Long walks, aquariums, beautiful harbours and Universal Studios – Singapore

Saturday 19th September

We got picked up at 5am by our taxi to go to the airport. We hadn’t had the best night sleep on our concrete slab and so didn’t mind getting up, although we were very sleepy. We made it to the airport and checked in and had a deliciously grotty MacDonald’s breakfast. My first Macdonalds since I have been away. Its all Chandler’s fault. We boarded the plane and tried to get some sleep on the 2 and a half hour flight. We immediately fell in love with Singapore on arrival. The airport was so clean and lovely. They offered us sweets as we went through immigration and everyone was so lovely and helpful. It was brilliant. We did accidentally queue in the wrong place for ages to get our MRT (underground) tickets. We were pointed in the right direction and queued for even longer when it turns out the machine had broken down. We were trying to get a three day pass. Instead we just bought a ticket to where we were staying and decided to try and deal with the three day pass later on. The MRT was really easy to use and very clean. There are signs everywhere dictating how you should act on the trains. You get a $500 fine for eating or drinking on the train or in the station. It took us about an hour to make it to Chinatown, where we were staying. We dropped off our bags at the hostel and went for a wander because we were early for check in. We walked around Chinatown and had a look at the little stalls selling touristy bits and all the restaurants.

We decided to stop in one and get some food. Kev had sweet and sour chicken with rice and I had sweet and sour pork. It was the most delicious Chinese food I have ever had. Even the rice was amazing. We did have to wait forever for my pork to be ready. Kev had already finished all his before mine came out but it was worth the wait!

When we were done, we made our way back to our hostel because we could check in. The room in the hostel was odd but good. It was a little box room and the bed was a big double bunk bed just above head height that was attached to three of the walls. We were pretty tired so we had a little nap (I learnt some more French… Obviously). At about 5 o’clock we decided to venture out and go and find the botanic gardens for a walk. We bought MRT tickets to the gardens and had a wander around. The gardens are really big with all different areas and lakes we walked from the top end to the bottom.

As we walked it got dark and all the lights turned on. The whole place was really pretty, which was emphasised by the clever lighting

When we got to the other end we decided to walk all the way back again. It was a good long evening walk which shattered us both again. Haha. We bought some water on the way home and went home to read before bed….. Like an old married couple.

Sunday 20th September.

Out hostel included breakfast in with the price so we got up and went downstairs. I couldnt have been happier at the sight of the vat of peanut butter and big bowl of apples they had on offer. We ate our fill and then headed out towards the MRT station to buy our three day pass. Kev had read about this sky walk that you could do. Its like an elevated walkway above the trees round part of the city. We found our way on to it and walked one of the routes for about an hour looking at the views

It was hot but a good walk with some good views. We had decided that we wanted to go to Sentosa island that afternoon to the aquarium. I’m not sure how it happened but as we walked we suddenly came across some cable cars that took you directly to Sentosa Island. Perfect. We even managed find a deal which got us unlimited cable car rides for that day, tickets for the aquarium and tickets for universal studios for the next day. The whole lot cost us $110 (£50)  Bargain!

We got on the cable car which took us across to the island

Sentosa island is basically an island of fun. There is so much to do there. Universal Studios, the aquarium, water parks, a beach, resorts, restaurants, and loads more. You can get round the island on these free buses so we found the one we needed and got onboard with a cheeky magnum gold (new addiction) and made our way to the aquarium. The aquarium is meant to be the biggest in the world, it was pretty amazing.

Right at the end they have this absolutely ginormous tank which is chocka block full of thousands of fish and massive mantarays. There were scuba divers in there as well. It would be so amazing to dive in there!!

We came out of the chilly well air conditioned aquarium back in to the oven like heat of the day. We went to get food at Chilys restaurant. It was quite expensive in there. Not helped by the fact we both had a massive pudding

When we had eaten we went back to the cable car. I accidentally got us on the wrong line but it meant that we were taken over to the beach side of the island which looked amazing. We got on the correct cable car after and went to the harbour front. From there we made our way on the MRT to Marina bay to see the famous Marina Bay Sans, the gardens by the bay and the surrounding area.

We wanted to go up to the observation deck on the top of the Marina Bay Sans but it was closed for a private function. We assumed that Vettel or Hamilton had booked it out to live it up after the Grand Prix which was taking place that weekend. Instead we walked to the gardens by the bay to have a look. The gardens are nothing short of amazing. It was dark by this point and again they had used clever lighting effects to make the place look mystical and alluring.  In the centre of the gardens they had constructed these massive colourful “trees”

They were absolutely beautiful and mesmerising to look at.

