We have a plan. Seeing as this is Mum and Dad's last week coming up in Vietnam, it was a unanimous decision to travel in style to visit the Mekong Delta and then lastly Phu Quoc island, both of which I think will be the highlights of Vietnam.

We booked through a well-established and recommended local tour company called Sinh Balo who specialise in booking private tours. We have opted for the 3 day/2-night cycling tour around the famous Mekong Delta which includes all transport, private guide, homestay in the village of Vinh Long, mountain bikes, food and private boat and minibus just for the four of us for the entire journey. We continue our travels to Phu Quoc island which will be paradise island jokes for the last 3 nights here. I won't lie, this has all come at a not-so-backpacker cost but I'm sure we won't regret it one bit :)

P.S. Managed to put photos up of Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hoi An:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kejalashra/sets/

Ah - It's been an exhausting few days! Hoi An has got hundreds of tailor shops and walking around all of them is tiring work, believe it or not. We originally had planned to stay 3 nights, giving enough time for the clothes to be made, however, had decided to stay an extra night. The hotel we are staying in, Thien Nga, has turned out to be really nice but it comes at a price of $25 a night (a lot in Vietnam!).

Hoi An seems a lot quieter and civilised in comparison to Hanoi. There are a lot of tourists, mainly for the shopping, yet the town remains interesting and full of character with many lantern-lit lanes adding to the ambience. Perhaps a little more commercial and 'resort-like' than we'd expected, but still well worth coming to.

Now the best part - the clothes. Both Ketan and I set out with no budget (mistake) and I had been looking forward to getting some tailor-made dresses for a while. We had print-outs of all the designs we wanted from high-street shops so replicating the clothes wouldn't be a problem. Bargaining was half the fun. Because there are *so* many tailors you'd need to spend at least 2 days just doing research in each shop to see how the prices compare. Being on a tight schedule puts the pressure on but we found a great tailor who catered for our needs perfectly with good quality material/labour. In total, Ketan bought two 3-piece suits, jeans, casual trousers, trench coat and hand-made shoes all for $310. I bought 3 summer/casual dresses, 1 silk dress, jeans, smart trousers & trench coat for $173. I have to say these prices were a lot more than I'd thought they'd be - especially with the exchange rate not being in favour. I thought we'd roll in and it would be a fraction of the price compared to London - how mistaken we were :) It seems like the Vietnamese are catching on to the fact tourists have money to spend - damn them!

We've had some great eating experiences yet again, including an Italian place called 'Good Morning Vietnam' coming up trumps. The sight seeing went as far as the tailor shops and cute lanes we saw everyday, and the ridiculous amount of lanterns lit up all over the town! Overall a great, but costly, stop :)

The first thing anyone would recommend to do after Hanoi is Halong Bay - about 3 hours from here. We opted for the deluxe overnight junk boat (costing $79 pp) and I'm pretty glad we chose that because the boat and rooms were luxurious and clean. The food was mediocre (although Dad would use the term 'rubbish') but the scenery made up for it. We were a bit unlucky with the weather as it was quite foggy so seeing the thousands of islands surrounding the boat was quite a challenge. Neverless, it was beautiful in a more mysterious way.

Mum and Dad have been with us for a couple of days now and it's certainly been eventful with them here! So far Dad has spilled two drinks, slipped down the stairs on the boat and had a VERY loud foghorn blown in his ear on the boat - amusing :) They both really like Hanoi & Halong Bay too, which is a relief. Although going up North of Vietnam to Sapa is something that Ketan and I want to put into our itinerary, it would be a tight squeeze for Mum and Dad on their holiday so we'll travel down South first and if we have time to go at the end, we will.

Today we've been cramming in the last of Hanoi before we flee. There are some great French patisseries in Hanoi from when the French were around, as their influence lingers in some respects. Before dinner we pigged out on mille fueille, profiteroles, cakes etc - all for only 3 pounds. We were recommended by my brother to go for some 'Bia Hoi', fresh local beer pretty much in street stalls full of locals for only 15p a glass - what a bargain :)

As I type, we are waiting in Hanoi Guesthouse for a 16-hour sleeper train to Hoi An, which leaves in 1 hour. Dad tried to convince us to take a plane from here to Hanoi, but I thought it would be a good experience for us to take a rickety old train.. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon if that was a wise decision, or whether Dad will be saying 'I told you so'. I'm looking forward to Hoi An. This is the place which is famous for getting an entire wardrobe tailored for yourself for about 100 pounds! We've been on all the high-street shop websites and printed a lot of pictures for the tailors to copy, perhaps a little over-ambitious but it's worth a try, eh..?

