We loved Hoi An! Obviously we needed to pay a visit to a tailor and where else than the one featured on Top Gear. It was quite exciting choosing the design and material. They took our measurements and said that our clothes would be ready by the next day… and they were! We were both very pleased with our purchases. We decided to go for a romantic dinner - just the 2 of us and we ate at the Seafood Garden overlooking the river of the floating candles. It was great food, but Holly had eaten all of her food before Ade even got his!! Not so romantic, but we're both getting used to the 'Asian way' now! The next afternoon Ade went for an extremely hot/sweaty bike ride (Holly opted out of that one!)... He even sat on a water buffalo?!

After a short drive (in comparison to the others) we arrived in Hue. Our rooms weren't available that early so we had to go for our all morning moped tour very sweaty and without showers… nice! Highlights included lunch at a Buddhist Nunnery and a Chinese Temple. We can't wait until we depart for the sleeper train in Halong Bay.

Our next hotel had great views over the bay. The weather was cloudy but very hot; perfect for our boat trip. Boarded a junk boat for our tour… Very posh! Lunch wasn't too bad either - king prawns, grilled fish, stuffed crab shells and watermelon. While Holly was sipping her wine out on top deck with some of the girls, Ade went off around the bay on a kayak exploring the caves and islands protruding from the sea. We both really enjoyed Halong Bay - such an amazing experience… we would recommend it to anyone!

Three hour drive to Hanoi and we then explored the city; visiting Ho Chi Minh's preserved body and losing the group on a tour! We recently found out that we missed Kakada's (tour leaders) birthday (his family does not celebrate) and this was the perfect excuse for a night out. Another day saw us visiting the Water Puppet Theatre - an old Vietnamese tradition - very cute! Then came the long and tedious 12 hour bus journey into Laos… It wasn't too bad actually!

We stayed in a sleepy town for one night called Lac Sao and ate at 'The Only One Restaurant' - the only one in town!! We moved onto the capital Vientiane - very wet again. Vary quite compared to other capitals - only half a million living here. We looked around the market and took a Tuk Tuk ride around the local sites.

We arrived in Vang Vieng on 16/7 - gorgeous accommodation with mosquito nets and large rooms. A lot of Westerners here. A pleasant town and surprisingly no lager louts, considering the amount of cheap drinks the bars have on offer. Perhaps we were the louts as we all went through a number of Beer Lao towers and many more after Super Kak (our group leader's nickname) won us a load on the killer pool tournament.

Next morning we set off on a bike ride hoping Holly wouldn't obtain another 'bottom bruise' like the time in Holland! Some people had trouble with their bikes, so our tour leader stopped to help them - leaving us to find our way to what we thought was the blue lagoon… pesky locals gained $15 from us all by putting up a very misleading sign pointing the wrong way and demanding an entrance fee - Ade then pulled the sign down in protest before we were to begin our way to the real lagoon. Had an awesome time when we got there - rope swing into the lagoon (which was freezing!) and Ade also visited a pitch black slippery cave in his flip flops - a good 75 ft up - Holly reminded him of the lack of medical services in Laos! It was then time for tubing…! So… Much… Fun! Mud tug-of-war/mud volleyball/dangerous waterslides into the Mekong River… and to get to all this stuff you needed to float down the river in a rubber ring and wave to the bars who will haul you in by any means necessary! Felt so exhausted after the day's activities that when it came to dinner we couldn't keep our heads upright!

The following day we took a horrible bus ride around/up/down the ridge roads of the Laos Mountains - and nearly crashed into a pickup truck, which made us nervous for the remainder of the drive! Witnessed quite a few landslides too!

Whilst in Luang Prabang we took our long-awaited elephant ride - an experience we'll never forget. As well as trekking with the elephant we were able to wash them too. We thought we would have a scrubbing brush in hand… but no! We were full-on bare back riding in the water with a bucking bronco of an animal! Holly needed to change to the bigger elephant so as not to drown (!) but Ade enjoyed the challenge! To round it off we were able to swim under the Tad Sae Waterfalls, which was quite refreshing!

We then proceeded with our trek by spending two days on a river junk boat on which we slept most of the way. After stopping at a remote village to donate toothpaste, unwanted clothes etc, we arrived at the sleepy Thai border town of Chiang Khong - nothing much to say about this place apart from the brown, unidentified stains on bedroom walls…!

In Chang Mai, Ade did a little shopping and Holly went with Nadine to have a full body massage. After telling the masseuse about the groin strain she obtained from elephant riding the previous day, Holly realised she was more flexible than she first thought and decided she wouldn't have a Thai massage again!

The night train that evening was the most basic of them all - bunks either side of the carriage (no cabins) and no AC!! The next day we realised that Bangkok was not our favourite city when we were walking around the streets and a gang of men asked the time - obviously wanting to see if Ade's watch was worth stealing. Luckily ASDA George range wasn't high on their list….! (Thank God we brought cheap watches for this trip!)

Unfortunately it was time for the leaving meal. After some very emotional speeches, it was time to go to a bar and get 's*** faced'… as our tour leader would famously put it! After rejecting the charge for a ping pong show (400BHT for 30mins) we decided to go to a few clubs instead. Each club we went to seemed to get louder (Are we really in our 20's?!) After many many photos, drinks and goodbyes, we made our excuses, hopped on a Tuk Tuk and left.

How did 30 days go by so quickly! We have met some truly lovely people and made many great memories.