Unfortunately due to the grand Prix. The light shows that are normally scheduled for every night were cancelled. We decided to come back again the next night for the observation deck and the light show. We made our way back to the MRT via a walk way around the Marina Bay Sans. It came out on the other side and looked out on the bay. You could see all the skyscrapers and a little sneaky bit of the Grand Prix. You could definitely hear the Grand Prix. It was amazing to stand there with the backdrop of the massive hotel behind you, the bay in front of you and be able to occasionally see the cars zoom past the main big stand. We were shattered again so we decided to make our way back for some much needed sleep in our odd little room

Monday 21st September

We woke up for vast amounts of peanut butter again before heading to get the train to Sentosa Island and to Universal Studios!!! Yaaaay!!! So exciting!!! It was as amazing as expected. We paid £15 each extra to get fast track tickets and very methodically and carefully made our way around the park making sure we didn’t miss out a single ride. It was so good!!! Favourites have to be the transformer ride, the battlestar glactica rollacoasters and the mummy ride. The fast track tickets were well worth the money as well. No ques, straight to the front. I doubt we would have been able to fit all the rides in if we had to queue for them. Such an amazing day

When we had done all the rides and had some food, we got the train back over to Marina bay. I mentioned before that there is a $500 fine for eating or drinking on the trains or in the stations. We were waiting for our train and stood next to a train conductor when Kev decided to take a swig from his water bottle. Haha. Luckily the woman was very nice and glared at him in a warning kind of way. Never seen anyone screw a top on a bottle as quickly. I just laughed. Close call!!! We made it to the bay, fine free and went to the Marina Bay Sans to go up to the observation deck. It was really quiet there so we went straight up. It was a bit of a cloudy day but the views were still amazing. We even got a sneak peak at the infinity pool that they have for guests only on the top.

There is an insane shopping mall below the hotel. Prada, Chanel, Luis Vuitton… We really didn’t belong. They even have a little canal through the centre of the shopping centre that you can get a little boat on. Who owns that place and how much money do they have!!?? Insane!!
We walked right round the bay and watched some workers dismantle the barriers that had been used for the grand Prix. The tyre marks were still all over the roads where the cars had driven. We made it to the other side where the merlion was

We decided to stop off for an expensive beer overlooking the bay and got chatting to two chaps that had come over to watch the Grand Prix. We finished our beers and continued walking round. By the time we got to the other side it was getting dark. They had these lounger chairs sitting on the edge if the water so we plonked our tired bodies down for a bit and admired the view of the dusk turning to night and the lights of the skyscrapers and skyline. At it got towards 8 o’clock we went to the gardens by the bay to see the light show they had. All the big colourful trees were lit up and were flashing in time to music that was playing. It was pretty epic to watch.  They have a nightly laser/light show in the bay as well so we rushed through to the other side of the hotel where the bay was to catch the end of it. They were spraying water into the air and projecting images on the mist with music playing and lasers shooting off in all different directions around. It was brilliant! They really go all out!!! When it finished we made out weary way back to our hostel, I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Tuesday 22nd September

Annoyingly our hostel was closed for renovation or something that night so we had to check out at 11.30 and they didn’t have a luggage storage facility. They had informed us of this when we checked in. Kev managed to find a hostel a few MRT stops away where we could check our luggage in for the day. We dropped our bags off there and went to a nearby mall to have a look around. I had a beautiful pot of English breakfast tea from a Costa that we found.
We decided to go to the cinema before making our way to the airport. We went to see Black Mass which was really good. I miss the cinema so much. It was great to go. Blummin freezing in there with the air con though!!!
After the film we made our way to the airport to catch our flight back to Bangkok. It was a pretty empty flight and I got started on my latest Chris Carter book so I was happy as Larry. We got a taxi from the airport to the Khao San road area of Bangkok and checked in to our hostel.

Next stop…. Chang Mai

Reunion, relaxing and rain – Koh Sichang

Friday 11th September

I woke up really early in the morning and got a taxi to the pier to catch the ferry to the main land. The ferry took about 2 hours and I spent the time on the top deck sunbathing and reading. I arrived on the mainland and had an hour to wait until my bus left so I treated myself to an ice cream and watched as a torrential downpour started. It never just rains in Thailand, it always has to go all out. The bus was horrendous. It was the longest journey in the world. I don’t know why it seemed to take so long. 8 hours on a very uncomfortable isle seat. We had to stop half way to help out another broken down bus. We eventually arrived in Bangkok at about half 9. I made my way to my hostel only to find out that they had emailed me because they were full. I hadn’t received the email though because I hadn’t had WiFi all day. Thankfully the guy there had booked me a bed at his friends hostel which turned out to be cheaper. His friend walked me up a few roads to the hostel and I checked in. Absolutely shattered, I pretty much went to sleep straight away, but not before wishing Chand a safe flight 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Saturday 12th September

I was very excited to finally be reunited with my love. His flight was due to arrive at about half 3. I got up early and went to get some breakfast. I had some time to kill so I also went to get myself a mani /pedi. :roll:. Wonderful morning. Check out was at 12 so I made my way back to the hostel and chilled out before the mini bus came to get me to take me to the airport. I arrived at 3o’clock and realised that Kev’s flight had been delayed an hour. I sat around the arrivals section getting more excited by the second. I logged on to the WiFi and at 4.20 saw that his plane had landed. I made my way to the barrier at about half past and spent the next 50 minutes staring at everyone that  came through from baggage claim. After an hour I was worried that I had missed him or that he had come out a different way because he only had hand luggage. I was just looking behind me to see if I could spot him, when I turned back and saw him walking through the crowd with a big sleepy looking grin on his face. Yaaaaaay!!!! 😍😍😍😍
We met on my side of the barrier and then went off to find our driver who would take us to where we were staying. We arrived at our little apartment that Kev had booked on airbnb. It was great to have a private room after 3 months of dorm rooms! The owner gave us a tour of the building and told us where to get food etc. We even had an outside rooftop pool. Amazing times. Kev was shattered from the long flight so we just chilled out and had a massive catch up.

