Vietnam

All of us had our entire own experiences of Vietnam. Myself (Lily) being ill with tonsillitis throughout our time there, so I did hardly anything and only began to feel better on our last day in Vietnam. Holly wasn't feeling too great herself, so we both sat indoors trying to recover the majority of the time. And Josh and Will climbed the tallest mountain in Indochina, splitting off from us and heading up north early. But first things first: Ho Chi Minh City.

The Vietnamese call the city Saigon, and it was a buzzing, lively place which was great after being in Cambodia where everything is closed by 9pm. We weren't here that long, the main reason for our visit was to see the Cu Chi Tunnels from the Vietnam war, which only Will managed to see as the rest of us were feeling a bit worse for wear. He climbed in to the tunnels which he says were very small and humid and afterwards shot a gun, which is something that is very easily done over here - if you pay a large sum of money you can blow up a cow with a grenade, which weirdly enough isn't listed in the guidebook.

We then took a 17 hour train to the town of Hoi An, the journey being one of the most horrific things we have experienced, it seems like every single person out here is ill with something; coughing, spitting and a woman projectile vomiting at 5 in the morning. Every single Vietnamese person spits and make wonderfully disgusting noises whilst they're doing it too, shopping in the markets out here is also an experience. The locals are not afraid to grab your arm tight forcing you in to their shop and demanding that you buy something and if you say no and walk away they hold on to your arm until you pry them off. Generally quite aggressive people really.

In Hoi An Will got himself a suit personally tailored for the fraction of the price you'd pay in London. Holly also got herself a dress tailored for cheap-cheap, the town itself being world famous for it's many cheap tailor shops so we took full advantage.

We then took a bus up to Hue, where we quickly found cheap accommodation and thankfully with a/c as central Vietnam was extremely humid and hot. Will and Josh explored the Imperial City that has been left in Hue, there are only two in the world, one here and one in China. Will and Josh then got a train up to Hanoi where they were then going to go on to Sapa, the town at the base of Fansipan. Again myself and Holly being too ill to even think about leaving the hostel most of the time.

Me and Holly hung out in Hue for a little longer, and by this point I couldn't even talk anymore so we planned to leave for the capital so that I could get to a Doctor's asap. We took a sleeping bus, which was claustrophobic but also met these French girls one of whom was a Doctor and checked out my throat and prescribed me with antibiotics for absolutely free which saved me about $70. Our first day in Hanoi was paired with a huge monsoon which left our entire street flooded, car alarms were going off cars were submerged - felt a bit like the end of the world but within two hours the water had somehow drained away.

On out last day in Hanoi, and Vietnam, I was finally better so we took a day trip to Ha Long Bay, which is a bay bordering China with over a thousand limestone pillars coming out of the sea. We took a boat, and we explored the floating fishing villages and their markets. We also got on a kayak and went off by ourselves, paddling through caves and in to little secluded bays.

We were also taken to a huge cave lit up by all these multicoloured lights, and our guide was basically a massive pervert and kept on saying that every rock was either a penis or a nipple. So we went on ahead to avoid his commentary.

Meanwhile 500km north of us the boys were in Sapa, beginning their trek up Fansipan. The trek took them two days, spending one night in a remote village on the mountain side. Will spent the day with a woman from the Black Mong tribe, Josh being ill, she showed him around her house and showed him the traditions of her tribe and he bought himself some traditional black mong tribal trousers. He then carried on to the top of Fansipan, and sat at the highest point in Indochina.