Leaving On a Jet Plane

It's our last day today. We are in our posh hotel room in Hanoi on OUR OWN COMPUTER!!! It is 09:45 and a taxi is coming for us at 11:00 to take us to the airport.

It feels strange to be heading back to the UK again, but we are very excited to see everyone again. We just did a spot of souvenir shopping for the kids.

Anyhoo, after Nha Trang, that we all loved, even though it's a tourist town, we got the overnight sleeper to Da Nang and transfered in a minibus to Hoi An. Hoi An is the most impossibly beautiful town I have ever seen. Aunty Nora was completely right.

It is very relaxed and relaxing. At night there are millions of lanterns outside bars, shops and restaurants. It's impossible to take a rubbish photo. We stayed in Hoi An for 3 nights in the Thanh Van 2 hotel. Brand new and an amazing price.

Hoi An is famous for it's tailoring, so us girls all had clothes made to measure. I bought 2 tops, a funky winter coat and 2 pairs of shoes made, one of which is covered in impractical Chinese silk. They were a bargain though.

Then we all moved on to the capital city, Hanoi. It was a bit of a shock after the calm of Hoi An, but we soon got back into the swing of things. It's fun finding little coffee bars and places to eat Vietnamese food.

...(James now)... After a day in the madness of Hanoi we headed out to Ha Long Bay, about 3 hours drive away from Hanoi. We had booked an overnight trip on a junk boat which included a trip to "The Amazing Cave" and some kayaking. It was a stunningly beautiful place and a great couple of days.

We got back to Hanoi yesterday and went out for a posh meal at an Italian restaurant just round the corner from our lovely hotel, near to St Joseph's Cathedral. This morning we got up early(ish) and did a spot of souvenir shopping and now we are getting packed, our taxi to the airport is duye in an an hour. So I'd better be off, I guess this will probably be the last post from our big trip. I might do a summary and a bit of a list of highlights when we have settled back into the UK life.

Bye for now...
James xx