So we've been in Hanoi for 2 whole days now. It is my favourite city of the whole trip (so far). You don't get hassled like you do in Bombay, the people are so chilled out. The restaurants are small and lively and the motorbike traffic is immense! (But the city doesn't smell at all - Phew!) Initially, I was pretty overwhelmed by urban life in Hanoi. All we needed was a little nap to revive ourselves though, it had been a long flight.

Before leaving the hotel for dinner, it felt pretty daunting to go out in 'that world'. It might sound silly but it was so busy and vibrant - we hadn't seen that since Fiji, and even that isn't on the same league as this place!

Yesterday night was one night I won't forget. We went to a restaurant called Bar 69 for some amazing fresh local food which I've been longing for since leaving home. Both of us had a bowl of pho (pronounced 'fer' - rice noodle soup dish), which the locals traditionally eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, accompanied by Hanoi-style pork spring rolls - to die for. After dinner we got lost around the Old Quarter and ended up near the Hoam Kiem Lake. There was this huge junction completely buzzing with locals and a 1000 or more motorbikes (being a Saturday night, naturally) and I saw a coffee place on this 4-storey high building. I thought it was the perfect place to take photos from so we went upstairs, still in a daze from the city. The coffee was good, but the photos were awesome. I'm enjoying taking photos in Hanoi more so than any other place we've travelled; There is constantly something to photograph, whether it be a pretty lake, a street vendor with those funny cone hats or the lights of the traffic in the night - there is always a challenge to take a great photo here.

We were still tired from the lack of sleep so we were home by 10.30 for an early night. The best feeling was knowing we'd wake up here and not in some boring, run-down Australian town. Walking around in the daytime was a bit different but I'm pretty sure we were unknowingly walking around with our jaws open just as wide as the night before. Later that day, I had read reviews on Tripadvisor about a place called 'Just Massage', which is run by a local not-for-profit organisation who train and help the visually impaired youth become massage therapists. They specialise in Shiatsu and Swedish massages for as little as 150,000 dong per hour (about 6pounds). The reviews were outstanding so we booked ourselves in and took a hilarious/scary-like-death motorbike ride there each, so fun! The massage therapists mainly use their sense of touch and just watching them was inspiring. We opted for the Shiatsu and the technique was like we'd never seen, the precision was incredible and unbelievably relaxing. The money goes to charities for the blind, so you feel even better knowing it's going to a good cause. So we're back in our hotel now after yet another scarily exciting motorbike ride. There is no lane discipline on the roads and you can come and go in either direction as you please, so naturally we can't leave Hanoi without a bike experience!

Mum and Dad arrive tomorrow so we're leaving all the sight-seeing till then. For now though, walking around town will do just fine :)

Wow, pretty hungover today. It was our last night in Australia last night so Pav kindly took Ketan and I 'out on the lash'. Dreary-eyed today, we have a long 12 hour wait ahead of us until our flight to Vietnam. I speak on behalf of Ketan too when I say we're both Australia'd out. It's been longer than we wanted to spend here and way over how much money we budgeted for it!

Some favourites in Oz:

- Fraser Island
- The weather (at times)
- Sydney Harbour Bridge
- Great Ocean Road
- The cool statistics of how amazingly HUGE the country is
- Road trips
- Melbourne
- Western Australia crystal-clear beaches

Pet-hates of Oz:

- Majority of the people
- Standard of accommodation (oh, how we miss New Zealand!)
- The immense heat at times
- The dangerous Aboriginal culture in major cities

So, we move on to better places tonight. The day before flying out to the next country I reflect on the trip as a whole and imagine what's to come. Butterflies in my stomach? Check. For those of you who don't know, my parents are meeting us out there in 2 days time for 2 weeks. I couldn't be happier about that, it's coming at the right time and I'm sure they are going to love Vietnam as much as we will. I'm looking forward to some culture - to walk around the busy streets in awe of the lifestyle, food, drink and locals.

