I had never seen a sleeper bus before, you get a mini bed/chair each which are actually surprisingly quite comfy. The ride itself wasn't bad apart from the fact that there was no toilet and when I asked to stop after 8 hours with no break I got a Thai women yelling her head off at me. It then got progressively worse when we reached the 24 hour mark (it took 30 hours in total!!) and a load of Thai people came on and filled the aisles, being sick, fleming and weeing in bags! It was like they were another species!
Finally we got to Hanoi at midnight and I was welcomed by my life long friend Phoebe and her uni friend Vanessa at the hostel we'd be staying in, Hanoi backpackers hostel (don't know how they came up with that name). After 3 and a half months not seeing her (which is the longest we've been apart in 18 years) it was lovely to be back together!
We explored Hanoi together and went to Hoa Lo prison which was built by French Colonialists and had held mostly political prisoners, many of which died due to the poor conditions and parasites within their food.
We then went for a bite of food ourselves and I had Vietnamese pancakes which the waitress rolled and stuffed herself. So tasty!!
That evening we played some games and went to THE hottest club in the world. A tiny room with no air con, jam packed. I'd like to see the Towie cast in there... their faces would quite literally melt off.
The next day we headed off on a 3 day castaway trip to Halong bay. We were a little apprehensive as at £120 it burnt a hole in our almost empty pockets, but everyone said it was a must so we had to go! And I have to say, it was 100% worth the money!!
After a coach journey (standard) about 60 of us set off on boats. At last we had some sunshine so it was paradise to just lie on the top deck enjoying the sun.
Lunch was amazing and being a buffet I of course I couldn't control myself. We also got in the spirit of things and started drinking before we even reached the midday mark!
Later, we all got some kayaks and kayaked around Halong bay which is the 7th natural wonder of the world... And I can see why!
After the first bit of arm exercise I've done in months we returned to the boat a little tired and tipsy, so the obvious next thing to do was to jump off the top of the boat!
The highest point was 7.5m so they say but it felt so much more! I don't know how the divers do it, big up to my boy Daley, I found it hard enough doing a pike jump!
The scenery throughout the boat journey was just beautiful and as it reached sunset it became surreal it was so nice. Every now and then we had to stop and take it all in.
That evening everyone from the boats got together and had a party, we played a huge drinking game together which of course got a little out of hand, I won't go into too much detail but fire and bums were involved (not mine!).
I also came away crowned as the champion of picking paper up on the floor without using my hands... (Beating a professional synchronised swimmer and a gymnast might I add) A hidden talent that I hope to utilise in the future...all potential employees, take note.
The next day we continued on the boat and passed loads of little fishing villages. Despite it being such a beautiful place, I have no idea how people live so secluded and remote 24/7!
We then got to a private island which we'd be staying on for the remainder of the day and night. It was amazing! We chilled out, swam, played beach volleyball, did rock climbing, and risked our lives doing high speed tubing. It's basically an inflatable on the back of a speed boat and 4 people lie down on it holding on and get sped along. Now I usually love these things but this was insane!!! After falling off the first time and being whipped into a back flip under water, we were all in fear to get on again! 3 days later and so many of us are still suffering from sore necks and aches and pains all over our bodies (nothing too major..don't panic).
But being the troopers we are, we trooped on and had a really good night dancing, drinking and playing games with everyone, ending with a late night/early morning swim in the sea.
It was amazing to wake up to this in the morning...
The view from where I was staying.
The next day we set off back on the boat, all a little more subdued and returned to our hostel ready to immediately board a 14 hour overnight bus to our next stop... Hue.
No rest for the wicked!
Tara x
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