups of 4 in small tail boats (the opening was so small you had to duck) nearly had heart failure in the process. You ride through to te dry section where you were able to get out and walk through some of it to other side to catch the boat back.. It was a great experience!!
We only spent one more night in Hue and then caught a day bus to Hoi an. This is probably the quietest place we have been. Beautiful at night and lit up with lots of lanterns across the Japanese bridge and moonlit restaurants. We loved it here ! There are tailors and shoe shops everywhere there. We both got dresses made the custom fit as a treat at very cheap price! We took a tour to the My Son Holyland . This is a world heritage sight made up of various old temples, it was beautiful but a shame that the weather wasn't great for us. The second day in Hoi An we rented bikes and cycled the 4km to the beach and layed there for a while. No sun as such but it was warm enough to enjoy. Unfortunatly the bus to Nha Trang was fully booked we so ended up staying another night. We didn't do much other than eat at the same restaurant we had been to most night.!! Less than a £1 for local pho ga or pho bo noodle soup. We can't complain!!
Next stop Nha Trang.. The night bus was horrendous. They pack it full of locals and people sleep on the aisles. We spent most of time trying to read Jenna's book from the light of my kindle and balancing ritz crackers on our stomachs. Lights out at 7pm!! You can't see a thing. There's only two toilets stops in 13 hour, or should we say squat stops! We were warned about a huge spider, probably the size of our hands in the toilet so took to the bushes instead. Keeping a watch out for eachother... We arrived in Nha Trang this morning at 6am and went straight to the hostel for a few hours nap. Today we went to Thap Ba, hot springs and mud baths evening though it was raining it was still a lot of fun. You bath in the mud for 15 minutes and then move into a salt water spray down through a small tunnel and then head for the hot mineral baths for 40mins!! Nice to have a day of relaxation after all the horrific local sleeper buses we have endured...
There is not much to do here when weather is so bad so tomorrow we now onto Mui Ne to see the sand dunes and hopefully do some sand boarding! The weather seems to be much better there so were keen to move on for some sun!
Updates to follow soon...:
Much love as always xxxxx
