We are in the country in a village (maybe a small town) that only has a post office and one bank! We stayed in Hanoi in the North of Vietnam for 3 nights in very luxurious and cheap accomadation - it was wicked! Like being on holiday or something - we had an ensuite and satelite TV and a fridge and the room only cost 8 pounds a night total. Mental! Then we booked a boat trip for 1 night and 2 days to a place called Halong bay which is famous for its 3000 islands that rise from the sea and you get to go canoiing through them and through caves - it was really good fun! Jon canoed for the first time, and i found i still remembered it really easily from Guides and that when i was younger. I think we will hire a canoe again maybe down in Thailand. Anyways - we spent the day relaxing on the boat and talking to other travellers and got lots of good advice from people who had been to places we were heading to. Then we stayed up pretty much all night talking and playing drinking games and stuff - it was very much like a Turkish boat trip!
When we got back to Hanoi from our trip we got a bus directly from there to a place called Ninh Binh which is just a little further South. We are staying there right now in a really lovely family run guest house (Ngoc Anh Hotel) and the owner is wicked - he arranged a private car for us yesterday and we had a driver all day who took us to see all the sights and it only cost 20 pounds for the whole day. There is nothing to do here in the place itself, but all around is forest and we went for a really long trek which we didnt enjoy too much coz we were told by the guide that it was well sign posted and only a 'short & easy' trail, and it turned out to have no signs at all, and be really hilly, and we got bitten by tons of ants and it rained and we got lost - lol! We are not cut out for hiking and horrible creatures!After that we went on two boat trips through little villages that live on the waters edge which was really cool - its nicer here coz you get to see real Vietnamese life.
Tonight we have a sleeper train for 14 hours to take us further South to about the half way point in Vietnam. We will be staying in a place called Hoi An which is famous for its tailoring and its beaches so it should be nice to have a rest and a break for a few nights. I think we are both going to get jackets made as they will tailor make it to your exact size for very little money and you get to pick your fabric and everything. Quite cool. Then after a few nights there, we are heading to a place called Nha Trang which is going to be purely beach holiday for a few days and apparently is the place in Vietnam to go to chill out with all the other backpackers milling through.
Jo
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