Left San Pedro bright and early, excited about Mexico and having decided we were not worried about the Swine flu. On arriving at the border around lunch time, our driver informs us that he will not be going any further because of the swine flu. We are not really sure on whats going on but go through customs none the less. On the other side the driver says that we will need to wait until 7.00pm for a local bus for the next leg of our journey. We check the internet and see that the threat level had been raised from 4 to 5, one shy of a full on pandemic.

We decide that it is probably for the best to go back with the driver make some phone calls and maybe not go to Mexico. The border officials then did not want to let us back into Guatemala and required a small bride to make it possible. All in all a very bad day; over 12 hours on a bus, our wallets a bit lighter and us only 5 miles further round the lake.

Sunday 21st -After a 7.00am start to check out of the hotel on Cat Ba and get our free breakfast, we were at the beach well before 9.00am. After a chilled morning we set about getting the ferry back to Hai Phong with our new Belgium friend, who took us to the port. We watched him argue with locals about the price and departure time, he then disappears and comes back with tickets for all of us.

He then gets onto a boat, skipping the queue, expecting us to follow. Having our bags and not being quite as confident, it took us a bit longer to get to the front of the queue, where we get turned away because we have tickets for the slow boat and this was the fast boat. By the time one of us is allowed on to check for him, we realized he had jumped on to the next boat and was probably half way back to the main land. We then spend about half an hour stressfully trying to work out which the right boat was. We were the only Western tourists on the boat which was true to its name, slow. Most of the other people on the boat were sick.

On arrival in Hai Phong we discovered we had missed the train, so ended up taking the bus which was fine. Took a taxi from the bus station to the hotel Ben and Ester had recommended. Whilst in it, we noticed both that the meter had no correlation to anything shooting up randomly and that we were taking a stupid route regularly doubling back on ourselves.

At the Little Hanoi Hotel, the amazing Kim helped us avoid paying the full taxi fare and gave us bananas and water. Her hotel was full, but she got us a room in another that she was affiliated with.

The Democracy Hotel

Went for an early dinner and then an early night. All of us were keen for bed after three consecutive 7.00am or earlier starts.

Hanoi Backpackers

Monday - Moved here the next day in hope of meeting some more people. Despite being slightly more expensive here for a dorm room as opposed to small private hotel room we were in, we all preferred it. The hostel had a bar on the ground floor and on the roof and included free breakfast and internet.

During the day we tried to do a walking tour of the old sector of Hanoi. We walked to the start and few hundred meters on from that, then decided it was far to hot and we were to sweaty so went back to the hostel. That evening we had a BBQ on the roof top bar, met some young English guys on their gap year and went to bar in town. All the bars in Hanoi have to shut around 11.00pm, but most do lock-ins, so we were still playing pool until around 2.00am.

Tuesday - The next day was a relaxed one, walked round the old town for a bit and then went to the water puppets in the evening. The water puppets were different, load local music and extravagant wooden puppets operated from behind a curtain in a sort on pond. As impressive as it was, I doubt any of us would want to go again.

Wednesday - Up relatively early and went to see Ho Chi Min's Mausoleum and then headed to a water park in the afternoon. Although it was good, it was not quite up to Saigons standards with the reason being you could only do 3 man races (there were also less rides). In the evening had another BBQ on the roof bar where Jonny's Ubrub t-shirt was identified by some girls who went to Bristol uni. A game of ring of fire followed, which also included Harry (who worked at the hostel), down the road at a near Bia Hoi serving 10 pence beers. Despite being on the street, managed to subtly pour vodka cokes as well, from the 2 pound bottles of vodka. One of the highlights of the night was Annie's Gollum impression.

Thursday - Originally supposed to be leaving today, but with everyone feeling rough delayed the bus by a day. Spend most of the day playing age of empires or watching the Inbetweeners. Went for a beer with Jonny at the Irish bar, played Harry and his mate at pool. Jonny went back and stayed out a bit later.

Friday - Another relaxed day with a late start, getting ready for the bus journey to follow. In the afternoon we were told we weren't guaranteed seats as it was the end of the Loas holidays and it was going to be busy (bearing in mind only one company runs buses from Hanoi to Laos). Fortunately we did all manage to get seats, although there were a few people in the isle. The bus was a full as it could possibly be, with bags under the seats and on the roof (where us went), there were even more in the isles. The under storage was full of boxes, some with chickens in! The bus wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I did get a good seat) and even managed to get a fair bit of sleep in.

The Sunflower Hotel

Arrived shortly after breakfast on the boat along with everyone else who was doing a Halong Bay tour. Had to wait for about half an hour in the sweltering heat for the bus to come. Went to the national park where we treked for about an hour up a hill to a tower on the top with amazing views over the island.

Checked into the hotel and went for a very much needed shower followed by lunch. Went to the beach in the afternoon, which was a bit small and overcrowded. Met Belgian guy who was a photographer living in Hanoi and very helpful.

Had a few drinks in the evening with the tour guide, Belgian guy and Ester and Ben.

The Boat

A trip we had all been looking forward to since before we left. Not long after leaving the harbour we were all playing cards on the Sun Deck. The boat took us round the bay and onto an island with some huge caves that we walked through. In the afternoon we went kyaking near a floating village. Met a nice couple on the boat called Ester and Ben, played cheat with them in the evening.

The Long Hotel

After being dropped off by our sleeper bus at 5.30am only half awake, we were met by a man on a moto and another in a soft top white Mercedez. The man on the moto was trying to offer us a hotel in Tam Coc, but we wanted to stay in Nim Bin, offering us 2 bed rooms for $15-25 then $11, we declined. The guy in the Merc then agreed to take us to the hotel we had chosen in Nim Bin for $1 each. 10 minutes later we were in Tam Coc outside the moto guys hotel. This pissed us off, we got our money back off the driver and asked him to take us to Nim Bin. The hotel owner then offered us the room for $7, so we though we would check it out. The rooms were actually really nice and we dealt on $6 a room (only $3 each). It still wasnt 7.00am so we went back to bed and slept until lunch.

After waking up for the 2nd time that day we had lunch a did the Tam Coc tour. The views were amazing with the big rocks covered in trees towering out of the perfectly flat rice paddies.