The journey from Hoi Ann to Da Nang station was notable for one thing...the driver's music collection. We started with 'The London Boys' remember them? Who could forget....then 'The Pet Shop Boys' before descending into Sabrina - Boys Boys Boys...as I am sure most lads who grew up in the mid 80s Sabrina is well remembered for one (well two) things. And it isn't her voice...ahhh Sabrina thanks for the mammaries (ahem!)

Anyway - onto the station and the train - no hitches here, we got on the train and it was running about 15 minutes late - when we arrived in Ha Noi (some 15 hours later) we were 1 minute late - good driving Mr. (erm) Driver.

We had the two top bunks (they always sell these to foreigners as they are obviously worse than bottom ones in that they are a pain in the backside to get into...) whilst our travelling companions were a moody teenage girl who insisted on talking at 100 decibels and a chap I presumed to be her Grand-dad. He was well into his 80s/90s and I did seriously think he might croak in the night. Now being some of the first to book tickets we are always put at one end of the carriage which is great when getting on and off the train, but not so great when it comes to smell. You see the toilets are right next door. It was very difficult to determine last night where the smell was coming from (old man Vs. bogs) and it was pretty difficult to sleep with such a wonderful aroma coursing through the cabin.

Anyhow we arrived (at 5am) with me feeling even worse (coldwise) than I have - I got through 3 loo rolls worth of tissues in the night - and to compound matters our lift didn't turn up so we were stuck in (rainy) Ha Noi at 5am with no place to stay...however a young guy hauled us off to his guest house where we booked in after viewing the room. 10 minutes into what we'd planned to be a pretty long sleep we realised the whole room was incredibly damp and it was making my cold/chest etc... worse so we thought sod this, got up and went to see Uncle Ho at his mauseleum (opens at 8am). After walking about a mile (quite refreshing really - honest) we were told it was shut on Monday's...we should have read our guidebook.

We found a cafe where I had the most wonderful breakfast (Eggs Benedict with 3 - count 'em - poached eggs/Jen had beans on toast - they didn't have marmite - damn...) before we decided to change hotels as my cold isn't getting any better. We have decided to blow a bit of budget to stay in a quality hotel where the room has a heater and the bedding isn't damp so we've booked in at a really nice hotel (still cheap by Western prices but alot more than we have been paying...) We figure that we've got no accomodation costs for 4 days in Hong Kong so why not - I have to say our mid-afternoon sleep was wonderful and I feel quite a bit better.

The hotel is situated near the Opera House and we wondered by on our way into town...there is a performance of Beethoven's 9th tonight but it's sold out - we're going to try to see if there are any returns...any attempt at being cultured eh?

Just a short note as well - we've received loads of emails over the past few days - thanks for all of them - obviously we couldn't reply yesterday and we're struggling to get a fast connection today so we're planning on replying to all of them tomorrow, please don't think we're ignoring you...