hanoi day two

Today was spent exploring the old quarter, visiting the former prison and watching the water puppet theatre show, which was fantastic. we are now on the night bus about to head to sapa for a three day trekking tour.

The city was full of graduates today and they all looked lovely.

hanoi

I liked hanoi as soon as I arrived. It is quaint and very interesting, not high-rise like many other big cities. I got the night bus with Judre, a girl from Lithuania I hung out with in son trach, and we quickly found a good hostel. We went on the free walking tour to get our bearings and enjoyed a coffee in a hidden cafe. The famous coffee there was egg coffee. It is made with egg white and tastes like coffee pavlova. I was also stopped in the street and asked if i could be interviewed by some university students for their mid-term exams.  I managed to find a local yoga class in the afternoon and all I will say is that I want to be as fit and flexible when I am 80 as the 80-year-old women who took the class.
The evening was spent finding street food and we stumbled across a cafe with a group

of people playing music and singing all night. It was fantastic.

last day in son trach

After a morning run along the beautiful river and trying to avoid the ladies who were offering me delicious smelling noodles, I went with a group of ten to another cave. This one could only be accessed by boat and was the first large cave to be discovered in the national park and opened to tourists. The river tour on the boat was very relaxing and we watched the Vietnamese locals working and farming their land.

 Once we got back to the hostel we were recommended a chicken restaurant by the hostel owner so we hopped on bikes and drove there. He forgot to mention the horrendous dirt track we had to drive down but the view and the peanut sauce made up for it.

In the evening it was time to get on the night bus to hanoi.

paradise cave

what a fantastic day!  I rented out a mopes and went on an adventure around the national park and visited paradise cave. I went along with two couples but left them at the cave to do some my own exploring. The drive through the park was amazing. Beautiful nature, so many butterflies. I didn't want it to end.
We arrived at the paradise cave and walked up the mountain side to get to the entrance. It is hard to put its size and awesomeness into words. I walked through the whole cave for an hour and was amazed at the lack of other tourists because it is by far the most amazing thing I have seen in Vietnam.

I carried on driving through the rest of the park and enjoyed an evening at the hostel with a group of backpackers I had met the night before. Very excited about the adventure continuing tomorrow! 

to the caves!

I decided to take the train to dong hoi and I'm glad I did because the scenery was beautiful. I sat opposite a very nice vietnamese girl who was learning english and we had a lovely conversation about our different cultures and how she would like to be a teacher. Once she got off the train at hue a grandpa took her place and we enjoyed each others company despite not exchanging one word. He read his paper and I read my book and we exchanged smiles occasionally. We finally arrived at dong hoi and he helped me off the train and said 'goodbye'. It was a very pleasant journey. I arrived at the hostel and was greeted by the friendly staff and heard about all the caves and beautiful scenery. 

Coffee waiting for the train

Hoi An

The night bus from nha trang to hoi an is an adventure on its own. Once I had found a good sleeping position I was jerked out of it as the driver dodged a pothole or two. The 10 hours passed and we finally arrived in hoi an. We had to wait until 12 pm to check in so went for breakfast and got lots of tips about the local area and what to do. The lady who cooked us breakfast seemed to have many skills. She could cook, teach cooking courses, make dresses, cut hair, do laundry and speak relatively good english.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and chatting to other travellers in the evening.
I rented a bike out the following morning and cycled around the stunning old town and its surroundings. Cycling is such a good way to see the city. The ladies outside of their shops also find it more difficult to try and get you in their shop to sell you something. The amount of tailors in the city is crazy and there are lots of tourists that get clothes made. I really liked the style of this quaint city.

Japanese bridge

Vietnam's best smile!

Look who I found hiding in the mud!

nha trang

The journey to nha trang from da lat was stunning. The landscape consisted of waterfalls and mountains. Nha trang as a city is not particularly pretty and it is a hotspot for russian tourists but the people I met at the hostel were great. We all hung out in the afternoon and had a great halloween party in the evening. The hostel staff got involved too and cooked a bbq for everyone. Saturday was a chilled day recovering and we are all heading now to hoi an.
An american girl called claire is part of the group and she is 1.98m tall. The Vietnamese are shocked when they see her on the street and often ask for a picture with her. She is lovely and luckily takes it light-heartedly.