Sunday 13th September

We had a lazy morning, Kev was still super tired so I went to get some toasties and orange juice from the 7 eleven over the road. We decided just to chill by the pool. Unfortunately I couldn’t use the pool because my burn was still healing and I still had to keep it bandaged and not get it wet. We had a lazy afternoon doing a bit of sunbathing and reading

We got some beers and snacks in and stayed by the pool all evening just having a laugh and mucking about.

Monday 14th September

We had planned to go to Koh Sichang for a few days which is the little island that I went to when I first arrived in Thailand. Its a tiny fishing island and its the closest island to Bangkok. We got a taxi to the bus station and got on the bus for the two hour journey down to Sriracha, where we would get the ferry from. We smashed it with the timing and the ferry was just about to leave when we arrived. The crossing was good and it only took 45 minutes. We arrived on Koh Sichang and were met by the guy that owns the place where we were staying – Sichang my home. I stayed here previously. Its great. The guy took us to our little bungalow and gave us some watermelon. We decided to go in search of some food and hired out a scooter. There is a really good restaurant on the island called Pan and Davids. I had a Thai green chicken curry and Kevlar had sweet and sour pork. Sensational. We were having dinner when the storm picked up. We were going to go for a little drive but it was pouring it down and dark. We opted to stay for pudding instead.

We made our way in the rain back to our little bungalow. Kev had told me about this app where you learn French. I’m not going to lie, I’m addicted and apparently I’m now 18% fluent. Ha.

Tuesday 15th September

We decided to go and have a little explore on the bike. It was great zooming around the little island.

We went to the main street and found somewhere to have some breakfast. Then we went off to find the beach.

The weather was threatening to rain again so we didn’t stay at the beach. We went to the other side of the island and found a little group of puppies which were adorable and they bounded after us. I wasn’t allowed to steal one though. I had a go riding the bike with Kev on the back, which I can do now 😁

We went back to the main part of the island and had a wander round the old palace grounds. There is a big yellow Buddha on the island up a hill so we went to have a look. I was driving and chickened out half way up the hill because it was too steep. Kev took over and we arrived safely at the top. The view of the harbour was pretty good up there.

There was a monk up there who pointed the way to a cave that you could climb down some steps into. There was another little shrine in the cave to have a look at. We explored round for a bit and then went back up to the top. The Monk beckoned us over and indicated that he wanted to bless us. He chanted in Thai as he flicked water at us and gave us both a bracelet. It was pretty cool.  Again it was threatening to rain so afterwards, we went back to our bungalow and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and chilling out. That evening we went back to Pan and David’s for a delicious dinner.

Wednesday 16th September

We decided to stay on the island for 2 more nights but Sichang My home was full so we ventured out to another place called Charlie’s Bungalows. There are so many sweet little places to stay on the island. We checked in and, as it wasn’t raining, decided to try the beach again. It was cloudy but bright. We settled in at the beach trying to tan through the clouds. Kev went in to the sea which apparently as warm as a bath. I still couldn’t get my blummin’ burn wet and so stayed on the shore and read. It got a bit chilly after a while and started to rain. We got back on the bike and went for another little drive around before heading back to our bungalow because it started tipping it down.
We did want to go and try out some food from “pad Thai lady” but the storm had fully kicked in. Pan and David’s is apparently shut on a Wednesday so we went out in the pouring rain on the bike to try and find somewhere else to eat. Soaking wet, we ended up at the place we had breakfast at and had noodles and curry. We stopped off at the 7 eleven on the way home to buy beer and ice cream 😄 we spent the evening hiding from the storm, learning French and chilling.

Thursday 17th September

The storm raged on. We had a slow morning staying dry inside. The rain eased off by the afternoon so we went out to find the “Buddha’s footprint.” We didn’t know exactly where it was so we went in the general direction and first stumbled across a view point that king Rama V used to use. After driving around a bit more I spotted the bottom of some steps so we parked up and went to have a look. It turned out to be all the steps in the world. There were so many. We climbed all the way to the top and found the Buddha’s footprint !

The view of the island from there was pretty epic.

We stayed up there for a bit taking in the view. It was raining again by this point so we made our way back down. Not fun in slippy flip flops! We went to have some food at our usual little breakfast restaurant. It was still raining so we went back to the bungalow and watched a film. We braved the weather again that evening and went out for our final dinner at Pan and David’s. Curry and Pad Thai 😄

Friday 18th September.

We packed up and checked out our bungalow. We walked to the little breakfast restaurant with our bags to have some food and then made our way to the pier. We had to wait a bit for the ferry…..

but eventually it came and we got on and it took us to the mainland. A tuk tuk ride and a 2 hour bus journey later, we found ourselves back in Bangkok. Kev had booked us in a hotel near the airport to make it easier for our earlier flight the next day. The problem was getting there. None of the taxi drivers seemed to speak English or had a clue where we wanted to go. We decided to go into a cafe an come up with a game plan. Turns out the cade served amazing frapachinos and burgers

Kev downloaded the Uber app and we got ourselves us a taxi. Perfect. The small issue we had was that the traffic in Bangkok is absolutely appalling. A taxi ride that should have taken 40 minutes took well over 2 hours. It didn’t help that the taxi driver got lost and didn’t know where the hotel was! After all that though the taxi only cost £8.60. Bargain!!
We checked in and made our way to our room. At £10 a night the theme seemed to be “you get what you pay for.” The hilariously uncomfortable “bed” felt like a slab of concrete covered in a sheet. Haha. We settled in and tried to get some sleep ready for our early flight in the morning.

