295 - Phonsavan (6:30) to Vinh (17:30), Vinh (22:00) to Hanoi (5:30). Bus, trance music video of western clubs and girls, long winding bus ride, girl threw up, japanese guys, got to vinh, got night bus with japanese guys, ATM search, beer, syringe on ground, thought bag was stolen on bus, not really, narrow bed

296 - arrived in hanoi after 26 hours on bus, local bus, checked in, no water, nap, walked around, saw lake, temple, turtle tower, hung out with taro, beer, dinner, philosophy talking, early to bed

297 - checked into other hotel, amazing roof room for 5 dollars, met with scott, had coffee, searched for map, beer, lunch, back to hotel, relaxed, met Lan Anh, went to mime show, had seafood dinner, went to rooftop bar, met english girls from Lao again

298 - motorcycle research, walked around city, flamingo guys, ?

299 - water puppet show, walked around more, had dinner with scott, didn't go to the party and instead fell asleep

300 - Halong Bay tour, bus to city, at souvenier shop i helped build a wall, disorganized and confusing tour, shoved around like cattle, upset girl who was pressing charges for harrassment, blue shirt guy, discover oz (or 02), beatuiful bay, boat into bays for a bit of money, kayaking later at night, went to a cave like in Guilin, penguin trash can, dinner, swimming, karaoke, relaxing on deck, sleep, big storm at night, leaky roof, no water in room, took shower in rain, smelled very bad.

301 - woke on boat to more rain, small breakfast, Cat Ba National Park, hiked up slippery muddy path, rusty tower, returned, cat ba bay, lunch, no monkey island, walked to the peninsula, three beaches, town, stubbed toe, chilled with kids in hotel, had dinner, no night market, had beer with girls

302 - woke, got back on boat, back to halong, lunch, back on bus, kid threw up, back to hostel, relaxed, more motorcycle research

303 - At 11:30 started out to Felix's garage and got there about an hour later, met alex who was 1.5 years on the road in the opposite direction, felix was nice, decided on a wave and bought it for 300 + 50 for helmet and map and bungees, 6:00 met with okinawa girls betty and lulu, hung out with them for the rest of the evening, pain to get scooter into hotel

304 - Checked out of hotel, met with Felix for lunch, vegetarian lasagne, chatted, semi-planned rout, checked into other hotel for parking, hung out with dutch guy Bart, found travel partner vincent, arranged to meet later

305 - 5:00 started driving in the general direction and got a little lost, but found the main road, spedometer broke, $2.5 to fix and new odometer, coconut bread, stopped for dog meat soup, dog nose in soup, family really liked me, hung out with the kids there, took me to a cheap hotel, phone translation, walked around town, girl used phrasebook to practice english, innocent kids, dinner with them, tour with father and daughter, slept

306 - breakfast with family, drive to sapa, xe may to replace turn signal knob, pedal, and washer, mountain view hotel, Lee promise to buy from her, Bart and chinese girl and malaysian girl, dinner and beer

307 - Walk to Cat Cat, 500k bill rip off because it was "cut", then battery rip off, 50k lost, cat cat, stone carving place, pestle water thing, rice terrace, followed river, went up mountain train, into someone's farm area, xin ciao village, dead snake, long walk, money children, white mix girl?

308 - went motorcycle riding with bart, south east villages, very rocky/muddy road, broke sandals, hurt foot, motorcycle misfunctioning gears, replaced tire, overcharged food, back, met up with vincent, chilled, invited to homestay, bia hoi, baby bird snack

309 - shoemergency, lock for bike, breakfast with bart, market with vincent, neil, eve, hike to house, weed field, butterflies, awesome food at house, played with kids, fast clouds, relaxed, slept

310 - hiked up to see a bit of the valley, hiked back to sapa after lunch, nice chats along the way, made it back, had dinner, watched football and had beer with vincent, free postcards from Lee

311 - Breakfast with bart, got a shave, bye to Lee, traffic ticket going wrong way, got other tire replaced and petrol, bike broke down, spark plug and then fuel filter thing, beatiful roat to sin ho, arrived and checked into nha nghi, walked around town, rare rainbow - circumhorizontal arc, football and dinner, woman brought form while i was halfway through taking a shower

