Xin chao! Kia ora from Vietnam where noodle soup is eaten for breakfast, people actually do wear conical hats and the weather is, well to describe it most accurately I quote the englih guy at the guest house "It painfully reminds me of a typically english day..." aka its grey and drizzly! But - I MADE IT HERE!!! And that in itself is something to 'be glad about'!

I absolutely loved Laos! Everything about it - from the amazing fruit stalls making fruit shakes with about 20 kinds of fruit (dragon fruit is the prettiest but pineapple still wins for taste) to the awesome night market where you can actually wander through hassle free, from the peaceful setting on the Mekong to the "No Meet" roadside buffets for 1 dollar.

Much as I would love to rub in that it was gorgeously sunny and warm at all times the truth would be that night temperatures seriously must have been near zero... This arctic climate may have been emphasized by the fact that the 'window' in our dorm was true Laos style. This meant it was hole in the wall with mozzie nets covering it but nothing else. My bright idea of grabbing the bed right by the window (as usually dorm rooms are really stuffy) became less clever at 2am when I couldnt feel my fingers... But, by the last night, wearing everything I owned plus a new hoodie from the market and 3 extra blankets I was quite happy with the icy wind only reaching my face! Who would have thought I would use the word icy to describe anywhere in southeast asia?!

The hostel I stayed at in Luang Prabang, Spicylaos, was awesome! Such a great atmposhere, free internet, breakfast, a balcony to chill out with other travellers, lovely staff, great location - cant ask for much more! I spent a day out at a gorgeous waterfall about an hour from the city with a fun bunch of hostel people. We jumped off a branch into the pretty cold but amazingly disney kind of blue coloured water while the rest of the tourists watched from the sunny bank.

I could definitely have stayed another few weeks just in Luang Prabang alone but despite feeling like my shooting through the country trip didn't really do Laos justice I had to head to Vietnam to catch my plane in a weeks time. 10 hour bus to Vientiene, 20 something hour bus to Vinh in Vietnam, 8 hour bus to Hue - ahhh! Bring on trains!!!

I have to say that I would do the 20hour bus trip over the 8hour one I did yesterday. Even though the bus to Vietnam was super long and my brief sleep was interrupted by the sound of people screaming and falling off their seats as we hit something and skidded to a halt on the roadside in the middle of nowhere... and even though it took us 3 hours to go through the border formalities... and even though my bag was chucked onto the roof to get absolutely soaked (hello gross smelling clothes! I would do this all over again rather than spend 8 hours on a mini bus inhaling more cigarette smoke than I have in my entire life combined. Absolutely disgusting! Made me feel so nauseous but even more angry at the fact there were 2 babies on the bus - AHHHH!!

Anyway, I am in 'nam now and loving the 'pho' for breaky, my awesome guesthouse with a bathroom clean enough to pass a strict inspection of Mums, watching the locals walk past in the famous hats, the adrenaline pumping motorbike rides around the city towards incoming traffic and the smiling Vietnamese!

p.s I confess that after years of mocking my Mum's drawings, my beautiful sketch of a train when trying to get to the station in Vinh failed miseraby... as did my attempt at saying 'train' in Vietnamese... I did mange 'toilet' though, it only took about 8 tries and I suppose it could have been my acting skills that did it... nice! (a great example of an overshare, n'est pas?)