Laos I Vang Vieng

The next morning we got up early, did a short stint of sunbathing and then jumped on a 4hour bus ride to Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng is described by "the book of lies" as the Koa Samui of Laos, and to a large extent it is - albeit a much more chilled out and smaller version! Having arrived quiet late we quickly booked ourselves in a hostel and then headed into town to book the next days activities - caving and tubing!

The following morning we headed into town and after I'd finished throwing up my anti-malarial tablet (never take Doxicylin on an empty stomach after a heavy night the night before!!), we were introduced to our tour group and soon heading towards Elephant Cave for our first activity of the day - cave tubing.

Just before the cave tubing our tour guide decided to take us to a local village shrine (left). However, it turned out the locals had built it directly under a rather angry hornets' nest!!

Now, during this holiday I have learnt many things about my travelling partner and beloved girlfriend - notably that insects, particularly mosquitoes, love her. Whilst this has destinct disadvantages for her (in that she wakes up covered in bites), it hold numerous advantages for me (I don't get bitten at all!!) .However, upon entering the enclosed area hosting the local shrine, we discovered that angry hornets also hold a certain liking/disliking to her. So, as we stood there desperately trying not to laugh as the Budda (above) which had been given lady bits for a mouth, Holly started getting dive bombed by the afore mentioned hornets. Not knowing what to do (can you kill wasps in a Budist temple???) we started off by simply moving to another place in the temple , thinking the hornets would go for someone else. This didn't work and they soon sought Holly out again! We then tried moving outside the shrine, which also failed, and finally, we started walking round in circles, though to not great avail!

At this point I was getting attacked too, as Holly had taken to hiding behind me (despite being told "Pirates Code had been initiated and that she was on her own!) and so deciding I would take it up with Budda at the Pearly Gates, I started swinging at them! After braining two of the little buggers, they called for reinforcements and so as I tour guide continued to bore everyone to death with the Buddish tale of the flamingo, toad and the fish (which basically involves a devious flamingo that tells a fish and a toad that their river is getting low in water, offers to move them to a fuller river for free but shock, horror it's actually a river with less water in it and then charges them money to be moved back. The moral of this amazing tale is that some people are bad and will lie to make money, however, he dragged that gem out for about 35minutes of hornet attacks!) we made a run for it and eventually managed to loose our winged attackers!

Anyway, after this we were taken to the cave (below). After waiting an hour and a half for the group infront to finish their tour of the cave, we were given a handfull of head lamps to share between the 30+ strong group and a track tire inner each! We then spent the next 45 minutes paddling upstream backwards through freezing cold water in the near pitch black like a bale of demented turtles! After this time and in no particular place, we turned of the failing head lamps, a few people screamed (there's always one!!) and then continued our reenactment of Blue Planet, though this time in a downstream direction!


After lunch, we were then bundled into a Tuk Tuk van and then taken to the section of river just north of bars where we'd be doing our tubing.

For those that don't know, the tubing, for which Vang Vieng is famed for, basically consists of being given a tractor tire, floating down the Nam Song river on said tire and stopping off at the numerous bars along the way! In short, it's carnage and whilst we'd taken waterproof cameras with us and thus have plenty of photos, they are going in the private collection as we ended up lobster red and with buckets on our heads!!

Laos | Vientiane

We spent our first morning in the capital viewing the main sites. Taking another "book of lies" walking tour we sweated our way past the the Presidential Palace, the numerous temples, the local market - Taat Sao. Included in the tour was Victory Monument (above). This impressive structure was built entirely from concrete, with the concrete being donated to the good people of Laos, by the Americans, so that they could build a new runway after the war. Deciding that a giant arch was much higher up on their list of priorities they used the entire lot on Victory Monument!!

That evening, as the sun set, we took the advice of the "the book of lies" and headed out to watch the sun set over the beautiful golden Pha That Luang (below). Whilst it was a truly beautiful site, what the "book of lies" failed to mention was the wall of mosquitoes that accompanied the view!