312 - left early from sin ho, drove south towards tuan giao, along the way had lunch with construction workers in their camp, drinking ant repellant and eating very bad tasting food, glasses to old man chef, bad road, went to tuan giao route, rain so stopped, then had motorcycle crash, slid out on a sharp left turn, 600k for bus, 50k for hospital to clean wounds, 20k for gas, 150k hotel, couldn't find a new knife

313 - used internet cafe, drove all the way to mai chau, stopped for tea and ice cream, checked prices of hotels, too expensive, found nha nghi for 100k, beautiful room, walked around area, had beer and watched football, came back, had dinner with the family, family medicine 100k, bugs, people having sex next door, hot, got no sleep, watched jingle all the way on hbo with the volume off

314 - left, beautiful mountains on the way out, then very bad road to ninh binh, potholes, etc, found NB train station, internet cafe to find hotel, rested at hotel, went to market to find a map/knife but didn't find either, went to the park with nothing in it, dinner was also hard to find but finally got some noodles

315 - got gas, then went to post office, said to return later, went to Tam Coc, easy, parked for too much, old man rowing me, 70 years old, helped him to row with a small paddle, beautiful area, counted together in vietnamese, tipped him because he asked, though not much, and he was fun, drove back, sent stuff from post office, went back and relaxed

316 - left after "waiting for the ipod charger", went back to hanoi, hanoi youth hotel, saw bart again, went for food and beer, visa extension, tried to get it done by the immigration office but they wouldn't do it, travel agency could get it done in 4 days, dinner with various people, steve's wallet was pickpocketted by a prostitute while he was joking around with her? something like that

317 - relaxed in Hanoi, bought map, walked around with Bart, couch surfing meeting with Hoa and Bart and Fela, went out for drings afterwards at the "BigChurch"

318 - Met with felix in the morning, he fixed my bike mirror and breaks complimentary but did not fix the gears slipping, hoa and friends in the evening, double tree art gallery, drove along west lake, dinner, pre-hatched eggs, snails, weird drink, escorted people home, invited to trip, told hoa i liked her

319 - woke up early, relaxed, had a sandwich, waited for the visa extension, met vincent briefly, went to meet hoa, had 2 dinners, took a car to the bus, and the bus to Mong Cai

320 - arrived in Mong Cai, seafood and noodle breakfast, bus to boats to island to van to beach, ran on beach, walked around beach for a while, hurt feet in ocean, camera out of batteries, lighthouse, Ling, flirting with Hoa, lunch, dinner seafood, Hoa cracked the crabs, campsite, swimming, boats, walk on beach with Hoa, raining at night

321 - Woke to more rain, stopped raining, breakfast, van to boats, rain coats, back to Mong Cai, border to china at most eastern part of Vietnam, walked on the wall, to Hoa's house, shower and sleep for a bit, relax, went out to the beach again, swam and got pummeled by waves, great dinner with everyone, back to house to sleep, tried to get Hoa's cousin and Thao together

322 - Morning went to market, C.K. shirt, back to the house for a bit, rested, out to the beach again, again attacked by waves, inner tube with Hoa, got a bit of food, then got dinner with the family, cops pulled over the bikes, Hoa's mother unleased a storm of fury, had a great dinner, got on the bus back to Hanoi

323 - Hoa and I chatting on bus, arrived back in Hanoi, sleep at Hoa's apartment, goodbye to Hoa, dropped off Ling at the bus stop, biked to hotel, Manh Dung hotel again, waiting for Sissi, finally met her, relaxed in hotel room, out for "expensive" beef steak dinner and beer, back to the hotel, arranged to meet Hoa again in the morning to say goodbye again

324 - went to meet Hoa at 9:30 but she thought at night, back to hotel, then back to Nola's cafe by bike, goodbye drama with Hoa, back, Sissi and I packed onto bike, left, trouble finding the Ho Chi Minh trail, made out way down the trail, helmet shield falling off, in Tho Xuan we stopped in a Nha Nghi, trouble finding dinner

325 - early morning headed off, ran out of gas, pushed bike, filled up 3 times, drove 300 km over about 13 hours, starter motor died, hammock, no lights, hitting so many butterflies, ended up around Phoen, asked for Nha Nghi, found smart girl to help us, took us to a town, cheap, sunburned

326 - met girl outside hotel, went to downtown for breakfast and to call sissi's parents, continued driving, Dong Ha, stopped for Nuoc Mia and an apple, got to Hue late, found a nice hotel, slept

