Good Night Vietnam...

I think this is the first time I've struggled to start a post. I think because it is and isn't my final post. It's final in the sense that it will be the last post I do whilst I'm technically still away, but I still want to do one last one summing up the past four months. But for now...

The last three days of Vietnam...

After leaving Hanoi we took a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. The trip then took a bit of an unexpected sombre and emotional turn. We all know of the Vietnam war but I'll admit that I knew nothing about it. I even had to google it before I got there as I didn't even know why there was a war in the first place. We can see from our own countries wars how much it can change a country and shape the futures of the many generations that come afterwards so I was interested to find out more about it. However I really wasn't expecting to find what we did.

The War Remnants Museum documents the war mostly through photography demonstrating how the war was carried out and also the after effects including the famous 'Girl in the Picture'. When I think of war I think of the films that were shown on the news of fighting between soldiers and I thought for some reason, being that this was a fairly recent war in historical terms that this would be similar. Soldiers fighting between themselves with the tragic inevitability that civilians would have got caught up in the cross fire from time to time. However I was literally horrified to discover how much of the hostility was directed at civilians. It was some of the most graphic photography I have ever seen. There was one particular image and caption beneath it that definitely stuck with me...I started writing about it here but I didn't feel right so I decided to delete it. The whole museum was emotional but this particular image nearly brought me to tears. I can't believe it happened only twenty years before I was born.

This then developed into a discussion over dinner about what we'd seen, how uneducated we were about this particular war (I think the phrase "I knew it was bad but I didn't realise how bad" was used a lot) and how war affects us today. I know it's a cliche but it also opened my eyes to how much Vietnam is still suffering. You can see it in all the temples and palaces that are being restored from bomb damaged and all the people suffering from birth defects as a result of chemical warfare. Despite it being a bit of a heavy day it was good to have a bit of serious moment with the group (and to find out I wasn't the only soppy git who wanted to shed a tear).

The positive part of the day...the displays of all the anti war posters from so many countries. Just when you're having a 'people suck' moment, it can take something small to restore your faith in humanity again.

The next day we went a bit further south to the Mekong Delta for a nights home stay again. It was completely different to the last one in that we were sleeping outside under a bamboo cover. I got a feeling of child like excitement at the prospect of sleeping outside...until what I thought was a cockroach flew into my mosquito net. Cue me screaming...then everyone else screaming...then discovering it was a (massive) dragon fly. The woman and her small daughter came and removed it for me *shame* and mr dragon fly went on his way.

The night also wasn't complete without a few shots of some kind of vile Vietnamese spirit, the banana wine we were served wasn't quite as horrific as rice wine but the 'I'm not gagging face' was prevalent in most of our faces again. Personally I always think that one should stick to the things they are good at. For example, if you can't sing...don't try to be a singer. Equally if you a carbohydrate based accompaniment to many Asian dishes, don't try to be a spirit. It makes perfect sense to me...and anyone else who has tasted rice based spirits.

Before heading back to Ho Chi Minh we went and visit the Cu Chi tunnels, a series of tunnels that people lived in during the war and were also used to ambush the Americans. Going down into the tunnels was quite something, most of us had issues fitting our big western asses into the tiny holes and I was completely shattered after shuffling along them bend double for five minutes. It was hot, cramped, smelt damp and would have been completely pitch black at time. I can't comprehend spending years of my life down there.

We had the last supper and a few drinks back in Ho Chi Mihn to round off the trip and say goodbye. Something that tasted suspiciously like a rice based spirit masquerading as vodka cropped up again...I will forgive it this time though as it definitely did the trick!

We made a group decision to get up and have breakfast together at 7:30am the next day as the Luis' were leaving to go to Cambodia early (nope, not jealous at all). Although I begrudged getting up at the time I'm glad we did it as it was a nice but sleepy eyed way to end the trip.

Thank you Ellen, Emily, Barbara, Luis Junior, Luis Senior, Edda and Nigh for an amazing two weeks, it was the perfect end to my time away.

I'm now sitting in Doha airport (feeling like I've spent 4 months, 1 week and 3 days travelling) waiting for my flight back to the UK. So far I've been here for 9 hours so only 2 more to wait. Up until now it's just felt like I'm travelling onto somewhere else in Asia but it's now starting to hit home that I'm actually going home (pardon the pun). Dad was showing me some pictures he's printed off of me and he said he'd printed off a couple of me with the kids from India. I got a sudden pang of emotion and realisation of how much I'm going to miss it all (cue playing a bit of Bollywood music on the iPod).