So, as the sun set, and the mosquitos slowly drained us of all blood, we were treated to the beautiful views shown left and below! Note, the slight blurring in the image on the right was due to me trying to take the photo whilst running round in circles in a desperate bid to loose the midges!!

Our second day in Vientiane was another arduous day by the pool and an evening booking the bus to our next destination Vang Vieng!

Laos | Getting There

The next morning we got up to catch our "business class" flight back to Hanoi. Given that it was a whole $10 extra to upgrade we thought we'd splash out.

I can only assume we were duped and given economy class tickets, with our travel agent (Queen Travels, Hanoi) pocketing the difference. It's either that or the good people of Vietnam perform their business with their knees up round their heads whilst a sweet smiling, flannel wearing Nazi force feeds them floppy sandwiches and thimbles of water!!

An hour later we touched down. In need of a good osteopath (Jo where were you??!!), the plane emptied into Hanoi airport like a scene from Lord of The Rings! We collected our bags and began the 5hour wait for our flight to Laos.

The hours flew by. The lunch time game of "what the hell was this when it was alive?" kept us captivated for at least an hour and half. After lunch we migrated into the bar next door to the Bamboo Shop and listened to the calming sounds of a completely deranged shop assistant tunelessly plinkety-plonking on a bamboo xylophone. This then gave way to the timeless family game "how many ways can you murdering someone with a bamboo beater??" Sadly, Hollys' vastly superior medical knowledge came into it's own and I lost...!!

With 30minutes to spare our flight was announced (they like to keep you on your toes in Vietnam) and we boarded our Laos Airline MA60 aeroplane.

According to the "book of lies" Loas Airline has the worst reputation in SE Asia and the MA60 series aeroplane - the worst flight record - in that they spend more time being excavated by the Time Team than in the air!!!

Those of with a keen eye will spot two things in the photo of the safety notice (left). Picture 3, on the top row, shows passengers the recommended technique for banging their head on the chair in front whilst questioning their logic for being such a tight arse! Picture 2, again on the top row, then shows how best to assume an appropriate stance for deep/meaningful prayer such that you might survive the flight! The second row then reinforces the "no frills" motto adopted by Laos airline. The powers that be have decided life-jackets are far too frivolous and in the event passengers are to find themselves hurtling towards a large water mass its recommended they rip the seat bottom from the chair (presumably mid-plummet) and use it for flotation! I'm guessing the logic to this is that the seat bottom would give us just long enough to curse our own names before it became completely sodden and dragged us to the depths of the afore mentioned water mass!!

Anyway, after an hour and a half of Hail Marys and bloodless knuckles we were in Laos!!

Vietnam I Nha Trang

After 9hours of being on the top bunk of an (supposedly) air conditioned 6ft cell/carriage suspended above a regularly soiling 6month old baby and its occasionally vomiting mother in 30 degree heat, we arrived into Nha Trang. Drenched in our own sweat and covered in talcum powder we got off the train feeling every bit the "VIP" our ticket said we would!!

Nha Trang is described by "the book of lies" as the "fun zone - the place for parties adrenaline-junkies and sun worshipers".

After a quick taxi ride down the road we checked into a hostel and headed out into the "fun zone"!!

During our time in Vietnam we had noted how we had pretty much been left alone by people selling books/bracelets/paintings/taxis/giant lighters/etc. In Nha Trang this trend would be broken!!

The basic routine, as was discovered over our first dinner, involves the local vendor clocking you walking up the road. He/she then waits for you to pick a restaurant and then as you gaze lovingly at your significant other, appears in the corner of your eye. Like the bad smell they are, they will momentarily linger before then going through the entire catalogue of items they are trying to sell, waiting for you to say "no thank you" before continuing on through their Kays Catalogue of Crap!! If at the end of their presentation they are left empty handed, they will usually then sit down in an empty chair next to you and like a lingering fart, will remain there for a good 5minutes, in silence, oblivious to the darting glares being thrown in their direction, before eventually floating off down the road. They are then almost immediately replaced by the next person.

