It was Lissa's idea originally.  Her husband asked her what she would like for her birthday and she very sagely replied, five days off !  "I'm going to Vietnam. Do you want to come?" "Yes, alright..." And a couple months later four of us, Lissa (ex-Dubai, now in Singapore, Jenny, ex-where-hasn't-she-been and now in Abu Dhabi, Lisa ex-Khobar, now Dubai and I) touched down in Hanoi.
  
We used www.circleofasia.com to arrange the tour.  We had four full days (choosing to be 5 days door-to-door) and went for a two and a half day tour of Northern Vietnam, leaving a day and a half free to shop, and mooch and do whatever took our eye.  The freedom was part of the appeal.
 
A friend had planned to come with us but her husband couldn't get the time off but he'd got together with a friend and arranged for their wives to go the week before so not only had I had text messages from Hanoi telling me "The shopping is great !!!!" but we also managed a couple of days cross over, and Debbie gave me the lowdown on where to eat, where to shop and how to avoid being scammed by the airport taxis.
 
We flew via HK and it takes a long time to get there; around 14 hours door to door. Hanoi Airport is spacious, clean and modern and it would have been a great start had the agent been there to meet us; some mix up which resulted in us taking a taxi.  We were very careful to take the official airport taxi driver and he still triend to scam us, taking us to the wrong hotel.  Exactly the same had happened to Debbie so it clearly is a standard thing.
 
The Galaxy Hotel was a pleasant surprise.  Not luxurious but fine and perched on a busy interchange at the corner of the old quarter, we were ideally placed for wandering on our own.  
 
Vietnam is big and in a couple of days you're getting a mere glimpse of the country.  Day 1, the mini bus picked us up and took us to Halong.  It was very touristy - being taken to a series of stops en route offering locally produced goods at suitably inflated prices.  But we were happy.  We were four girls on an adventure, miles from home, entirely independent of anyone else's needs and agendas for a few days!  It was a pleasant day but there's nothing memorable to report. 
 
We arrived in Halong Bay and were really surpised to be checking in to a pretty good, five star hotel.  We'd planned to kind of rough it - clean but basic !  The package was reasonably priced for what was included.  
 
Halong Bay is noted for it's magnificent grottos; huge limestone caves with impressive stalagtites and stalagmites.  We had chartered a boat for the morning and after the caves, we pottered (well it wasn't a sailing boat....) around the bay.  The weather was picture-postcard perfect, the chef on board cooked us sea food selected fresh from the floating market, the Vietnamese wine was entirely palatable, and it was a lovely morning.  A little bit like Pi Pi Island and touring off the coast of Phuket. They are building a bigger and better five star resort just around the coast and Halong Bay will change.  It is already a popular destination for Japanese tourists and it will get busier.  for that morning, it was virtually ours.  

We took a more interesting, more rural road back to Hanoi and stopped to snap the boy on the bison and the ladies picking rice.  Lisa bought a rather large, curvacious pot which we thought would be a challenge to transport but she made it. That night we watched the Water Puppet Show which was... very traditional.  The next morning we had a cultural tour of the city which was really interesting.  We visited Ho Chi Minh's Tomb, expecting him to be in it but he was in fact in display in a glass case, which was somewhat surprising.  
 
I enjoyed listening to our young guide's take on the history of his country.  The French didn't come out too well, or the Americans.  He directed me to some books on Ho Chi Minh, translated from the Vietnamese, which have been interesting too.  Somebody clever must have once said something about history being a question of perspective.  
We were going to skip lunch but luckilly we didn't because it was superb, and set us up perfectly for an afternoon in the shops.  There followed a day and a half of shopping, of the type you could only do with girlfriends.
 
Handbags.  Well they're not giving them away.  I had the idea that it would be amazingly cheap and you could buy in bulk and make a killing, but I don't think so.  Prices ranged from US$7 - 12, generally $10 per bag, and you had to root through to find something special.  Nice though and we bought a few.
 
Clothes.  "That's nice. do you have it in a size large?" "I'm not sure..." "And if you do have it in large do you think it will fit me?" "No, sorry."  Well she seemed more certain about that.  I bought a beautiful shirt for my husband and left the ladies' clothes to the small doll-like creatures who live there.
 
Another very nice meal rounded off the holiday.  We'd had a fantastic time but we were ready to head for home.  Flying back, Lisa and I concluded that 4 days was just the right length of time to be away.  Everyone had coped just fine without us back home.  We'd been away over a weekend and friends had helped with a couple of days' school run.  None of my children had imploded; barely missed me in fact! And it was good to be home.
 
I'd warmly recommend the trip - in fact, any trip  - with girlfriends.  If you're lucky enough to get the opportunity, it's a great way to recharge your batteries. 
 
Jane