Next stop…..Singapore

Hospital visits, a Ducati and a very very chilled out week. – Bangkok and Koh Phangnan

Thursday 3rd September

My flight to Bangkok was at 11am so I got up, had some breakfast and made my way to the airport. I said goodbye to Vietnam. Can’t believe I’ve been thete for 7 weeks. Such an amazing country. We were over half way there on the flight and I was reading my book. The flight was no where near full so I had a whole row to myself to stretch out on. We suddenly had some unexpected turbulence and the plane dropped slightly, much to everyone’s horror. There was a few seconds of further turbulance and everyone scrambled to get seated with their seatbelts on while somebody screamed (drama) . My heart was beating very fast to be fair, but then we carried on as normal. About 10 minutes later the captain came on the loud speaker to calmly apologise for the unexpected “moderate” turbulance. He said we would descend to a lower altitude and monitor the situation. I was thinking “land the plane!! Land the plane!” There were no more disturbances though and we landed safely in Bangkok. Phew! It took forever to get through immigration but I eventually did, got my bags and found a taxi to take me to the city. I checked into my hostel and went out for a walk around to find me some Thai food! I settled on a Thai green curry which was delicious as always. I went for another walk and decided to get a massage. The cutest little Thai man gave me my massage. I do think that he had a personal vendetta against the knots in my shoulders though. He kept assuring me I’d be fine as he elbowed me in the back and did strange things to my neck. He concluded that I must have a very heavy bag to carry. Ha. Afterwards he gave me some tea and told me all about his pet cats. Loved him! I went to get a fruit smoothie and paid a lady to make me a Chandman bracelet

#chandman #lovelove

I went back to my hostel to chill out and get an early night, as I had a very early start in the morning.

Friday 4th September

I got up at half 5 to get ready as my bus was leaving at half 6 to take me to Surat Thani to get the ferry to Koh Phangnan. 8 hours on the bus. We didn’t stop because there was a loo on the bus. Going for a wee on a moving bus in a tiny room is an interesting experience. Luckily there are loads of handles to hold on to. I started reading a book called “First they killed my father.” It’s a true story from the point of view of a little girl who lived in Cambodia through the atrocities and at the hands of Pol Pot’s Khamer Rouge army. It was horribly sad and eye opening, I didn’t put it down for the whole bus journey. We arrived at Surat Thani and I got on board the ferry to take me to Koh Phangnan. Another 3 hour ferry ride and more reading and eventually I arrived!! I got a motorbike taxi to where I was staying. I checked in, dumped my stuff and ordered myself a pad Thai and a Chang. So amazing.

That night my mate Luke came for a drink with me. I’d met him on the ultimate Thailand tour and he is living on Koh Phangnan at the moment doing his divemasters course. We had a few beers together and a catch up.

Saturday 5th September

The burn in my leg was pretty painful again and it hurt to walk on it. I went for some breakfast and showed one of the guys behind the bar. He said it looks really infected and I should go to the hospital. Noo! !! Looking back, it did look pretty grim

I had some food and got a taxi to the hospital. I had to wait a nerve wracking hour before they called me in. The nurse told me she was going to clean it. She washed it all and then got out some tweezer and proceeded to dig out the infected skin with them. It was so painful. She bandaged it all up, gave me more antibiotics and painkillers and said that I can’t get it wet and I have to come back every day to get it cleaned and redressed. Brilliant. That was my week of scuba diving and chilling in the pool out of the window!!! I was glad that I had sought proper medical attention though. I didn’t want my leg to fall off!!

The next few days consisted of the same routine. I’d have breakfast, go to the hospital, come back and spend the rest of the day reading and taking my meds. I didn’t want to sit in the sun with it either because it was so hot I probably would have sweat the bandage off!

Tuesday 8th September

The day before, my old ultimate Thailand tour guide, Fiona,  turned up with her current group. We planned a little reunion so Luke booked a room at the hostel for the night so we could have some drinks together. (I had checked and I was ok to drink on my antibiotics). We had a really good night. I made friends with a girl called Faye off the current ultimate tour as well. She was brilliant.

Wednesday 9th September

I got up early and went to the hospital. My leg was looking a million times better and was definitly on the mend! I went for a little walk down near the beach when I got back and had 30 minutes in the  sun by the pool. Luke had booked the day off and I think he took pity on me because he asked if I’d like to go out with him on his bike to explore the east side of the island. Of course I jumped at the chance. He had hired a 800cc Ducati.

It was very loud and very fast. I was slightly terrified to begin with. It had two massive exhausts at the back just below where I was sitting. They were kicking out some heat and I really didn’t fancy getting burnt again. I got used to it quickly though and we sped off along the winding and undulating roads in the sunshine. We stopped off when I saw some elephants. They were meant for trekking and had been tied up with those horrible metal chairs on their backs. Very sad but I still loved seeing them.

We carried on and came to a beautiful beach where we stopped to have some lunch

There was a zip lining course that you could do on the island but I didn’t fancy it with my gammy leg. Instead we decided to go and play mini golf.

I was winning until the 7th hole which took me about 20 shots to get. It was down hill from there and I lost spectacularly. Luke took me back to my hostel. On the way I stopped off to buy more bandages and gauze. My leg was looking good and the hospital was too expensive to keep going back everyday just for them to re-bandage it. I’d  watched the nurses enough times to know what I was doing as well. I think they just keep you going back for as long as possible so you keep paying them. I had a chilled night again, willing my leg to heal.