We would eventually learn the only way to get rid of them was to just ignore them, as attempts to be nice and say things like "no thank you, may be later" back-fired and resulted in the vendor sitting down for the entire meal. Upon us getting the bill and paying, she bolted our her chair yelling "you buy sunglasses now????". Indeed even my attempts to toy with them didn't work. My question of "do you have a painting of a man selling paintings??", to the man trying to sell us paintings whilst depicting each of his paintings scenes (which included 'womaar on bicycle', 'bwutiful bamboo', 'wovely wiver', etc), was answered by him desperately searching through his collection and then rather sadly sloping off - I like to think he has since painted 'man swelling painting' and now roams the streets desperately trying to sell his latest masterpiece!!


After dinner and the mobile "Cash in the Attic" show, we sought refuge in the one of the hundreds of bars Nha Trang had to offer. It was soon discovered that the sheer volume of bars in Nha Trang has resulted in not a lot of them being particularly full. Those that were tended to be for the late 50's gentlemen seeking the comfort of a terrified looking 14year old or alternatively had been declared the place that the worlds' most annoying Aussie would trying his/her first drop of alcohol - thus making them even more annoying!!

After trying a few of the smaller places we headed to one of the two larger bars (Why Not Bar) in Nha Trang. This showed promise - brilliant music, cheap booze and a seemingly normal crowd. The "normal crowd" illusion was short lived. Within about 30minutes two men sporting the "shirt-tucked-into-nipple-high-trousers" arrived and after a bit of clapping and side stepping broke out into performing roly-polies on the dance floor!! This was accompanied by their female counterparts dancing round them like something out the Wickerman film. Within another half an hour the entire dance floor had filled with their rhythmically challenged friends who busied themselves by dancing round like a group of medical students.....all to tunes like Fake Blood - Mars!!

The next day, feeling a bit worse for wear and nursing soar ribs from several hours of laughter the night before, we set camp on Nha Trang beach and enjoyed the sun....in between the frequent localised solar eclipses that occur in Nha Trang as a result of the local woman (pictured left) trying to sell their giant poppadoms!!

Our second day in Nha Trang gave us our first day of holiday rain. Thankfully there is plenty to do in Nha Trang besides being hassled for over-sized Indian Takeaway items whilst lying on a beach. Our destination for the day was therefore set as the local Aquatic Museum which also sported an aquarium.

Whilst not particularly big, the Nha Trang aquarium does house some interesting items. There's;
- the shark tank with the worlds most petrified fish in it!
- the seal tank with the one demented seal in it who spends its' entire day bopping vertically up and down so it can look at the sea (that is right next to its tank) - beyond cruel!!
- the formaldehyde room, where the insane men at the back of this room spend their day inhaling fumes thinking of next weird and wonderful items to "preserve"!!

After a few hours of marveling at the god awful conditions (both for animals and employees) we went and checked out the largest cross sea cable car (which Nha Trang also hosts) and then headed back to our hotel for dinner and our last night in Vietnam.

Vietnam | Hoi An

With our revised itinerary set, we got up early the next morning to catch an early flight to Danang. Arriving at 7:30am, our pre-arranged taxi took us to the Grasslands Hotel, Hoi An - I mention it's name as it was rubbish and the more I mention the name, the more likely it will appear on Google searches and will hopefully put other people off staying there! That name again, GRASSLANDS HOTEL, HOI AN, VIETNAM!!

After checking in and some breakfast, we dropped some laundry off at the hotel reception and headed out in the Old Quarter of Hoi An to get some clothes tailored - this is after all what the area is famous for. Unfortunately for us, whilst Hoi An is renown for making clothes, our hotel, as it would be discovered the next morning, was famous for loosing them!