Words cannot describe how fantastic this part of my life has been, it literally has been the best thing I've ever done. I'm not quite ready to try and sum it all up yet but when I do I'll give it my best shot.

For now it's goodbye to the amazing Asia and onto home sweet home! To all the people I've met...thank you, you've truly made my time away and to everyone at home, I can't wait to see you again!

See you in the UK!

Love always from

Holly

xxx

Mot, Hi, Ba, Zu...

Well here I am on the last leg of my Asian adventure. Final stop: Vietnam. I chose to end my trip here as it's a place I've wanted to come to for the last couple of years (and no not just because Top Gear came here). It's also only two hours away from Thailand so it would have been rude not to stop by.

I know I said I wanted to steer clear of the 'and then we did this...and then we ate here' style of blogging but I've decided to blog this trip day by day as an ode to the itinerary I've been following but also as I'm packing so much into these final fifteen days that I'll just be easier to document it day by day. Here goes...

Day 1: Hanoi. Normally this would have been about the time that I would be bricking it about sharing a room with a person I've never met/meeting all the people I'll be sharing Vietnam with over the next few weeks. However thanks to beds/rooms shared, meals eaten with and good times had with different people over the last few months, I rocked up to the hotel cool as a cucumber.

My room mate had already checked in. I thought her name was Elaine and I had a glance at the slightly unpacked rucksack and bits and bobs in the bathroom to see if I could deduce the type of person she was from it. However 'Elaine' turned out to be twenty one year old Ellen from Surrey and that 'Elaine' is how Ellen sounds in Vietnamese accent.

Joining us also was eighteen year old Emily from Southampton, nineteen year old Barbara from Germany, forty something year old Eda from Denmark and the two Louis', father and son from Mexico (hereafter referred to as Louis Junior and Louis Senior). Oh and our tour guide Nigh. After dinner Ellen invited us out with her and her Vietnamese American friends who she'd been staying with the past few days. Emily and I decided to partake as 15p beer was a bit to tempting to pass up on.

Day 2: Still in Hanoi. Barbara and I were a bit behind on the sightseeing so we went to see the Temple of Literature. A lot of it involved standing in the temple itself waiting for the monsoon downpour to pass but it was a very pretty and tranquil place and I'm glad I got to see one of the most famous places in Hanoi.

Before leaving for Sapa on the overnight train we went to see a performance at the water puppet theatre, something that Hanoi is particularly famous for. I wasn't really sure what to expect and it's quite difficult to explain without making it sound like Comafest 2011 but it basically details a lot of Vietnam's history through puppets...in water. Yeah I know I thought the same as you when I first started watching it but it was a unique experience and a nice introduction to the country.

Day 3-5: I definitely started my training for the British weather in Sapa. It was chilly, luckily it wasn't the right season for snow as I don't think a few pairs of cropped trousers and a couple of long sleeved tops would have quite cut it.

One of the best days and evenings of the whole trip definitely had to be in Sapa. On our second day there we started our trek through the valleys. I have seen a lot of beautiful places over the last few months but I can definitely say that the valleys of Sapa were up there with the most beautiful. Every time I looked up I was completely taken aback by the view and couldn't believe I was there. I'm not sure that even my lovely Sony NEX5 has done it the complete justice it deserved.

We arrived at our accommodation for the night which was a home stay with a lovely Vietnamese family and definitely one of my two most favourite nights of the trip. This is one of the things I'd been looking forward to the most as I loved my home stays in India so much.

We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon down by the river which was so relaxing and beautiful I could have spent a good few days there. The real fun kicked off in the evening when us girls helped out with the spring rolls for dinner, I think we can safely say that we won't be opening a Vietnamese restaurant anytime soon but it was good to learn how to do it and they tasted pretty good (looks aren't everything people).