Thursday 10th September

It was a lot cooler and clouded over so after playing nurse on my leg, I went to sit by the pool and read, hoping to catch some sort of a tan through the clouds. Faye was leaving that afternoon to go to Koh Tao. She thrashed me at a few games of pool before she went to get her taxi to the pier. In the afternoon I treated myself to a massage. It wasn’t as painful at the one in Bangkok but I still have some severe knots in my shoulders!  I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading before going to pack everything up for my long journey back to Bangkok the next day.

Next stop Bangkok and I get to see the best person in the world again 😍😍😍😍

Many bike rides, boat rides, epic views and Independence day – Mai Chau, Halong Bay, Ninh Binh and Hanoi

Tuesday 25th August

I treated myself to breakfast at the flying pan again that morning. Had to get my English breakfast tea fix! I went for one last walk around the streets of HK before I went back to the hostel to collect my bags and go to the airport. The plan was to just enter Vietnam for just over a week so I was going to get the free 15 day visa and then move on to Thailand. As I was checking in, the lady asked to see proof of my onward travel from Vietnam because she said they would need to see when I arrived in Hanoi. Small problem. .. I hadn’t actually booked my  outgoing flight from Vietnam yet. It was about 2.30 by this stage and my flight was going to start boarding in 40 minutes. She told me that I couldn’t check in until I could show her some kind of confirmation for an onward flight. She told me to go and book one and get back to her before ten past 3. Ahhh! I dragged my big bag across to the wall and attempted to access the rubbish WiFi on my rubbish phone. I finally found a decent flight to Bangkok on the date I was looking for. I was about to book it when the WiFi dropped out and my phone wouldn’t load any pages. It took about 10 minites to get to this stage so I was starting to panic. The minutes ticked by as I started to curse my stupid phone. I realised that I might not make the flight so I did a panic SOS to the boyfriend to see if he could help me. Thank God the WiFi was good enough to let me send messages. My phone eventually got to the payment page of the flight at about 3 o’clock. For some reason this is when my phone decided to break completely and wouldn’t let me type the card number in to pay for the flight. I was in full on panic mode at this point and resorted to shouting the numbers at my phone and threatening to smash it into tiny pieces. As it got to 10 past 3, the lady from check in came over and I probably not so calmly told her the situation that I had found myself in. I was all red face, bushy hair and sweat. She said I would just have to sign something that said they don’t hold responsibility if Vietnam didn’t let me enter. Meanwhile, hero of the year, Kevin Chandler, donned his cape. He extracted the relevant information from a very stressed me and booked the flight for me. Best boyfriend award! I signed the paper and had to get escorted through security and passport control because I was so late. The WiFi was still being rubbish and I hadn’t received the confirmation email. I needed to recieve it before I flew to show them at the other end. For some reason they decided to take their time in security and scan my bag twice. Brilliant. I eventually made it through to my gate and received the confirmation e-mail just as I stepped through the gate and out of the WiFi zone. Absolute nick of time. STRESS!!!
Of course, when I arrived in Vietnam they didn’t even ask to see any blummin e-mail and I just walked straight on through. Spectacular.

I got the shuttle bus from the airport the Hanoi old town. On the bus was a girl called Sabrina from Austria who had come to Vietnam for just over a week and she had planned to go to the same places as me. Perfect! She hadn’t booked a place to stay yet so I told her to come to my hostel to see if there was space. There was! We checked in, received a much needed free beer and took a shower. We went up to the rooftop bar and met a load more people. We decided to join the bar crawl. We went to a few different bars. I was pretty tired though from my stressful day so we didn’t stay out too late.

Wednesday 26th August

I had obviously already spent a few days in Hanoi and so had seen the sights. It’s a beautiful city though and so joined the walking tour with Sabrina that morning. We went On a different route this time though which was good. We spent 2 hours wandering around the little streets and the lake. There is so much to see. Little old ladies selling drinks and cigarettes from the road side, so many shops, stalls, little restaurants or carts selling street food. There are hundreds of motorbikes that constantly beep as they clog up the streets. It’s impossible to get bored walking around. We finished off the tour in a little cafe and tried iced egg milk coffee. It’s wasn’t my favourite drink though and I dont think I would have it again. The froth is egg yolk and sugar

We went back to the hostel after and I spent a while sorting out my plan for the next few weeks and getting things booked. We also needed to book our trips for the next few days. We wanted to visit Mai Chau, Halong Bay and Ninh Bihn. We went out to some of the tourist booking places to find the best tour we could for Mai Chau. We found a good one which was 2 days and 1 night and booked it for the next day. Earlier we had also put our names down for a Vietnamese feast at the hostel that evening. We still had some time to go until it started so we went to Cong Cafe and I had a delicious frozen lemonade.
There were some ladies that had come down from Sapa, which is right in the north of Vietnam, to join us for the meal. They were part of the Hmong tribe. They were learning business skills from some Canadian ladies so they could establish their homestays better. It was their first time visiting Hanoi, they normally live very simple lives in the mountains. I was amazed at how good their English was and how tiny they were! They literally came up to my waist. We sat chatting to them while we ate our food.