According to the "book of lies" Hoi An has approximately 300-500 tailor shops, however one which seemed to get consistently good reviews was A Dong Silk. So we went there, picked out some designs, fabric and got intimately measured for shirts (me) and a new winter coat (Holly).

After this we spent the rest of the afternoon walking round Hoi An. There's not a great deal within Hoi An itself, so we followed the "Book of Lies'" walking tour which took us around the Old Town, past numerous gathering halls (pictured left), through the fabric markets, along the rather ripe smelling Thu Bon river and the men offering "all-the-methane-and-sewage-you-can-inhale-cruises" and over the Japanese Covered bridge.

The second day in Hoi An was split into the morning being assigned to having the finishing touches made to our new wardrobe items and the afternoon being spent on a well earned bit of R&R on Cura Dai beach. That evening we went for a second romantic "have you farted??...no it's the river" candle-light dinner overlooking the Japenese Covered Bridge!

The next morning we got up early to check out and pick up our fated laundry. Given GRASSLANDS hotel had decided to deliver a pile of pants that weren't ours to our room, we guessed we would be pretty lucky to get all our items back.

After 20minutes of us convincing the receptionist that few if any of the other guests would be springing out of bed to reunite us with the wardrobe items we were missing, she ushered us upstairs to the laundry house! After 10minutes of looking through their "system" (which consisted of all the clothes from different rooms being dumped in large piles, left to soak in something that looked and smelt like Toilet Duck, dried, randomly seperated into new piles and delivered back to the guests!!) we found most of our clothing.

We never did find the missing clothes and after much under-her-breathe muttering we were begrudgingly given the laundry service money back!!

With slightly lighter backpacks we then headed back to Danang to catch a 9hour train to Nha Trang - party capital of Vietnam!

Vietnam | The Holy Visa - Part 2

We arrived back into Hanoi at 5am and headed back to our hostel to pick up our newly extended visas.

Unfortunately it turns out the only place you can extend a category D visa in Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh City - the opposite end of the country to Hanoi. It also turns out the consulate isn't open weekends, it takes at least 2days to process the extension and that you have to go in person!!

Given all of the above, the overwhelming assurance of "ohh, I think it should get extended" given by our hostel owner and the prospect of paying for a flight to Ho Chi Minh City just to be further denied a visa extension, we decided to change our travel plans.

So our revised itinerary was set as, go to Danang, then to Hoi An (for beaches and tailored clothing), then down to Nha Trang (for beaches and partying), back up to Hanoi, then off to Laos (before the 14th when our visas expire) and then eventually head off to Cambodia!

Vietnam | Sapa & Fansipan Mountain

We eventually left Halong Bay and headed back to Hanoi to catch a night train to Sapa. As we've come to expect with so many of the brochures and photos of things/services, there is quite a bit of artistic licensing, and the photos showing a "VIP sleeper" carriage are no different in Vietnam!

The most notable difference being the expectation of only two beds per carriage, when in actual fact there are four! The extra beds eventually prompted the arrival of two Vietnamese men, neither of which caused any bother expect, the one lying opposite Holly thought his oogling stares at her chest would be well hidden behind the tiny hand-rail that ran along the edge of his bed...unfortunatley he was mistaken...and unfortunately he seemed completely oblivious to Hollys' "you dirty old git, stop staring at my boobs" glares!

Anyway, 8hours later we arrived at Lao Cai and caught a mini-van to Sapa.

The Lonely Planet describes Sapa as a "charming highland town". This is certainly true for the most part. Sapa is set about 1500m above sea level, with terraced hillsides overlooked by log huts. This scenery, however, is immediately obscured by the wall of local women that attack you as soon as you get off the bus!!

Wearing traditional clothing (in an attempt to make the utter crap they try to sell you seem more authentic) they try to flog their local handicrafts which include:

- a lovely array of jewellery that is guaranteed to turn anything it touches bright green!

- an assortment of local textiles, which again threaten to ensure anything they come into contact with will ressemble the inside of a Skittles packet!

