"Fuck, that bitch just stole my toast!"

Wish granted! Luckily Camille and I seemed to be on the same page when it came to Hue and we only spent two nights there. We took a sleeper bus into Hanoi, a bus which should have taken about 15 hours ended up taking 12 probably thanks to the fact that we were going about 80mph the entire way and much of the journey seemed to be taking place on the wrong side of the road! (Maybe the bus was a Toyota-badumdumtsdh! Little current affairs joke there, quite hilarious I think you'd agree). There was a monk in the bed infront of me and women are not allowed to touch a monks head. This culture also means feet are thought of as bad and dirty anyway...my feet accidently touched the monks head and I don't think he was happy. The sleeper bus was much nicer than the crappy train ride except it smelt pretty bad. I unknowingly picked the bed just infront of the toilet, lovely. The monk got up to use the toilet and as he walked by his robes opened possibly the due to the fact he released an airbourne toxic event...if you catch my drift. Well I definitely caught his stinky drift and for the rest of the time I was on the bus the dodgy smell wouldn't go away! So we arrive in Hanoi and get a taxi into the Old Quarter and start to look for a place to stay. We found a place which let us check in at 7am for no extra charge which was nice. We made the decision early on to venture into Sapa and Halong Bay as soon as we could so we'd have the rest of our time in Hanoi considering our flights out of Vietnam are from Hanoi. We took a bus the very next morning to the harbour and then had two boat journeys which I actually feel sea sick right now thinking about into Halong Bay. Incredible. It's appealing to become one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and I have no doubt it'll make it. I'm actually not even going to bother to talk about it, no words and not even my pictures will do it justice. I just strongly urge everyone to go if they ever get the chance!! We stayed in a Bamboo bungalow for 2 nights on an island with only 6 bungalows and a restaurant on, there were probably about 15 inhabitants at very most on the island, I was sad to leave :( We got back after a really rough couple of boat journeys into Hanoi around 5.30pm and then left again at 8.30pm for the train station to catch our sleeper into Lao Cai. We didn't make the same mistake as last time with the train and took first class which was so much nicer and for only a couple dollars more! We had to get a bus for about an hour up into the mountains of Sapa...1500m above sea level. Jesus. My head felt so full of pressure and my ears were popping and I felt dizzy and then I saw the view of the misty mountains and I didn't really care anymore! Again, just something everyone needs to see in their lifetime. This little town has a very european vibe to it (I think the French first started development here) and it's a beautiful place. We checked into a hotel at about 7am and then left for a hike just before 10am. The hike was interesting...across streams, through jungle, passing water buffalo and other odd wildlife along the way! We reached a village and had lunch which was a welcomed rest. After we went into another to see the schools and other tribe. We got a bus back into main Sapa because the hike had left us exhausted. Tiring day but one of my favourite of the whole trip. I'm leaving Sapa tonight on a sleeper train again and should be getting into Hanoi at around 5am tomorrow morning leaving me with only a few days to explore the city. I'm stoked about getting to see more of it because from the little I have already experienced I really love the place! Thinking back on the month I've spent in Vietnam I've realised just what a special country it is, those 2 days in Hue is the only blip in an incredible month and I'll be genuinely upset to leave. I'm also going to miss Camille a lot, she's been really awesome and so easy to travel with. A bit of a ying to my yang whilst I'm laid back and hate to plan she is very much the other way and so we reached a happy medium and made the most of our 4 weeks here definitely. I wont bother to write until I'm in Malaysia now, hopefully I'll find a computer that I'm able to upload my pictures on to! For the last time from Vietnam...GOODBYE peeps! xxxxxxxxxxxx