It was actually really good Vietnamese food. Spring rolls, skewers, rice, vegetables, tofu and chicken. The Hmong women were so eager with their new found business skills, they were handing out business cards and asking everyone to go and stay with them. It was brilliant. After dinner, we chilled out for a bit. Sabrina went out to a few bars again but I stayed in and had a cheeky Skype session with the bestie and a relax before bed.

Thursday 27th August

We got picked up at 8am for our trip to Mai Chau. It’s slightly north west of Hanoi and takes about 4 hours on a bus to get there. There were 5 of us on the 2 day, 1 night tour. Me, Sabrina, a German couple called Caroline and Felix,  and a girl from Guatemala called Jennifer. Mai Chau is quite high up in the mountains. We were about half way there and our tour guide told us that the driver would have to switch off the air con when we got to the mountain pass because the bus needed the power to get up the hills. Haha. We had to open the Windows for a bit instead.  On the way we stopped off a few times for a break. The last stop off was when we were nearky there.  We stopped overlooking the valley of Mai chau. There was loads of little huts on the  roadside where you could buy food from the locals. The view looking down into the valley was very beautiful.

We arrived at our lovely home stay, dropped our bags in our room and settled down for a big Vietnamese buffet lunch. Again the food was really good.  After lunch the locals put on a show for us. A group of women and two men danced and sang. It was very traditional to their tribe. They danced with scarves, fans, bowls and all kinds of things. It was really good! I loved it.

At the end they got up and asked us to join in. We walked round in a circle clapping and then holding hands. It was like a Vietnamese version of the hokey cokey.  They also let us try their local rice wine which was very nice.
After all the dancing we went on a bicycle tour through the local villages and rice fields. I couldn’t get over how green the rice fields were. They were stunning.

The bikes wern’t the best. Mine was far too small for me and Caroline’s didn’t have any breaks hardly!

We rode in convoy down little tracks with rice fields on either side. Caroline was in front of me and managed to do exactly what I was hoping I wouldn’t, she accidentally rode off the path and fell in the muddy/wet rice field. She yelped and I immediately dumped my bike and went to her rescue. She managed to save her phone so I grabbed that before I pulled her out. It was hilarious. Poor Caroline!! I am glad it wasn’t me for once though! We carried on our tour. All the houses are built up on stilts because the area floods a lot in the rainy season. The houses have two sets of stairs, one for the males and one for the females. Apparently you get badly punished if you use the wrong set of stairs. While we were riding we went past a funeral. Everyone was sitting around drinking with white cloths on their heads while some men were building the coffin. Our tour guide told us that when someone dies, they also make a miniature version of a house, called a death house. This is so they have somewhere to live in their afterlife.  We cycled round for about 2 hours in total. The whole area is so beautiful. Just before we got back to our home stay, we rode through the main town. We were all really hot and sweaty so we stopped off and our tour guide bought us all a sugar cane juice drink. It was so refreshing! We got back to the home stay and all chilled out for a bit before we got a shower and had dinner. That evening we all sat outside with a beer and chatted for ages before bed.

Friday 28th August

The second day of the tour was meant to be visiting the local market in the morning and then going to the 1000 step cave. Our tour guide hadn’t given us brilliant reviews though. Haha. Apparently the cave isn’t looked after by the government so it’s not the best…. and who wants to climb 1000 steps in 38 degrees!? Instead we decided to rent out some scooters and go exploring on our own. We got a local tour guide to draw us a little map and we set off to find the waterfall and lake.
Felix and Caroline led the way on their bike, then Sabrina and Jennifer on one and then I had my own bike.

We went towards the town and got on the main road. We rode for about 20/30 minutes through the beautiful countryside. After a while the roads got a bit dodgey.  We came to a cross roads. One way was a very steep hill that was mainly rocks and mud,

The other was flat but muddy and with a massive puddle. We stopped and asked some locals the way to the waterfall and they pointed up the big hill. Brilliant. I have only just got used to driving a scooter on the road so it wasn’t ideal. I managed to get a little way up the hill before I over revved and the bike skidded and lurched forwards. I managed to catch the bike but at the same time my left calf caught the exhaust pipe and it burnt me and left a nice big smile shape. Oowww

Luckily a very nice local man arrived at this stage. He didnt speak a word of english but he saw what happened and mimed to me that he would drive my bike up for me. The others who were more used to scooters managed to get up but it was a bit hairy at times. Stupid Vietnamese “roads”. Of course when we got to the top we showed the local our map and he showed us we had come in completely the wrong direction. The map was the wrong was round so we had even left the town in the wrong direction. Ahhh!! There was another normal road going down the hill again (that ended up being the muddy one with the big puddle) so thank God we didn’t have to go down the hill of burn leg and death. We drove back towards and through the town and eventually found our way to the lake. The roads still wernt the best. Very rocky and full of potholes but we managed without further injury. It was only a little waterfall but we also found a nice bridge and stopped to take some pictures.

Apart from my mini accident, I had a great time. We made it back to the home stay in time for another buffet lunch. The food is really nice but a lot of it is fried or oily which obviously isn’t good. What’s wrong with a nice crisp salad?
After lunch we took our bikes out again to the local markets to have a look around. There are loads of shops full of hand made bags and scarves and trinkets. We were the only tourists there, it was so quiet and lovely to look around.

I bought a little bag and a bracelet. We also stopped off for another sugar cane drink. Before long we had to go back to pack our bags and get the 4 hour bus back to Hanoi.