As well as our spring rolls we had a big feast of vegetables, noodles, rice, different varieties of meat and lots of tofu for me (I know there are a lot of haters out there but I promise you tofu is good when the chef knows what they're doing) and to wash it all down...rice wine! I'm sure those of you who've been round Asia a bit have encountered rice wine somewhere along the way. It pretty much encompasses every negative aspect of every white spirit (and tastes a little like white spirit itself to) in existence. However we were informed that once we had ten shots we would be 'happy'. We laughed along thinking there was no way we'd be having ten shots...we however managed to "Moat, hi, bat, zu" (one, two, three, down) eighteen before calling it a night. I gagged my way through the last eight but they weren't wrong about the happy thing. It cued everyone singing a song from their country (the British contingent picked 'Once in Royal David City' for an unexplainable reason) and a lot of dodgy dancing. It also made sleeping on the floor of a wooden hut with no air conditioning or fan a hell of a lot easier. At least I can say the most amount of shots I've ever done in one night was in a small Vietnamese village called Ta Van.

The next day we said goodbye to the family and started our 'moderate' trek. I say 'moderate' as that's how it was described in the itinerary, I would however disagree. This may because since I booked the trip last minute whilst I was still in India I was minus the recommended walking shoes so I had to do it in my Converse. However thanks to a very nice Vietnamese village lady I managed to avoid sliding down a few hills and adding any more scars to my collection. My converse didn't fair so well, however I hope that a bit of Vanish and a spin in a good British washing machine will rescue them.

Day 6-7: There is definitely a reason why Halong Bay is in the running to be one if the new seven wonders of the world. It is absolutely gorgeous. Admittedly half the novelty was the fact that we were staying on a boat in the bay overnight but it was an incredible place to be doing it. The highlights were definitely the food, which was some of the best seafood I've ever tasted and sleeping on the deck in the hazy warm breeze under the stars (the rain put paid to that plan eventually but it was beautiful while it lasted). It was also a great photography opportunity for a photo nut like myself.

Day 8: Another thing that I was really excited about was doing a motorbike tour round the countryside of Hue and I wasn't disappointed! It was so much fun whizzing round the countryside on the back of a bike (dreams of Vespas have crept back into my head) and seeing all the sights. We went and visited a local orphanage which made me pine for Goa and all the girls at St Alex's that I've left behind. I felt a little bit sad walking round thinking about it, but when a couple of the little girls peeked out and gave us a little smile and wave before we left I couldn't help but smile too.

Hue was a pretty whirlwind tour since we only had one day and night there. I've never been so glad to see a bus as I was when we left Hue as it meant a few hours of catching up on sleep (as well as you can on a bus).

Day 9-11: We're currently in the picturesque port city of Hoi An which has been yet another different experience. One of the things I'm loving about Vietnam is that everywhere we have been has been different. Hoi An is definitely THE place to shop, especially for getting clothes tailor made very cheaply. Being surrounded by pretty dresses that could be made cheaply and to fit only us ensued a lot of girly giggles and happy shrieking (The Louis' decided to give it a miss). I always find it difficult to find an evening dress that suits my shape and fits well so I got one made in a gorgeous blue (I thought I'd go for something a little bit more grown up than my usual pink) using pictures from magazines but changing bits to suit me. In a few hours my dress had been made (and needed to be taken in for the first time ever). I just need an occasion to wear it now...

Yesterday we did a rather disastrous bike ride round Hoi An. It was supposed to be a leisurely cycle through the countryside but ended up being a battle through monsoon conditions trying to keep the bike upright in a giant plastic bag, masquerading as a raincoat. We were also supposed to be having a barbecue on the beach which turned into us all feeling sorry for ourselves on a boat. We did get to have an indoor barbecue in a really cute restaurant though so it wasn't all bad.

We leave Hanoi tomorrow and fly to Ho Chi Minh City. We spend a couple of days in the city and one night at another home stay in the Mekong Delta before coming back to the city to head home...

Which means I'll back in the UK in five days time! It seems to be an unusual feeling amongst people that have been away for a long time but I'm literally so excited to be coming home! Although I do occasionally get a grip of sadness and a little bit of fear that my amazing time in Asia is almost over. However, I'm not done yet! There's still plenty of Asia and the rest of the world to see and I'm hellbent on seeing it!

I've got a lovely eleven hour wait at Doha airport enroute back to the mother land so I'll probably post about the last part of my trip then but if not...see you in the UK!

Love always from

Holly

xxx

The asian adventure continues...

Eek it's been almost a month since I last posted (thank you to Papa Finnigan for pointing it out), much apologies. It's been a whirlwind few weeks round Asia and there hasn't been much time for blogging! I'll do my best to keep it interesting and edit out all the 'for dinner we ate' and 'and then we did this' style ramblings. I'll also try and keep the rice rants down to a minimum (there will be a few).