- local crafted musical instuments. Notably the "Twangy-Tooth-Shatterer"! I'm sure this has a more official title, but from what we witnessed, anyone seeking to acheive Grade 1 in the "Twangy-Tooth-Shatterer" should be aware they will be funding their dentists' next Porsche!

Thankfully, the hawking locals were escaped as we were soon ushered into our hostel, given time to have breakfast, a shower and then taken 11km by motorbike to the foot of Fansipan Mountain by two drivers who thought they were Valentino Rossi (who is to Motor GP what Michael Schumacher is to F1!!).

It should be noted at this point, that we again fell fowl to poetic licensing!

Mount Fansipan is 3143 (bloody) meters high and is the highest point in Vietnam! Nearly all the literature surrounding the climb of this sodding lump of rock uses wording such as "quite challenging", "rough terrain" and "no ropes or technical climbing skills are needed, just endurance". It would later become obvious why the "book of lies" is so named as if I was an international travel writter who told people of the magical, slightly challenging climb of Fansipan, I would would find it a pretty Lonely f£&@ing Planet too!!

Blissfully unaware we set off with our tour guide (a 12year old in trainers) and our trusted Sherpa (a late 50s local man, sporting a pair of ancient flipflops, one good eye and what would later be discovered - a worring lack of bedding/items to ease the hyperthermic conditions we would subsequently endure!).

As we started the walk, all seemed well. At one point Holly famously noted "ohhh, it's like a slightly hillier version of the New Forest"!! After about 2hours we passed into Base Camp 1, a local "village" (population: 9) consisting of 2 huts (made from bamboo covered tarpaulin) - one for cooking and one for sleeping. As Billy Connelly would say, "the tea and toilet facilities left a lot to be desired", with the toilet being a bamboo platform teetering over the edge of a cliff, surrounded by the deposits of those feeling less brave!!

Despite this the villagers seemed to be friendly enough and we left thinking that if Base Camp 2 was the same, then things could have been alot worse!

As we would discover in about 4 hours time, things could have been alot worse and at Base Camp 2, they were!

However, separating us and Base Camp 2 was the "quite challenging" "rough terrain". Hopefully what the picture to the left captures is the almost unrelenting sheer climb endured to reach the top of Fansipan. Whilst the "book of lies" is correct in saying you don't need any rope of techical equipment, it would make scrabbling up the vertical dried out river bed that is "the path" somewhat easier. It would also mean your faith is put into something a bit more reliable than the nearest bamboo branch, as you dangle over another bottomless ridge-edge praying the flimsy bit of vegetation you find yourself clinging onto does snap!

During all this, our 12year old guide and bung-eyed Sherpa, would point out distant lands/things of interest. To be fair, whilst these were viewed with an almost unbearable urge to club our guides to death, the beautiful weather meant we were treated to some breathtaking (quite literally) views of Northern Vietnam.

We eventually got to Base Camp 2 around 4pm. At a lofty 2400m above sea level there was a bit of a nip to the air but we worried not as we'd been assured that ol' Popeye had brought everything we would need for a comfortable nights slumber!

Similar to Base Camp 1, Base Camp 2 consisted of two huts. However, this time there was a well made smaller hut and a rather larger second hut made from corrugated iron. We initial thought Hut 2 was used to house the mountain buffalo the locals keep on Fansipan and so set about investigating Hut 1.

Hut 1 was constructed using the same bamboo cover tarpaulin technology seen at Base Camp 1. Sporting a small dining area, seperate kitchen area and two seperate sleeping areas, lavishly heaped with warm blankets and soft matting, we began to look forward to a well earned nights rest!

They say to assume is to make an "ass out of u and me", and what a couple of asses we must of looked as old Pudsy the Sherpa lead us off into Hut 2 with two summer sleeping bags and a tarpaulin to put under us to help keep the wind off our backs!

