After a very easy 45 minute flight we arrived in Hanoi. We knew we were back in Vietnam when there was more people than there were seats in our minivan to the city center. The streets were noisy and dirty and smelly again and the people rude and pushy. We began to wonder why we left Laos. We had 2 days in the city browsing art galleries and handicraft shops during the day and sitting on plastic stools at one of the many corner shops drinking 10 cent beers with lo...

Our week in Laos has been a much needed break from all the go, go, go that we've been doing through much of Southeast Asia. The Laos people are among the friendliest we've met the world over and this has directly translated into us having some great experiences throughout the country.Our first stop in Laos was in Vientiane by means of the nightmare journey from Hoi An, Vietnam. We quickly discovered that this must be the sleepiest national capital on earth. Th...

From Phnom Penh, Cambodia we caught the 7 hr bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, which included one of our easiest and quickest border crossings yet.In the last week we have found Vietnam to be a huge array of different things: stunning and peaceful, ugly and dirty, friendly, aggressive, very loud, and with this has grown our love-hate relationship with the country.Arriving in Ho Chi Minh sounds something like this -"beep beep beep beep beep beeeeeeep"....

It's been a strange but enjoyable two weeks travelling around Thailand and Cambodia with Irene. We've gone from dreary rainy days in crazy Bangkok to never ending bus journeys to exploring the majesty that is Angkor Wat to learning the harrowing tales of the Pol Pot regime to kicking back on peaceful secluded beaches. Since we last posted a blog we had to endure a 12 hr. bus journey from Chiang Mai to Bangkok where we'd be meeting Irene. We'd heard stories of h...

In the last week we have become fully accustomed to a list of Thai traditions: waing frequently (thai greeting), never point you feet at anyone, never touch someone on the head, don't step over anything and we wouldn't even think about entering a room without leaving our flip flops outside.Our Thai is limited but we try, squat toilets no longer seem odd to us and the sight of 4 people on a scooter, the driver usually holding an umbrella and a large household appl...