327 - Went to Forbidden city, much better than Beijing's, ruins, peaceful, walked around citadel area, bought shirt for Sissi, went back for a rest then to Royal Tombs, just a big weird park, met a girl who was a student, spoke a bit of english, took us to her apartment, then to dinner, then to the pagoda, then home, her name was Thic? very nice

328 - Drove to Danang, started early but had a flat tire, didn't want xe may so went down road and creepy guys called the same xe may, continued, couldn't find hotel in Danang so went to China Beach, lots of luxury resorts, found a cheap Nha Nghi but they charged by the hour, I felt bad, Dr. Sissi, put me under covers to make me very hot and sweat a lot.

329 - Still had fever, shower, went to beach, relaxed with Long and his mother at their stand, found money on beach (might have been Sissi's), walked down beach, walked back having snacks along the way, got into arguments, sleep

330 - got up early, sunrise, forgot passport, ride to hoi an, great hotel - Nguyen
Phuong, walked around old city, came back and slept, argument, angry

331 - early, went to old city again, postcards, an hoi islet, not much, cam nam
island, back to hotel, zorok beer, motorcycle to My Son, explore, sissi's butterfly
phobia, crashed bike again, mechanic ripped us off, 1 million dong

332 - checked out, bike repair with hotel guy, updated journal, fixed pen, left
late, rain so stayed at a cafe, crossed the river on a boat ferry, got dark, asked
locals for hotel, too far so stayed with a local family, had dinner with another
family, policeman registering our stay, hard bed with mosquitos

333 - left very early, ho chi minh trail, wrong direction for 30 km, instant noodle
breakfast, could not make it to Kon Tum so stayed in a hotel in a smaller city, had
dinner at the hotel restaurant, nothing in town

334 - drove to buon ma thaot, made very good time and found a hotel just before bad
rain, went out for food and supermarket, chicken rice, came back and relaxed

335 - left for Nha Trang, had a flat tire so replaced wheel because it was worn,
searched for a hotel in NT for a long time, finally the last one we checked was
good: Blue House, went to the beach for just a bit, went out to find food, could not
decide on a place, finally got fruit juice and then a sandwich

336 - Walked around beach, relaxed, booked tour of islands, went to "pagoda" which
was just a temple, got some bread and fruit juice, (then ooked the tour), then went
to the beach and walked a long way down, cloudy, went for Indian food and it was
very filling

337 - Went on the 4 islands tour, first a bus to the boat, aquarium island which we
did not attend the aquarium, butter shake not available, then went to snorkeling
island, which was more just swimming, then to lunch island, floating bar very nice,
then to beach island, irish guy who suggested bokor hill, israeli girl who looked
like Liana from italian class, came back, went out for mexican food, finished with
some bubble tea

338 - left Nha Trang early, lunch at a bus stop, rouch road and then nice road,
Dalat, found a hotel, went to the "crazy" house, creepy but unimpressive, saw a
ghost?, vegetarian food, sleep

339 - early, summer palace, waterfall, roller coaster, railway station, flower
garden, dropped ice cream, valley of love, walk around, back, vegetarian sandwich,
fever

340 - slowly got up and left dalat, stopped for pho, lots of busses and trucks on
20, cafe, charged 100 then we got them to lower it to 45, worked our way closer to
HCM, rain, wet, stopped in hotel just outside downtown

341 - Up, not feeling well, went downtown and found cheap hotel, started walking to
Independence Palace, heavy rain, toured the palace, walked around, church, saw
wedding, post office, opera house, walked back, some other building

342 - went out to War Museum, very depressing, then to the pagoda but just passed
outside, worked a bit more on selling the bike, taught sissi to ride bike, went out
to get pizza, bought fear and loathing book

343 - breakfast, selling bike, sold bike to photographer matt belton for a friend of
his in district 8, for 125, waited at hotel, volunteered to go and help teach
children english at a school, bus was late, got on bus to Chau Doc

344 - bus arrived in Chao Doc, ran after guy to hotel, breakfast and photo, bus to
boat, boat up river, relaxed, went through visa stations, extra 2 months revoked,
another long ride up the river, slept, bus into city, accident with motorcycle, tuk
tuk to hotel at the lake side