In contrast to Hut 1, the interior to Hut 2 was split into two raised bamboo platforms, one under each of it's sloping roofs. At both ends of Hut 2 were a set of iron doors. Despite their seemingly steardy looking construction, they would later be discovered as being somewhat sensative to the slightest of breezes and would spend the rest of the night clashing together like a demented 5year old playing the Symbols!! As we continued to inspect our humble abode, we soon noticed that, obscured by a foot-deep layer of rubbish, the underside of the bamboo platforms eventually gave way to a bamboo latice. The latticed bamboo, as became immediately apparent, had presumably been put in place by previous travellers in a desperate attempt keep the wind from whistling through to the gap between Hut 2's walls and the ground!!

Taking things in good spirit, we went to Hut 1 for dinner and at around 9pm headed to Hut 2 to get some sleep. Upon leaving the warmth of Hut 1's bamboo fire and entering Hut 2, we were met first by a rat the size of a small car and then by the frost enducing temperatures we would bare witness to all night!

In a desperate bid to get warm we adoned all items of clothing (including water proofs) and clambered into our summer sleeping bags. Whilst we were, to a certain extent, able to ignore the mice and rats that scuttled all around/over us and the demented "musically gifted" 5year old that was Hut 2's metal doors in the gale like winds, the unbearably painful, uneven bamboo platform on which we lay, was not so easy to ignore. Given the sub zero temperatures and next to useless sleeping bags, we both spent the night like a pair of Stevie Wonder tribute artists - gritting our teeth and manically wraithing around in our sleeping bags in a desperate attempt to get warm!

After the longest night of our lives, 6am arrived!!

After thawing ourselves apart and breakfast, we headed for the peak of Fansipan.

The climb would see us scale vertically upwards to 2950m, then vertically downwards to 2650m and then back up (again vertically) to 3143m! After 2hours we made it and were treated to the most satisfying view of....cloud and wind-tunnel-like conditions! At one point we were expecting Piglet to fly past yelling "P, P, Poooooohhhh"!! Thankfully the one foot Budda, that had been set in concrete to the otherwise bleak mountain top, smiled favorably upon us and we were treated to the views we had so deservedly earned and been promised!

The climb down Fansipan was almost a depressing as the climb up, only this time the vertical ups were vertical downs and vice versa! This was actually slightly harder, as rather than baring our backs to the endless cliff-edges, we were now meeting them face on as we bounced down the mountain side like lanky Gummy Bears!!

After another 2hours we stopped at Base Camp 2 for lunch. A shadow of our former selves, in desperate need of a good nights sleep and double knee replacements, we reached Base Camp 1 four hours later.

Dinner was again in a very well constructed hut similar to Hut 1 at Base Camp 2. During dinner our 12year old tour guide challenged us to a drinking contest using their local moonshine. After 4 shots, he got up, pitched backwards into the sleeping quarters and started humming softly!

We took this as our que to go to bed in the second hut. Thankfully Hut 2 and Hut 1 were almost identical in their construction. Hut 2, however, was where the entire village slept, togther...including the local couple who would later come in and dive behind the netted curtain and start giggling.. and the man who liked to sleep with the village radio on full blast...and the man who liked to smoke something that looked like a giant bamboo bong before going to bed...and the man who smelt like he'd been charged with building the new village toilet facilities!! Still at least we weren't cold.

After being threatened with having his beloved radio lodged so far up his arse that even the rickety long drop toliet facilities wouldn't scare it back out of him, we got down to a much better nights sleep.

Come the morning we woke up to a very grumpy looking village, which we can only assume didn't sleep very well on account of one/both of us snoring!!

Day 3 was a doddel and 2hours after breakfast we were finally back where we'd started. Thirty minutes later we'd been motorbiked back to Sapa and were both having hot showers, looking back on our magical, authentic experience!

The rest of the afternoon was spent shuffling round Sapa town like a pair of half shut Swiss Army knives and getting some sulpplies for the night train back to Hanoi.

