Hanoi & Halong Bay

So it has to be said.... i'm not really a fan of Hanoi... and i'm a little annoyed that i've got another 2.5 weeks here.... however, cultural experiences aside i'm having a really good time! The hostel i'm staying at is great, it seems to be the place everyone (in backpacker land) goes to, or at least hangs out at. So i'm meeting lots of great people and having fun being around them :) 

Hanoi is funny in the way that people do everything on the street/pavement. I mean not just selling clothes and eating etc but also washing dishes and burning all their rubbish...Last night we saw an entire (plastic) rubbish bin on fire...which i though was taking burning rubbish a bit to far... but who am i to judge this crazy country? hahaha... it was quite warm though if you could get past the burning plastic smell..haha 

For the last few days i have been down at Halong Bay, which is about a 3 hour drive from Hanoi. The first day they took us out on a boat and we went Kyaking all around some of the islands in the bay. It was sooo beautiful...although it would have been a lot prettier (and warmer) had it not been overcast (to the point where you can't see the sun) the entire time we were there....but hey, good excuse to go back (i'm hinting that to you Carly...you will love it!) We then got back on the boat and preceded to get quite quite drunk in the name of Christmas eve...hahaha...(Carly our pirate boat dancing adventures were relived) 

The next day we docked in at Cat Ba island and i spent Christmas day rock climbing ...lots of fun! Really randomly there were 2 others guys there...one of which went to my uni and i recognised from QUT cliffhangers.... Seriously what are the chances? So we ended up hanging out with them for the night at a bar near our hotel, after a very traditional christmas dinner of pizza and mohitos. SO it was not quite the cocktails on the beach in the sun like i had planned, but still a great day none the less! 

I got back into Hanoi last night, and now i'm heading on an overnight train to the mountains with some other people from the hostel. It's actually going to be quite cold, so it's a good thing i hung onto my Nepal warm clothes after all! 

Hope everyone had a joyful Christmas and are not feeling too sorry for themselves! I expect to see many a messy picture from new years!