Hello again, thanks for coming back.

In Hanoi we managed to meet up with Ruth (from Winchester Uni - she lived with Beth for the 3 years) and her Boyfriend (David) Burton. They'd already been to India and Sri Lanka and we'd originally planned to meet in Bangkok way back in October 10th, but they were delayed by a month. We caught up over a 7p beer (shown above).

It really is great to meet up with mates from home, who you haven't seen for 8 months and to have a bloke on the team >: )

We got a night Train to a place called Sapa as soon as we met up and I'll leave the pictures to give you an idea of the place. Pretty good really. This is also where I managed to touch the exhaust pipe of a mo-ped with my calf muscle and the picture for this is also all that is needed.






(I've randomly included a picture of the train track in Hanoi - it really is nuts how they're relied apon to get out the way when the train comes. They do loads of day to day chores on the track as shown here.)



When we got back to Hanoi from that trip, we had a nights sleep and were off again to a place called Ha Long Bay. This is a World Heritage site and once again I'll leave it to the pictures to give you a feel for the place. The Bay has thousands of random islands that spike up from the sea for no known reason:





We had 6 hours of travel on boat and a coach back to Hanoi, where we had just 3 hours before the next trip. We were on our way to Vientiane, Laos, which we were told would take 16 or so hours and would all be done on one bus. It took 27 hours in the end and we used 4 different vehicles. The last bus dropped us off 5 miles outside of Vientiane (the capital of Laos), which isn't what it was supposed to do. This is quite common in these parts however and is explained by the crazy coincidence of alternative modes of transport waiting by. They simply hook their mates up who make a few dollars taking us the last stretch. If you don't know what a Tuk-Tuk looks like, (the thing that took us into the centre of town), check out the picture below >: )



Vientiane was a dull place that has little going for it. You're left thinking you can't possibly be in the 'main part', but you really are. This isn't really their fault however, as the city's original buildings were pretty much completely bombed years ago. I really have nothing to else to say about this place >: /

We were there for 2 nights to chill out a bit after the journey from hell and then got a 4 hour bus trip to Vang Vieng, which is known for it's tubing. This is where you go 3 miles up the river, sit in an inner tube from a tractor and zip back down the river. Along the way you stop at bars etc, which have crazy swings for you to fling yourself into the water. We don't have pic's as a camera would get wet, but I do have a pic of my foot after I landed on a rock under water, jumping off my tube. (I've also included a sunset picture, but it's a little dull). Vang Vieng is also known for the 'Happy Menu', which has pancakes, garlic bread, pizza etc, all with marijuana or magic mushrooms as an additional ingredient. At the bottom of the page you are simply offered a bag of marijuana, magic mushrooms or, more interestingly, a bag of Opium. Since I had a fair amount of space in my bag I decided to stock up.





Joke there mum....

That actually reminds me of a guy called Richard who was part or the group of six from Cambodia to Saigon. He was due to get a plane to Bangkok at 10am one morning. The night before we all went out, but he didn't come back until 7am. Still intoxicated, he rushed himself off to the airport where he was searched. He was happy to empty his pockets as all he had was his wallet in them.

Oh.

He actually managed to acquire a big bag of marijuana through the course of his night out, which he really doesn't remember doing. Luckily for him he was let through and was able to tell the tale.

I kid you not, if he pulled that bag out in Bangkok upon arrival, he'd be in a spot of bother. Rock 'n' Roll.

After Vang Vieng we caught another bus up to Luang Prabang, which was quite a picturesque town that is also a world heritage site. This is where we went to a lovely waterfall with crazy blue lagoons; the picture doesn't do it justice.



Instead of another horror 24 hour bus ride to get to Chang Mai in northern Thailand, we decided to fly instead, which took one hour. It turns out the airline we went with (Lao Airline), are notorious for poor safety and refuse to release their safety records >: /

It only took an hour though and we obviously survived, so happy days.

This posting really is boring, but nothing exciting happened. I'll try to make the next one a little better....

Hello there!

I'm not going to bore you (yet) with the reasons why I haven't posted a blog for quite some time. I simply couldn't sort out the pictures for whatever reason.

So I'll continue from where I left off.

Sihanoukville was really rather good and the previous post should now include pictures of it to give you the evidence. From there we went back to the capital Phnom Penh, in order to get the 7 hour bus to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), in south Vietnam.

Saigon was fun times all round (almost), as we'd turned into a group of 6 at the end of Sihanoukville. We spent a couple of days checking the place out, then did a tour of the delta which also took a couple of days (Pic below shows Beth holding a massive killing machine). The War museum in Saigon is quite horrific, giving detailed pictures of those severely injured during the war. I didn't realise until I visited the museum that the Yanks dropped something called Agent Orange, that left the children of those contaminated, born with stumps as limbs etc. Tough to hear about.



So now I probably need to perk you up a bit!

We'd heard a number of people slate Vietnam, but to be honest it's my favourite country so far on this trip. As a couple of the pictures shown from Mui Ne, the scenery is spectacular with the sand dunes and mini Grand Canyon. We actually got up at 5am to see the sunrise on the sand dune that day.






We then got a night train up to Hoi An, which is a beautiful colonial town from the days of French occupation (picture below). This is where I got the suit made, that you have probably already seen. It was a bit embarrassing picking it up to be honest. I was thinking to my self, 'Thank God the shop's empty'. At which point 3 girls walked in to see my hold this Hawaii suit. 'I've got a job interview coming up' I told them. I think I just about redeemed myself.






From Hoi An we stayed a night at a place that was boring, then got another night train up to Hanoi. This is where we stayed for a couple of nights at a friend of my brother's called Becca who, like him, is a Diplomat. Therefore she had a stupidly nice (large) 3 bed pad. The taxi driver looked a little confused when 3 backpackers asked to be taken to 'Mayfair Apartments'.

Becca is a legend for a number of reasons. Firstly, she'd not previously met any of us, but made us feel very welcome, giving us tips on where to eat or go etc, as well as the best nights sleep so far.

Secondly, she kindly offered to risk embarrassment (if searched at the airport) and take my suits back to England for me, which saved them getting lost in the post and and me postage money. (Thank you also to Thomas Spencer Archibauld Dover, for taking them off her hands apon arrival to London - a bear hug is on its way).

Thirdly, and if I'm honest, most importantly, Becca had an Apple Mac. Two days of a computer not telling me I'd performed an illegal operation simply by loading up any website was bliss.

Hanoi itself was an excellent city with a lot of character; we all felt we could stay there for a good while. A good reason for this was a particular crossroad section known as 'Bia Hoi'. This is where I paid for a round of beers (10 actually) and only had to hand over 60p >: )

I'll end this post and add another in a few days as I reckon the next stage in our trip is a good point to break it up a bit.