WHY IS LIFE OVER THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD NEVER EASY? Ive asked myself this question many times in the last few months...and the train journey from Saigon was no exception...I could only get a hard sleeper for the journey, remember this journey is for 11hours. Okay where to start...when Vietnamese say Hard they mean hard imagine lying on a peice of hard board for 11hrs, well dont imagine Ive done it! And I had to share a cabin with 5 old vietnamese ladys who ...

Imagine the setting......Its raining heavy outside, your full of flu, got an 11 hour coach journey ahead of you, and the coach rep gets on and informs you the road to Nha Trang has had a landslide and the road is therefore closed so the only other road there takes 18hours...great I think, oh well this is Asia these things happen! Well if only that was the nightmare Id have been okay at least I have an ipod and books! Its now 5am, I have not had a wink of sleep...

Vietnam...here we go again sorry if Im moaning but thats what this country has driven me to. Hanoi City is great and more impressive than Saigon has their are several lakes right in the middle of the city where people exercise/socialise eat. Hanoi has a city I felt had a great buzz about it and of course wild with motor bikes as is the rest of Vietnam. In Vietnam it is a delicacy to eat dogs...and there is an area referred to as "dog alley" where the compl...

Loas.....Well the story continues. I finally arrived and let me be honest after my time in Vietnam I breathed a huge grateful sigh that I was now not on Vietnamese soil. After much bartering me and the other stranded travellers managed to get a pick up to the nearest town of Lak Sao (where the infamous coach was supposed to be picking us up) and after as a group deciding we were going to make our own way to Vientanne even though it was going to cost and ...

Laos...or should I say Lazy Laos, what an amazing country with so much to offer and yet so untouched from the western world...this is definately the side of south east asia I came away to see. Vientianne (The capital of Laos) is the quietest capital Ive ever seen, I think in rush hour (5pm) I counted about 10 cars on the road and as far as sight seeing goes their wasnt much in the way of choice mind it served it purpose for me to relax for a few days and de...