Vietnam----Hassle free so far

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Haven't written this blog for ages so I'm going to try and do a catch up.

Left HCMC via a Sinh cafe bus (they give you free water and nuts--how thoughtful ) for the 4hour trip to Mui Ne.
Mui Ne apparently has a micro-climate which ensures it dosen't get too much rain and stays warm all year round. We stayed at the Sunset beach resort which was lovely and a steal at 15 dollars, right beside the beach and the price includes breakfast, free water and free dvds. Theres is some sightseeing stuff to do here but I couldn't be arsed and spent most of the time on the beach. Its a perfect place to relax and unwind and I'd highly recommend it.
From there we traveled to Nha Trang, which is a cool city, as its got a fab nightlife and a beach. The beach isn't as idyllic as Mui Ne but its still a cool place to visit particularly for the nightlife. We then headed to Hoi an, and spent most of the morning traipsing round the place for place to stay--damn you Lonely Planet---as most places in THE BOOK were booked out, thankfully we did eventually find somewhere. Hoi an is a lovely city to wander around, shame about all the tourists though as you keep wandering into them (: We cycled out to the beach (6km there and back---I'm very proud) It was pissing with rain the entire time we were there and decided to leave via a train from Danang to Hanoi. The train was due at 1pm but it didnt arrive--we were told it would be in at 3pm at 3pm we were told it would arrive at 6pm and at 6pm we were told that they hadn't a clue where it was or when it would be arriving???Apparently a typhoon was on the way and the train was stuck in a flood in the middle of nowhere. We got a refund and headed straight to the airport and caught the next (almost empty) flight to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a shoe heaven but I refrained from buying any--I haven't enough space in my backpack as it is----really nice place and again we spent most time wandering around trying to decide on what kind of tour to go to Halong bay with. I was in an internet cafe/tourist office when a very angry French woman burst in screaming 'DO NOT BOOK WITH THESE PEOPLE, THEY ARE EVIL. THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF, BAD, BAD PEOPLE'. She was then escorted off the premises so decided not to go with them after all. Instead we went with Ocean Tours and did a 3 day trip. It involved a night on the boat, and a night on a private island with lots of kayaking thrown in for good measure. Really fantastic trip and I was lucky to have some really funky, funny people on the boat who made the trip alot better. Got back to Hanoi and flew to HCMC and then caught a bus back to Mui Ne. It's high season now and the prices have tripled, but its worth it as I'm traveling to China next and the weathers going to be a lot colder so I'M soaking up the sun while I can.

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