I look at SE Asia as a whole new journey, and I've got no doubt that it will deliver past the expectations.. :)

I feel satisfied. Finally, we've seen what Australia is about. The on-going landscapes, the long, never-ending roads and scenery which takes your breath away. It was the best decision doing South West Oz, and then going up North for a couple of days.

After Margaret River, we went to Pemberton, which was a bit dry to be honest - after you've seen one National Park in this region, you've pretty much seen them all. But none-the-less, the brewery tasting and windy roads were well worth it. The lonely planet raved on about D'Entrecasteaux National Park so we had to pay a visit. The lookouts on to the coastline were awesome, together with the white-sand beaches and remoteness of it all. Albany was our final stop in the South West, where the weather wasn't on our side so we weren't able to see that much. The town was split into two different concepts in a way - one oldy-wordly, the other new and full of shopping malls.. Hmm. Not really worth the 3 hour drive there, but we stayed in a nice enough place and relaxed so weren't to bummed about it. I had some great squid n chips right on the harbourside - can't go wrong really :)

Seeing as we had the rental car for an extra one week, I read the Lonely Planet to figure out what else we could do in Western Australia within reach. We headed back to Perth for an overnight stopover, which happened to fall on Valentines Day, hence splashing out on a nice hotel and Italian meal, and followed the road to Cervantes the next morning - about 250km North of Perth. The town had nothing to offer, but was used as a base to visit the Pinnacles Desert at sunset. Was it worth it? Hell, yeah. So peaceful, this 'desert' had thousands of eerie limestone pillars, none standing taller than 4-5 metres. The sun set perfectly on them, giving the best light to photograph them in. We watched sunset and headed straight home. It is *not* about driving at night in Australia - that's when all the Kangaroos think it's playtime.. (and then you see all the roadkill the next day - beurgh!)

On route back down to Perth, we stopped over at Lancelin. This tiny town is known for.. well, being windy. It's famous for being the perfect place to wind/kitesurf and for the expansive sand dunes which are only a stone's throw away. We weren't feeling adventurous enough to try windsurfing (especially with the numerous shark attacks going on at the moment) but visited the dunes instead. Our Yaris got stuck in the sand - there was Ketan pushing the car from behind and me revving as much as I could shouting 'It's not working!'. Ten minutes later, it worked - phew. If only the rental company knew where we had taken this car..

So, even though the towns themselves have nothing to offer, the surrounding areas are full of beauty. Western Australia is by far our favourite state due to the vast, barren landscapes, beautiful rugged coastlines and just the feeling you get when you're driving on a never-ending road with not a car, nor soul, in sight. Brilliant.

It's been an eventful few days.. :

- Ketan got a tattoo done on his neck in Perth by a very scary looking man, looks great (see photos)
- The following day, after driving 150km en-route to our next stop, Ketan realises he's lost his wallet.
- We phone the bar we were at that afternoon, they are holding the wallet at reception (HOW lucky?)
- We drive back to the bar in the early evening, find no accommodation - so we sleep in the car (Boo!)
- Bushfire hell near Melbourne causes havock across the whole of Australia, all over the news
-Bushfire hell predicted for the route we plan to take for the next week, here in South West Oz..

So, that all sums it up briefly. It's been an amusing and memorable few days, to say the least! But after all the missions, we're now at the beautiful small town Margaret River, about 300km South of Perth. En-route we passed Fremantle, Busselton (which happened to be hosting a swimathon that very day) and a few other coastal wonders. We have based ourselves in Margaret River for the past 2 days so far, with the intent of staying one more night at a cosy little B&B. Edna, the sweet old lady who owns the B&B, pretty much gave us a whole days itinerary of what to do. This included visiting Lake Cave, enjoying free wine tasting at two huge wineries (Luewin Estate & Voyager), going for a dip at Hamelin Bay which had clear turqoise sea and white sand, and a few other great stop-offs along the coastal drive. All in all, a great day, topped off by going to Surfers Point for sunset:

Driving in a new car is fun. There are no funky noises coming from this car, yay! It's an automatic Toyota Yaris, which is the most BASIC car - I think a child could drive it. The landscape around the South West is awesome, probably the best driving we've done so far. Although, for long-distance driving I miss having a huge, powerful engine which the car we bought had. We still have a fairly long drive ahead of us. We plan to go to Albany, which is still another 400km from here. In between we will stop at various forest/timber towns and hopefully come away with fond memories from our last month in Oz.