We arrived in Hanoi and me and Sabrina said goodbye to Caroline, Felix and Jennifer. We went to find some food and to book our Halong bay tour because we wanted to leave the next morning. We found a tour with a good price but the blummin card machine broke so we were in the shop for about an hour. We eventually made it to our hostel and checked in at about half 9. Sabrina wanted to go out for a quick drink and she tempted me with the promise of a glass of wine. We went out for a quick one and then came back as we were being picked up at 8 in the morning.

Saturday 29th August

The bus journey to Halong City again took about 4 hours. So much bus time!! We arrived at the docks and all got on our big boat that we would be spending the night on :mrgreen:. There was a group of friends from Malaysia on the tour and a French girl as well. We checked in to our little rooms on the boat and had some lunch. As we ate, we set sail towards the beautiful Halong Bay. Unfortunately the weather wasnt the best. The place was still magnificent though and the clouds added to the beauty as they hugged the tops of the big limestone rocks that jutted out of the water.

We manouvered around all the rocks and docked against one which had a cave and a good viewing point. We all got off the boat and climbed the steps up into the cave and to see the view

The cave was really impressive. There were three main caverns and they got bigger in size as you went through. The most interesting bit about the caves were the rock formations inside. As we walked through our tour guide shone a light on the different rocks. There were loads of formations that looked like different things, there was a monkey, a Buddha and a Dragon and many more. There was the usual phallic shaped rocks which the Asians seem to love and make up a lot of stories about. Some of the formations were a bit far fetched and you kinda had to squint and tilt your head to make them out. When we got out the cave we got back on the boat and went towards a little beach. This little island also had one of the best view points as its so high up. There were a lot of steps involved and it was very (!!) sweaty, but we made it to the top and it was well worth it. There was a 360 degree view of Halong Bay. The place is breathtaking.

There was definitely a storm brewing by this point so after a while we went back down all the steps and back on to our boat before it started to rain. That evening we had dinner on the boat; Squid, fish, vegetables rice etc. After dinner I tried a bit of fishing. It wasn’t normal fishing. There was a big light shining on the water attracting all the tiny fish. I was given a little rod with about 5 hooks in a circle on the end of it. You kind of had to bob the rod in and out of the water and hope you pierce a fish in the body. One of the boat crew managed to catch one. I tried for ages but failed. Oh well.

After the fishing we all went to the top deck to play cards for a while before bed.

Sunday 30th August

Waking up on a boat in the middle of Halong Bay is pretty amazing. I got up at half 5 with hopes to see the sunrise but it was raining and cloudy. It was so calm and peaceful though. Everything was so still and quiet apart from the little splashes of rain hitting the water. Breakfast was at 7am and then we set off across the water to the pearl farm. The pearl farm was really interesting. They make man made pearls there as well as harvest natural ones. They grow the pearls in nets in the water until they are about 18 months old. After that, they get them out and insert a little ball of bone into the ovary of the oyster and the membrane bit of the oyster which makes the pearl grow. They put it back in the water for another 18 months and then pull them up to see if there is a pearl. It only works 70% of the time because sometimes the bone falls out. Then only 10% percent of the 30% that grow are perfect pearls, which means they are perfectly round.

I got chosen to pick an oyster to see if there was a pearl inside. The lady prized it open and poked around in the yellow mush until she found the pearl. It wasn’t perfectly round but it looked beautiful to me.

We had a little look round the shop at all the beautiful perfect pearls before we went to collect our bags. Me and Sabrina were the only ones doing 2 night tour and so we had to join a different tour to continue on our journey to Cat Ba island. We waited on another little boat for a bit before we were joined by another group. They wear mainly older Chinese people. We got taken to another big boat where we had some ice coffee and chilled for a while. We met our new tour guide, Mr Hero, he was great. Another smaller boat arrived and we got on board and were taken to a little island for our bicycle tour. We joined a group Dutch people more our age and were given a bike each. It was raining loads at this point so we put on our rain coats and set off.

There wernt any gears again but this time there were two really steep hills. Nightmare. We had to stand up on the pedals to get enough power to get up the hill and feel the burn!! We made our way along the paths to the local fishing village.

We stopped off and got to try some local brewed “wine”.  We tried rice wine, snake wine and flower wine. The flower wine was the best of a bad bunch. The snake wine, not surprisingly, was absolutely vile

We carried on our bicycle tour a bit more through the village, waving to the locals as we got drenched. We stayed in the village a little while before we biked back to the boat. The Dutch were then going on a trek. We wanted to go but we had to go back to our boat with our tour. All the Chinese people we were with had got an electric car to the village. We got back on the boat and had chance to dry off a bit and we were served lunch.  We carried on sailing through the water. It cleared up a bit as we made it to monkey island. We were told not to go near the monkeys as they bite. There were some cute baby ones though and the beach was nice. Well, it would have been, on a less miserable day.

We stayed here for a while chilling out before we got the boat to Cat Ba island. Me and Sabrina checked in to our hotel and had a rest before we went to have a walk around the town. Cat Ba is quite touristy so it was mainly souvenir shops and restaurants. We had dinner at the hotel and met some German girls who were also staying there. We decided to all go out for a drink and had some cocktails in a bar before going to bed.

