Hi Everyone!

Ahhh! There's so much to tell you all it's going to take ages! We are now half way through our travels in Vietnam and sadly the weather is no longer sunny and bright, but nonetheless we are both loving it.

Laos

Vientiane:

This was a whistle stop tour with only one full day here. We did all the touristy things including the Presidential Palace, some temples etc and nothing was really worth writing home about. Although, Jonny did buy me a balloon! It would have been romantic but it was a bugs bunny one that he bought because it was the cheapest! The city felt a little unsafe and there really wasn't much to do. Anyhow, Vientiane wasn't a capital city of excitement but entertained us for the day. From here we caught the bus over the border to Hanoi in Vietnam. A very uncomfy bus at that…

Crossing the border:

Being a Wednesday, the cheapest bus was running. Despite the money we were saving, it was perhaps not worth it for the sleepless night and broken backs! The seats were just so rigid and the bus driver ws driving so fast that we were just bouncing about- no chance of sleep. We arrived at the border at 1am (it opened at 8am) but this was perhaps a good idea as we were near the front of the queue and plus the bus stopped so we could attempt to get some sleep while the bus wasn't throwing us around!

The bus lady was intent on ethnic cleansing so us westerners were sent to the back of the coach to bring up the rear! There was an added bonus that made our journey slighty better - the Lao National Basketball Team were on the bus!! They were heading to China to play the Chinese team - we really wished them luck but none of the Lao players made it past Jonny's height! I wonder if they won?! Also we made 2 of the players sit in two seats that we didn't want - hopefully they weren't the star players!

Vietnam

Hanoi:

We arrived in a very wetHanoi. After being dropped off in the Old Quarter, we were set upon by a very nice man of a nearby hotel. We were a bit wary but he was genuine and we got a decent room for a decent price. On the full day that we had here we decided to go sightseeing, but it happened to be the day where most things are shut. However we got on a cyclo and headed to the Temple of Literature. This is said to be the first university of such in Vietnam. We walked to the One Pillar Temple which was not very exciting then we went along to Ho Chi Minhs Tomb.

From here, we got chatting to a nice motorbike man and his friend. He showed us his little black book of messages from previous customers which gave him glowing reports. They were from 2001 but we thought is would be cool to go on a day's motorbike tour, well we did after we haggled him down…

We set off towards the Presidential Palace, me a little worried for it wasthe first time I had been on a motorbike! En route to seeing some aeroplane crash site from the war, we saw chickens, rabbits and birds being sold along the street. Bizarrely, there were numerous barber stalls set up along the pavement, with just a seat and mirror! The motorbike really is a great way to see everyday life in Hanoi.

We went to Hao Lo Prison museum which told us grim stories of how the french treated the vietnamese, and told us nice stories of how the vietnamese treated the americans! We also went to see St Josephs Catherdral then headed to Snake Village. We heard about Snake Village from some german travellers we met in Lao, so decided to be brave and see what it was like. After a really long journey out of Hanoi, over the Red River, we arrived at a place where you could hold snakes.

I really didn't want to set foot inside the place. Jonny was given a small but very lively snake to hold. He was afraid of where the snakes head was as it was moving quickly but he soon got used to it! I was not having any of it! I touched it but it was gross! To enhance my nervousness, the snake guy pulled out a cobra! It was bit quiet so the guy kicked it, making it angry so it would stand up. This is when I ran outside! Jonny was loving it and was getting well close to it! The snake was so angry that even the snake man was scared! Now we walked down the road to the Snake Restaurant..

Still having the heeby jeebies from seeing the snakes I was not looking forward to actually eating them! We watched our snake being killed - they slit the throat and then collected the blood, heart and bile in some shot glasses for us to see off. Ahhh! I let Jonny swallow the one with the heart - it took him a while to summon up the courage to do it! I was persuaded to do the shots with blood and bile! Vodka was mixed with them but this did not in the slightest make them nice!

The restaurant cooked us 10 different dishes using snake which all were equally as grim as the other. For example, we had snake spring rolls. After being suitably ripped off for the meal we got on the bikes back to Hanoi and had a couple of burgers to get rid of the sick snake taste in our mouths! We had a great day on the bikes - it was a good way to see the city. It was worth the 'close eyes we're going to crash with the other million motorbikes' moments!

Halong Bay:

We signed up to a one night two day trip around the bay. After an uncomfortable crowded 3 hour bus journey and a long wait at the harbour, we boarded the boat named 'Dream Voyage', the one that puffed out the blackest of smoke. Oh dear! We had dinner and met the rest of the group which included a big group of aussies who were already mostly drunk! We stopped off at some over touristy caves which really weren't special.

Our boat cruised through the karsts stopping off at floating villages. We saw a beautiful sunset (the highlight of the trip). When we docked for the night we were allowed to go for a swim - we jumped off the boat into the warm and very salty water. At dinner we met a nice couple from Nottingham so spent a relaxed evening drinking and talking with them. From the nearby boats, we could hear people singing Celine Dion 'my heart will go on' - not really the best song to be singing when we are on a boat is really?!

Hue:

We had planned to spend a few days here but there really wasn't much to do. We saw the Citadel and the Forbidden Purple City. The market was a let down. After lunch, we went out on some motorbikes to see some tombs and one of the Pagodas. We were really happy that we did this as we saw a lot and the area where the tombs were located were peaceful and pretty. Again, the motorbike trip allowed us to see things we wouldn't have seen on foot.

We have just spent a few days relaxing in Hoi An - I will talk about this in the next blog as this one is already far too long!

Love to Everyone and Take care,

Kirsty and Jonny xxx