I last left you waxing lyrical about the Taj Mahal and my time in my adopted countries capital. I was quite keen to leave Delhi by the time it came around to it. On reflection, a week was too long to spend there and of all the places I've been to it was the place I enjoyed the least. I'm pleased that I went as I don't think it would be right to spend so much time in a country and not visit the capital, the city has a lot of beautiful architecture and I would definitely recommended a stop there to anyone who finds themselves in India. I thought I was sussed when it came to Indian culture but even after three months I found the level of staring far more intense than I had ever experienced and that people were a lot more aggressive in terms of trying to get you to buy things and far more ready to try and rip you off (luckily I was sussed with the currency otherwise it would have been one heck of an expensive week). I hope this hasn't put anyone off going, the city does have a lot to offer. My only advice, ladies...I don't mean to sound like feminism never happened but if you ever go, take a chap with you. It will make for a much more pleasant stay.

So the time came around for me to leave my home of three months and proceed onto Nepal to meet the lovely Holly K. My continuing Asian adventure got off to a flying start literally as I manage to bag myself an upgrade to first class without doing anything. I wandered through to cattle class and felt a bit of an idiot saying I couldn't find my seat. I was pointed through the first class curtain and said there had been a mistake, the flight attendant said "No you're just lucky". Lucky I was indeed, it was nice to have a little bit of luxury after three months of basic living.

Look at all that leg room...*

Holly had told me to look out at the view of the Himalayas as I landed in Nepal, but my breath was literally taken away when I walked out of the airport. The city of Kathmandu surrounded by the gorgeous mountains, it certainly was the most gorgeous view from an airport I've ever seen. I loved it instantly, despite the heavy downpour we then got soaked by.

Holly and her chap B'Sal picked me up from the airport and from there Holly and I headed into Thamel for the evening. Even though its a very touristy place and a hub for all travellers whether just passing through or for the trekking I got an instantly good feel about the place. I loved the small bustley streets filled with restaurants and shops in cute chabby chic buildings. We had a nice evening eating pizza (I needed a night off the rice) and drinking a few too many mango vodkas, so much so we found it funny that our hotel locked us out and we fell asleep to Holly ranting about how rubbish 'Maid in Manhattan' is.

We then spent two days in Siritar, the village where she did her volunteering and where her boyfriend's from. B'Sal's family were kind enough to let me stay with them. After spending time there and living in home stays in India I would still say that there's no better way to see what a countries really all about than living with a local family, even if that does mean being woken up at 4am by bells and singing (there's definitely no such thing as a lie in in Nepal).

Holly wanted a new kurta which meant a walk to the next village. A walk through pretty countryside surrounded by the Himalayas sounded fine by me, however when B'Sal said 'Good luck' when I answered 'No' to the question "Do you have walking boots" I was not so up for it. Our flip flop clad walk consisted of a slide down a very steep, long hill, balancing on wafer thin beams of grass, jumping over rivers, shimmying through boggy rice fields and gripping onto reeds for dear life. Holly and I were being very British and girly about the whole affair with a lot of screaming and turning a ten minute walk into a hour long hike. I think it was a 'you had to be there moment' but never has the phrase 'think of the memories' rung so true.

Whilst Holly and B'Sal went to Chitwan for a couple of days I hung around with Holly's friend Annie who happened to be there by herself at the same time. We spent the next couple of days bumming round Thamel, shopping and eating too much paneer. I also did an Everest flight, which was well worth the 5:30am start. Again it was a beautiful part of the day to see a beautiful part of the world, some things are worth getting up for!

The very exciting time finally arrived of making my way to Thailand to meet all of my friends. Despite the fact that I was already half way there, it still took me the same length of time as them to get there due to having to get three flights with a twelve hour stop over in Delhi airport. I know it sounds a bit strange but I was kind of nervous about seeing them all again after such a long time. But after five minutes and someone commenting on how giant my bag was, it was business as usual and like I'd never been away.

We headed to Ko Samui (on yet another flight, my fourth of the day) so we'd be close to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party. Thanks to Mike and Graham we were able to score pretty amazing accomodation with our own private beach. A very good introduction to Thailand...

