Ok so we are now in Vietnam and it is very rainy!!!

Yesterday we stayed in a local village in Hin Boun for our last night in Laos. It was so lovely (very noisy with chickens, dogs and people!) and the food was great. We had a boat trip on the river when we arrived and the boat was made of a fuel tank from a bomber plane in the war! We passed a lady in a boat who gave the driver a bag of eels and then I started praying that was not going to be our dinner. Was very shocked on our walk round the village to see a 4 year old girl smoking a cigarette as until this point I was so amazed how children in Asia actually act and play like children (she did also have a cut out melon as a hat so I'm not sure how sane she really was!) After dinner our guide was bitten by a scorpion which was quite dramatic but he was ok and I was put on scorpion watch as I had a torch - can't believe they trusted me, I was so proud!! Needless to say there were no scorpions in the night just a few cockroaches.

Very sad to leave Laos this morning but was excited to move on to Vietnam. It was raining heavily and was horrible to see a truckload of caged dogs which were strays who are apparently taken to the market to be cooked! Our guide then asked if we wanted to try any! After a very long bus journey we arrived in Ninh Binh which is a pit stop for the night as we move on to Halong Bay tomorrow. Boarding an overnight boat and hoping for nice weather so we can have a swim! We have already planned to buy bottles of vodka for the journey as I have finally reached the decision that in fact I don't like beer!!

Promise to put photos on soon!

xxx