Monday 31st August

Happy 1 year Anniversary to my love!!! :mrgreen:😍 Love you millions. Sorry (not sorry) about the PDA

We got picked up early from our hotel after breakfast. We had a long journey a head of us back to Hanoi. The sun had come out though and it was a glorious day! We sunbathed on the top deck of the boat as it took us to a bigger boat to Halong City. I was happy that we got to see Halong in the rainy mist and on a clear sunny day.

Me, Sabrina and Mr Hero played cards on the bigger boat after lunch. We arrived at Halong City at about 12pm and then got on our bus back to Hanoi. Another 4 hour journey. We arrived and checked in to our hostel. The burn on my leg from Mai Chau was pretty painful and it hurt when I walked. When I took the bandage off I realised it was infected. Quick trip to the pharmacy for antibiotics, more bandages, burn cream and cleaning solution. Bad times! Sabrina went shopping and I went up to the top bar to get some food. We stayed there for a bit playing big jenga. I went back to the dorm to chill out and rest my leg while Sabrina and a few others went on to some different bars.

Tuesday 1st September

Me and Sabrina had planned to go to Ninh Binh province together. Some girls in our dorm, who I knew from when I was in Hanoi previously, were going on bikes that day instead of on a tour. Sabrina wanted to rent bikes, my leg told me no so I booked to go on the tour solo while  Sabrina went with the others.
I got picked up at about 8 and got chatting to an English girl and some Italian girls on the 2 hour bus journey. When we arrived our tour guide took us around two of the temples there. They were a lot like the Citadel in Hue. It was good though because our tour guide explained a lot of the meanings behind things. For example, there are loads of incense sticks in the temples because the Vietnamese believe that when they pray, the smoke carries their prayers to a different world.

When we had been round the temples we went to have a buffet lunch. It was really good. There was a lot of fresh salad rather than the usual fried meat and oily vegetables. After lunch we went to the river in Tam Coc. We all got on little rowing boats and were taken down the river by the locals. It’s so pretty there and the locals row the boat with their feet! It’s insane

The boat trip took about 2 hours and we went into 3 little caves on the way.

Such a beautiful and calm place. We got back on dry land and were taken to a little place with loads of bicycles. I actually got a decent size bike with gears this time! Amazing! We went down the road for about 20 minutes stopping off to take pictures of the beautiful surroundings on the way

We came to the entrance of another temple that had been built half inside a cave. There was all water around it and you had to go over a little bridge to get there

We climbed up the steps into the cool cave and then carried on going up to a smaller temple building halfway up the mountain side. There was an option to keep on going right up to the top. It involved climbing over big rocks though. I was wearing flip flops and my leg was throbbing so I decided to sit it out. I think I made the right decision because when the girls came down they said it was quite precarious up there and I was a wise woman for not going. Haha.
We made our way back down all the steps and rode our bicycles back to the bus. Biking is such a lovely way to get around. It’s really hot but you get a cool breeze as you go. We got back on the bus to Hanoi at about 5 o’clock. As we got closer to Hanoi the traffic was mental. Everyone was trying to get in to the city for Independence day which was the next day. We were on the motorway and the roads were rammo.  Amazingly our bus driver took one look at the traffic and just decided to do a 3 point turn and go back the way we came….. down the wrong side of the motorway. They literally don’t care. I was amazed. We took forever to get into the city. There were motorbikes and cars everywhere. Crazy traffic. I eventually got back to the hostel and met up with the others who had managed to make it back too. We went out and got some food. I had a delicious kebab off a street vendor. We were all pretty tired though so we went back after food and went to bed.

Wednesday 2nd September.

Independence Day

I got up at 6am to have some breakfast before going to see the parade that was taking place in the streets at 7am. I met some people in the hostel that were going as well so we all went together. The streets were rammed with people making their way to the closed off streets where the parade would pass through. I assume they do it so early because of the heat.. but it was still blummin hot! We managed to make our way through the crowds and found a decent spot. There were big screens erected which were showing the parade starting off near the Ho chi Minh Mausoleum. The parade took about 15 minutes to reach where we were standing. All the soldiers marched past in groups wearing their military uniforms. It was really great to see all the different sections; officers, soldiers, infantry, police, firebregade and loads of others. They were all marching along and singing and stamping their feet. I loved when the women went past, thy all had red lipstick on. There was one female platoon wearing a Brown uniform and they all had their hair in two plaits, as if it was part of the uniform. The parade must have lasted for about an hour.

After it finished we made our way back to the hostel. I was absolutely shattered and so went back to sleep for a few hours. When I woke up I said goodbye to Sabrina as she was flying back to Hong Kong before returning home to Austria.
I spend the afternoon wandering around and reading. I decided to sit in my dorm and air my burn wound out. Cuts never heal quickly because of the humidity. Sitting inside in a cool room really helped though and it finally closed up and started to heal. Two girls, Em and Chloe checked in to my dorm. They were going out to meet some others for dinner and asked me to join.  There was a fireworks show scheduled for 9 o’clock over the lake as a final independence day celebration. We made our way to a smokehouse restaurant where we were meeting the others. Turns out the restaurant was inside the American embassy. So cool! We sat undercover from the pouring rain eating chicken wings while the fireworks boomed over head and lit up the sky. They were amazing. So loud but so impressive. Some of them even exploded in to smiley face shapes. I don’t think I’ve seen a display as good before !!

A perfect way to end my time in Vietnam. After it had all finished we made our way back to the hostel.

Goodbye Vietnam. It’s been amazing!
Next stop…. back to Thailand