Next stop, the full moon party! Having had only a couple of Barcardi Breezers over the previous few months I was pretty worried about going from that to buckets of alcohol. The tone for the evening was set with Jon nearly falling off the boat and getting the first 'Thai Tattoo" before we even stepped onto the island. The phrase "I think this is a flip flops off situation" was coined as a result of this incident. We found ourselves a pretty good spot on mushroom mountain with a view of the whole beach so pretty much perched there for most of the night/morning. Against the advice and experience of a few people (sorry mum) I decided to try a mushroom shake, but being the wimp I am I shared one with Jon (he needed convincing that it wasn't a wimpy thing to do). It tasted pretty (read very) rank and nothing happened so 500 Baht was declared a waste of money...poor Mike had a rather different experience which I shall leave him to explain...S! I think I did pretty well considering it was my first big sesh...not that I remembered anything after mushroom mountain but I managed not to accumulate anymore scars so thats a successful night for me. I'm also sorry I wasn't with it enough to witness Nat's attempt at the rope of fire..."Well, I ran at it...but then I fell over".

After another chilled out day on the beach/being hungover in bed we headed to Phuket by bus to meet Rosie. I think we can safely say that even if your hangover didn't spread into another day (mine definitely did) that no one was really up for the bus and we couldn't be more glad to get off it. We then got a taxi (read 'random man with a pick up truck') to the airport and met Rosie, who was looking a lot more stylish that we were after a days bus journey. Flight 1 Bus 0.

Phuket was, as Rosie said "an education". I'm no prude but I was pretty shocked when we headed down the famous Bangla Road. I've always known that Thailand is famous for certain things but I couldn't believe how much the sex industry was pushed in your face. Prostitutes (and people unashamedly using them) and Ping Pong shows littered everywhere. Out of curiosity we decided to go and see a ping pong show (if you don't know what they are I'm sure Google will help you out). All I will say is that it won't cease to amaze what the female body can do. Although it was a really funny night (which Mike bore the brunt of again with an appearance on stage), it does make you wonder how desperate you must be if you have to do that for a living. We all agreed that Phuket probably wouldn't be on the stop off list again.

I also couldn't leave Phuket without mentioning the fish spa experience. Not the best idea for a ticklish person if you don't want to be seen screeching in the street...it left my India battered feet feeling pretty nice though.

Annoying interlude...theres just been a bit fat powercut and I've just lost everything I've written about Phi Phi Island *not a happy bunny*.

Our next stop was the much more picturesque island of Phi Phi. We were still feeling enthusiastic about long boats at this point so we took a trip round the bays and beaches of the island including Maya Beach where 'The Beach' was filmed. You could see the potential beauty of this island including the clearest water I have ever seen, it was just a shame that there were so many tourists and speedboats there all at the same time. I'd love to go back and see it at night. I still keep laughing at the video I took of this when we're all getting soaked on the boat, especially Nat trying to hold onto her hat. I think the love of long boats was starting to decrease at this point...

Phi Phi also introduced me to my first scuba diving experience. Initially I wasn't that up for it as I didn't see what could possibly be that good and I wasn't too happy about shelling out 70 quid for something I wasn't that bothered about (not to mention the whole breathing underwater thing which didn't massively appeal). However after a bit of persuation I thought I'd probably regret it if I didn't try it. We were lucky enough to have the whole boat to ourselves, which meant that only my friends were witness to my freak out moments. There was a point where I didn't think I'd make it off the boat and once I talked myself into the sea the fun didn't stop there. At about ten metres down my mask decided to keep filling up with water causing me to have a massive panic under the sea (not ideal). If I'd been able to speak I would have been screaming my head off but instead I settled for wild arm gestures and begging to go back up to the surface. Once I'd been suitably calmed down and my mask begun to behave itself (and I grasped the whole said breathing underwater experience) seeing all the tropical fish and turtles in their natural habitat was one of the most amazing experiences and definitely a highlight of the whole trip. So if you ever find yourself on Phi Phi then give diving a go with these guys:

, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Visa-Diving-Center-Phi-Phi-Island/143948395661054

Especially if you're a nervy spaz like me, I promise you'll want to do it again!

We ended our island hopping on what was supposed to be the beautiful Railay Beach, on the west side anyway. We definitely arrived on the east side. The boat (the love for long boats was at an all time low here) stopped quite a distance from the shore which meant that we had to wade through some sort of stinky substance with our luggage to find that the footpath hadn't been built yet. Thankfully it wasn't representative of the whole beach and the west side was in fact a lot nicer. Shame we only found the best beach of the whole trip on the last day!

