Alive

I have noticed that certian people think I have died because I havn't written in my blog for 4 days :O. I do feel like I have died but unfortunatly I am still very much alive.

The bus to Hanoi was actually surprisingly good, there was a great group of people so it went by quickly. We only had one break down where we had to change a wheel.

My first night in Hanoi we [Toby, Char, India and Anna from the bus and Louis who was in our dorm] went to the Irish bar and got some great western food before hitting the sack.

Me Anna and India walked around the lake the next day and met up with Louis for lunch at the place Jermy Clarkson ordered sparrows. The food was....interesting. I decided to sample some swan and bamboo soup. The swan was like an ever fattier version of duck and the whole dish was caked in lemon grass and corriander so it was horrible. I couldn't eat it! We did the snake village at 2pm which was awesome!! It was India, Anna and me from our group because Char is scared of snakes and Toby stayed behind with her. Alexander and an American couple were also there.

We held a non-poisenous snake first then the snake master got out a cobra and went all Steve Iwrin on us! It was wicked. Then we sat down for 'lunch', they got out a bag of snakes and took one out. Then they held it between 2 of them and one guy cut it open [still alive]. He popped out the heart and dropped it in a shot glass, then he drained the blood into a cup and the bile into another. 3 of us had a shot of blood/heart/rice wine which was really amazing! It tasted baaad but you could basically feel the heart beating as it went down your throat into the stomach. Next was a shot of bile and a shot of blood followed by a meal of the snakes cooked in various ways. It all tasted pretty foul but was definatly an experiance!

We all went on a tour to Ha Long bay the next morning at 8am. This hostel promotes early mornings which I think is a good thing although maybe not when I am waking up! It was so good!

It started with a bus ride to the bay where we all hopped onto a huge and very luxurious boat. We had lunch tehn went kayaking which was defiantly an adventure. Someones kayak sunk so we had to try and navigate our way back in the dark!! I was paired with a retarded guy from Israil so we zig zagged the whole way and paddled about 3 times farther than any other boat! I missed the rudder.

There was a sweet party on the boat that night with lots of beer and jumping off the top deck to the water. Everyone on the boat was a legend, it was fantastic.

Yesterday half the group left for home and the 2 nighters went to Cat Ba island. It was really good fun climbing to the rusty viewing tower, more rock climbing than hiking! The tower was dodgey because it was so rusty but provided a superb view of the island.

Today we just went for a quick swim and came back to the hostel. It was a really good trip and definatly worth the money!

I will stay here again tonight, see the final few sights tomorrow and get the night bus/train to Hue.

So yeah, I am alive and Vietnam is the best!