Vietnam | Halong Bay Contd

Well, Monkey Island was a bit of a lie. Having been told the island looked like a monkey, we eagerly started snapping at an island we thought looked like a gorilla (side on). Unfortunately, our tour guide got it wrong in that the island is so named on account of there supposedly "many cwazy monkey" on the island.

We were promptly rowed over to "Monkey Island" in something I was suprised stayed afloat. Actually I'm not that suprised it stayed up as me and some other sucker ensured it remained above sea-level by giving ourselves RSIs resulting from a manic bailing operation!!

The floating sieve then dropped us off with our departing our captain yelling "okay me see you in 2hour". It should be noted at this point that "Monkey Island" is about 3 football pitches in size and is largely inaccessible due to the razor sharp rocks from which it was cast!! Undeterred we set off in search for some "cwazy monkeys".

After clambering over the cut throat rocks for about 30minutes we didn't see as much as a banana skin, let alone one of the reportedly numerous furry little bastards!! At one point we did think we heard one through the trees, but unless the "cwazy monkeys" had worked out how to use power-tools it was probably our captain drilling more holes in his boat!

We eventually gave up the hunt and had a well earned nap in the sun. Leaving Monkey-less Island we made our way back to the Junk for our second night.

After dinner our fruitless monkey huunting day was rewarded with what can only be described as the funniest karaoke session I have ever witnessed. Due to none of the passengers being that drunk (at the time), the cabin crew took it upon themselves to serenade us with classics such as "Dawddy Quooo" (Daddy Cool) and "Bawbee Hi Mi Wan Moo Tiim" (Baby Hit Me One More Time). They eventually stopped when they eventually clocked we were laughing at them and not with them..I think it was the beer free-flowing out our noses as we tried to hide our sniggers!!

The third and final day was spent floating round Halong Bay (on account of the crew being unable to stand upright due to their hangovers!), napping on the top deck of the Junk and heading back to Hanoi to catch a night train to Sapa.

Vietnam | Halong Bay

The journey to Halong Bay was fairly uncomfortable - we were rammed into a moving tin-can with no leg room and no suspension..the latter only became apparent on the later leg of the journey...when the tarmac ran out...it was like a scene from Bill and Ted with 16 people head banging down the road!!

Unfortunately Halong Bay was pretty misty when we arrived yesterday so didn't see a great deal but woke up this morning to a clear morning..the iPhone captured picture from our junk above doesn't do it justice!

This morning we've been to Cat Ba national park and scaled a hill/small mountain. It had the rushiest observation tower ever (photos to follow), which we climbed up and instantly regretted - you'd stand on a plank and the other end would shoot up, all whilst hanging over a sheer drop down the side of a 1000m cliff!!

Anyway, currently eating lunch and then off to Monkey Island, so called as it looks like a Monkey...we'll see!!

Vietnam | Hanoi

Well, we made it to Vietnam..and they let us in..just!! Inevitabley there was going to be a problem with the visa..and so on entering the
country the woman behind the immigration desk had a crisis. We were then lead off by a man in a very badly fitting suit, who did lots of official things like tutting and pointing at random things on our flight tickets but eventually he stamped our visas and we were in!!

For the first time ever, an airport pick up, that I booked, actually turned up. As if that wasn't enough, they didn't try to over charge us!!

Hanoi is the inevitable expected madness, though with an alleged 2million motorbikes...which makes for an interesting experience when crossing the road - similar to Ciaro, you say a quick pray to whichever God/Saint you think appropriate, step out into the road and move slowly forward!

We've spent all our time in the Old Quarter, which whilst not particularly huge, is made up of lots of interlinking side roads and alleys (think Brighton and then double the number of side roads in the same space!). My favourite street found so far was one which was nicknamed 'Death Lane' by Holly. As we walked from one end to another there were people smashing live crabs, beheading fish plucked, flapping from washing up bowls, frogs being skinned and toads being battered to a green mush.

Unfortnately we haven't been to a Water Puppet show, but we'll hopefully catch one on the way back through when we get back from Halong Bay!