Up and about by 8am courtesy of my early start, I took a quick walk to the harbour and back before breakfast. Then went out and bought milk when I found out that some moron had turned the fridge up full tilt overnight and frozen everything.

Next stop was the cybercafe where I could plug my laptop in and update this blog, download Skype (in preparation for tearing more strips off Barclays) and get overcharged for my time there. I’m convinced the guy behind the counter charged me for how long it took me to unpack my laptop and pack it backup again. I was almost in a mood to argue with him, but as he was a Maori and twice my size I decided it was only 60p and walked off. Time to look for somewhere else I can use my laptop online.

There wasn’t a lot to do for the rest of the day so I just chilled out with some people from my dorm – two Swedes, one Canadian, a German and two Brits. Dinner was eaten and the off-license visited. I waded through 12 bottles or so of Speights Gold Medal. Oops.

Our kitchen also seems to have become a haven for a large number of oriental people. I’m not sure if they’re all resident on our floor (though loads of them are), but every dinnertime’s like a family get-together with over a dozen of them pottering about making food that’s far too nice-smelling to have any place in a hostel. We got talking to a few of them and it turns out they’re all from Hanoi – one chap gave me his business card and told me to get in touch when I was back there if I wanted someone to show me around the city properly!

Eventually, the hours passed and – half asleep from excessive beer consumption – we crawled downstairs into the bar to watch the England v Paraguay game. Annoyingly, as the game started the staff turned the music off… but didn’t turn up the volume on the TV. There were quite a few people in the bar, so the atmosphere wasn’t too bad but it’s always better with the sound up.

The girl in our group complained a couple of times, but we had no joy. At half time her and her boyfriend headed to another pub. I missed them leaving, but within a minute of them walking out, the sound was blaring. Until the match kicked off again, by which time it was down to “barely audible”.

As anyone who watched it will know, the game was a bit of a damp squib anyway. At least we got three points (courtesy of an own goal), and Sweden went on to draw against 10-man Trinidad & Tobago so we’re in pole position.

Bed couldn’t come soon enough – I was exhausted. Well done to the Swedes who stayed up for the 4am kickoff of their match!