P.s I've uploaded photos, but I couldn't organise them because Flickr wouldn't let me today. Sorry for all the sunset repeats etc, will organise as soon as I can!

By now most of you who read this will know that we are home. We attempted to keep it a secret and surprise our nearest and dearest and it almost worked to perfection. The reaction on people's faces was well worth keeping our mouths shut :)

As for Thailand.. Well, let's just say we weren't too gutted about leaving. After seeing the amazing countries we did, Thailand just didn't compare - and let's face it, the islands in the South would have been predictable and not worthy of hanging around for 3 weeks, as originally planned.

The 29th April, the day I turned 22, was one of these days that I was sworn to secrecy. We were actually in Singapore for it. Accommodation was pretty dire and the reputation of Singapore being expensive was very accurate, making it near impossible to upgrade to a fancy room for less than $150 a night. Even though this night was our last night travelling too, we weren't sure whether at such a late stage stumping up this kind of cash would be worthwhile.. so we stuck to our pokey hostel for the two nights. My birthday was nice - we went to the famous Raffles Hotel where the 'Singapore Sling' was invented. Although, at a price of $27 per cocktail we called it quits after just the one each :) We spent time shopping (which Singaporeans love) and in the evening went to Clarke Quay for a somewhat average River cruise, and then to dinner a posh place followed by drinks and ice-cream.

Singapore seemed like a entertainment complex for the rich. It was amazing at first to walk around, people watch, visit some different areas but the novelty wore off quickly. It was pretty surreal knowing this was our last night before flying back to London the following morning.

Ketan and I didn't really get much sleep that night - we chatted about the highs and lows of the trip, how it exceeded our expectations and generally how it will be *impossible* to forget such an experience. The 14 hour plane journey back to London Heathrow was a sad day.

I'm normally fluid with my thoughts when it comes to writing this blog but at the moment I am actually 'speechless'. Eight months later the dream comes to an end, but what a fulfilling and satisfying end it is.

Thank you all for taking the time to read it and sharing it with me! x

After arriving at our pre-booked accommodation in Perth, One World Backpackers, I cheekily asked if they had any private double rooms, knowing they only had dorms left.. The owner happened to over-hear, and clearly warmed to us instantly, saying "Listen guys, for a lovely couple like yourselves, I can offer you our modern apartment/villa we have down the road. It's got two bedrooms, bathroom, open plan kitchen/diner, and a lounge" Thinking it will cost the earth, I asked how much. He said, "Ah, we can do it for the same price as what you were gonna pay in the hostel, you seem like you'll take care of it" - (Er, what?) No conferring needed, we both said yes. He took us to the apartment in his car. We were amazed at our luck, it was perfect. The owner, Steve, was so genuine and just said he'd rather rent it to people like us than riff-raff backpackers - oh, yeah ;-)

Since being in Perth, we have met up with Pav, a friend of Ketan's from Finchley. He moved out here a year ago, good seeing a familiar face. Perth is quite glum, and not really a city.. reminds me of Milton Keynes a bit - haha! We leave tomorrow morning (in our ridiculously cheap rental car) for a 2-week road trip down South West Oz..

Finally, a place that was genuinely lovely to see. So far for us, the theory is true - the further out from the cities you go, the more beautiful the experience. Long, windy stretches hugging the coastline was exactly what we needed. A special mention has to go out to our hostel in Apollo Bay, Eco Beach YHA - what a beauty (as you'll see in the pics). It was completely eco-friendly - a bit like a grand design with the big, cosy living rooms, contemporary kitchens, open-plan idea etc.

On the drive down, in our newly rented car, (what a luxury in comparison to the car we had bought) we were lucky enough to catch some rays. The luck ran out pretty quickly. The next two days were misty & cloudy! So the photos are bad, but I promise that's not due to the photographer ;-) Still, we got the jist of what the Great Ocean Road was about and weren't too gutted by the weather. The stops that we made along the road were Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay & Port Campbell.

The hostel-owner recommended some awesome inland driving to do, including the 20km Lighthouse Road, which was *full* of wild koala's.. what a treat to see that. Cars were going about 10mph on the road and you could spot people from the windows looking up and pointing! All in all, after a bit of trekking, driving and generally relaxation, we're ready to move on to the next stop tomorrow morning - Perth. For now, we're in Melbourne for one more day. I like this place, it has something about it.. :)