Rosie and I fancied a change from the long boats so booked a days kayaking whilst the others did a day trip round James Bond Island. I was expecting a gentle cruise down the river until this conversation:

Tour Guide: "We will go for eight kilometers".

Me (having no perception of distance in kilometers): "Oo, is that far".

Rosie: "Its five miles".

Me: "Oh".

Despite the pain of rowing for five miles it was a really good day (minus the weird fish we got for lunch) and a different way to see the sights of the island. The afternoon turned out to be really good as well as we got to swim in a beautiful lagoon that we pretty much had to ourselves for most of the time as well. Cue a lot of amusing photos and videos on a rope swing and falling off ropes.

Abandoning the bus we took a flight back to Bangkok (Flight 2 Bus 0). I didn't think I'd really like Bangkok that much as I hadn't heard great things about it and I sort of expected it to be a bit like Phuket. However I ended up enjoying it, especially the trip to the Sky Bar on the tallest building in Bangkok where we saw the most amazing views of the city...all for the price of a 14 pound cocktail, it was worth it. We also managed to bag ourselves a pretty cheap few days stay in Chaing Mai, Northern Thailand and a few fake goodies from the market.

After saying goodbye to Mike and Graham who had to head home a few days early, we headed to the station to begin our journey north. Minus Jon (though he did pretend for a while) we were all looking forward to getting the sleeper train, I think its something you need to experience whilst travelling in Asia. Unfortunately the train got cancelled due to flooding so the only alternative was...THE BUS! (Flight 2 Bus 1). It wasn't the greatest thrill of the trip but I felt much more sorry for the couple in front of us who were on their honeymoon!

Despite the mode of transport used to get there, for me Chaing Mai was probably my favourtite place. We did a day of elephant trekking (cue more amusing photos) and white water rafting (another first for me, if I can breath under it I can certainly swim on it). Although a city, Chaing Mai was a lot more chilled out than Bangkok and Phuket. As we were driving through the countryside inbetween activities and when we were on the elephant trek, the scenary reminded me a lot of Goa's landscape so thats why I think I felt so happy there. The only downside, the most painful Thai massage of our lives. Never have I been twisted, clicked and jabbed in so many ways. My shoulders still keep making this horrible popping sound even now! Never again will I be lured with pretty stepping stones, relaxing music and tea.

The last day soon came around and Rosie and I spent the morning doing a Thai cookery course whilst Jon and Nat went to play with some tigers. I'm really glad I'd got to do it as it was always something I meant to do in India but in three months never quite managed to get around to it. Rosie and I cook up a mean Pad Thai...I definitely could have done without wiping chili on my face though.

In the afternoon we saw our old friend Bangkok airport (only one more meeting left for me) and checked into an airport hotel (via a Bangkok ghetto) before Jon, Rosie and Nat headed home and I headed to Hanoi. I normally wouldn't bore you by mentioning a trip to McDonalds but I feel its worthy of mentioning since we saw the most massive snake on the way. We only noticed it because Jon yelled at the snake and then I yelled because Jon yelled at the snake and didn't know what he was yelling at. Not your average trip to McDonalds.

I had a lovely 6:45am flight to Hanoi so I said goodbye to everyone at 3:30am. Thank you to Rosie, Nat, Jon, Mike and Graham for a fab two and a half weeks. Thailand rocks!

So here I am on the final leg of my Asian adventure. I've been in Hanoi for four days now and I start my tour of the rest of the country tomorrow. So far I'm absolutely loving Vietnam, Hanoi is a beautiful city and whilst there are tourists around theres a lot less focus on tourism itself. The locals are very friendly and are happy that you're here but theres no hassle when it comes to walking down the street or when you want to buy something (they are also able to fit me, my rucksack, my handluggage and themselves on one motorbike, impressive since I can't keep just myself upright on one). I'm also seeing my friend Amy from uni tonight who I haven't seen for three years as she happens to be in Hanoi at the same time. Bring on the last two weeks! 

If you have managed to make it to the end of this epic blog post then thanks for reading and I hope its not been too long winded. I really hope I'll be able to blog again over the next couple of weeks but I'm not really sure how much free time I'll have/what the internet facilities will be.

I shall be home in sixteen days time and I really cannot wait to see all my wonderful friends and family. I've missed you all so much and although I've had the best time away I'm also really looking forward to coming home as well.

Love always from

Holly

xxx

* and yes I have been wearing those trousers seriously!

Location:Bát Sứ,Hanoi,Vietnam