Halong Bay....

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Dear All,

Before I start I am going to have to give you another long-whinded, overly complicated and probably quite boring story about one of the many extravagant bus journeys we've been on. I seriously under estimated how long this one was going to be and in the end totaled 29 hours! This bus was definitely the worst I'd seen as the back was ripped out and had old spare tractor wheels and dirt sprawled all over it. The seats were tiny and filthy and the men on the bus snored louder than any other I had heard. We arrived at the Laos border at 2:30 a.m. where a light was then shone in our faces and we were told to hand over our passports and money to 'get them stamped'. We refused naturally and said we would wait and do it ourselves when we crossed the border on its opening at seven. When daylight arrived we were still being pestered for money and told the border was too far away for us to walk. Five minutes walk down the road the road we found the border and got stamped without a penny exchanging hands. The police then searched the bus for some reason that was beyond our knowledge. The bus was cleared and so over the border we went and when finally in Vietnam the men started un-screwing the broken air conditioning vents and pulling out hefty bags of who knows what! That was a bit crazy and then the bus started stopping every five minutes so the men could chat with their friends and have a cup of tea it was the most frustrating journey in the world and took double the time it should have with half the comfort we paid for. This was all made worth it however when we arrived at our destination.

We stayed in a place called Hoa's place on China beach which is the middle of Danang and Hoi An pretty much slap bang in the middle of Vietnam. It was the first beach we had seen in a good month and it didn't disappoint. It had all the post card material with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water. We were immediately welcomed into this place by the owner Hoa who is lovely. In the evening everyone has family dinner where everyone eats together and almost always ends up drinking together also. We met the nicest people, some who were nearing the end of their trips and going home which was such a shame but some have been added to the pack for our onward journey. We had a few beachy days there and went to the pool up the road and ventured into Hoi An which will definitely have to go back to for Sonia as its tailoring heaven. The streets are lined with hundreds and hundreds of tailoring shops where you can have absolutely anything made that you might want from men's suits to ladies dresses, shoes, bikinis, trousers, anything. You are absolutely spoilt for choice here with so many different fabrics, textures and colours to choose from its no wonder that I went with the best intentions of refraining but ended up getting a custom made jacket and pair of shoes both of which are equally impractical for use in the immediate future. Its got a really good vibe going on as well with people everywhere but not in a sprawling way and lanters hung from every shop and out door restaurants with plastic chairs sat around benches serve the sweetest smelling dishes and the narrowest little cobbled streets that wind down towards a river. We ate in one of these one night and it is by far the best meal I have had so far. I had crispy squid, springs rolls and an assortment of other cooked greens. The atmosphere around is electric as all the locals and tourists come out at night and chat and eat in the streets its almost like a festival. We really enjoyed our time here and i'm really looking forward to going back there in a week or so!

We then made our way up to Hanoi with Laura and two new lovely girls from manchester Hayley and Steff. We rushed our way to the airport after another sleepless sleeper bus and met her coming out and its been amazing having someone from home around to share our experience with. We spent a few days wandering the streets of Hanoi. Although there isn't alot to see in terms of attraction I think it's more about getting the vibe from this place and sitting back and watching how they live their lives. It's motorbike heaven hear and crossing the street makes your heart jump everytime as something always appears from an un seen place. There is a massive lake in the middle of the city which is very pretty and at night all the shops and hotels light up arround it and it almost looks like picadilly circus in London. They have big name shops like Louis Vitton and Gucci and then right in front of it parked a market stall selling teddy bears and plastic toys and baloons. The roads vary from wide to 'you have to walk sideways' narrow and its all a bit hicaldy picaldy. We had a few nights out here and it was good but it could have been London as there are huge crowds of expats which fill the bars. From our hotel we booked a little excursion to the famous paradise destination on the east coast called Halong Bay.

After our three hour coach journey to the boat jetty we climbed onto what would be our home for the night and had a sea food lunch. The boat was pretty nice with three floors, all wooden decor and cute little cabin rooms and a deck perfect for sun bathing. We coasted around Halong Bay which is also named '3 thousand islands' because of the thousands of beautiful jungly rocks that jut out from the emerald waters that surround it. Everyway you looked you could see vast landscapes of rocks it was astonishing. We then visited some of the biggest caves in south east asia which were lit on the inside with bright coloured lights I felt like I was in Disney land or something. The caves were huge and high as the eye could see with the surfaces looking dripped and melted and then hardened. Various natural spurts of water would surface in different areas and this along with the winding stairs and un seen nooks and crannies gave it a really magical feel. We hopped on to the boat once more to visit a floating village. This was a real sight. It wasn't so big but it was interesting to see a little school and even a bank floating their between the islands. We got the chance to take a mini little boat into this open aired cave where we could swim. This was like something out of 'the beach'. The water was so green (in a nice way) and the rocks surrounded us in a large circle with an open sky so you could lay on your back and watch the hawks fly over head. Heaven. We had a big dinner on the boat that night and got playing some drinking games with the fellow travellers on board. We ended up going for a swim and my friend got stung by a massive jelly fish! It was awful and put me off swimming in those areas for a while. The next day we got woken at 6a.m.! It wasn't all bad though as we were given kayaks to go and explore the formations ourselves, it was good fun. We then had breakfast and taken ashore to a different island where we could chill and take a look around etc. The next day after being abandoned by our tour guide and being completely confused and with no idea how to get back to Hanoi we waited at the hotel for a couple of hours until a bus came to save us. We got to the boat jetty eventually and had a few more hours cruising and then returning to Hanoi on the bus. I know I seem to say this a lot but this was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to and I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

We're now getting ready to head off to a place called Nimh Bihn which I don't know too much about to be honest but it will be a surprise. Can't believe I only have a month left so I'll be seeing you all very soon!



Lots of love,


Meg

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