Up this morning and off to see good old Ho Chi Min. Been dead for years but still a hero, large as life in a box although his wish was for cremation and to be scattered in the Mekong. I have to say the old boy didn't look too good. I THOUGHT IT WAS QUITE A GOOD LIKENESS! Ruth and I were ordered to remove our hats and take our hands out of our pockets. We had to walk two by two along a line and all got barked at. Pity they can't have the same effect on the traffic...

Had a lazy morning in Vientiane and made our way to the airport for our flight to Hanoi. Nice plush seats, snacks, beer, no sooner were we up than we were down. Bit of a climate change with temperatures down from 30c to about 18c with a steady drizzle. Wow is this city busy. Traffic chaotic. Every moment we looked out of the bus window there were near misses. Our minibus could not get close to the hotel because of traffic so we loaded our backpacks onto a tuk tuk...