I'm getting behind on my correspondance again!!!

WELL.... since last time, we rounded up in Vietnam - wasn't sure what to make of Hanoi - it didn't feel like it should be the capital city! There wasn't that much to do there but we weren't there long - one night, and then a we spent a night in Halong Bay on a boat - it was so nice!! Never seen anything like it - thousand of Islands poking up out of the sea, we ended up surrounded by them - it looked to me like when on Titanic the boat approaches the huge iceberg - only there were hundreds of them all around, (and they weren't made of ice). We didn't have the sunshine paradise setting that the pictures on the Internet show, but it was very misty which made it very eery, quite spooky! We went inside a one of the caves which was huge - felt like a setting for Indiana Jones - after that we did an hour of Kayaking among Islands and close boats and rafts where local people live in the water and approach you selling fruit and drinks and other kinds of food. We were fed and watered well on the boat - it would've been nice to spend a night on one of the Islands but not really worth it with the weather we had! Next time!

Back to Hanoi for one more night then it was the bus of doom into Laos - we'd heard that Vietnam to Laos is one of the worst border crossings to do by bus so we were prepared... sort of! We soon realised that it wasn't really about providing a service for getting people from one country to the next but more of a delivery service for smuggling goods from one country to the next! The bus was 80% Vietnamese men and every spare corner of the bus was rammed with towels, boxes, huge sacks - we even had our leg room disturbed during the night for a big sack with twigs poking out! When we got to the border we had to get an exit stamp to leave Vietnam, when we came out of the office we realised our bus had gone - all the security guard said (while pointing was) - 'Laos, 1 Km, Walk!!'. It was a tropical storm and all we had on us was our money and passports and the clothes we'd been wearing on the bus, we also noticed that it was only Western people that had been left in this situation, my love for the Vietnamese was really starting to wear thin!! When we got down the 1 Km road to the Visa service just before entry into Laos we couldn't get back on the bus until all the men had had their breakfast, only we didn't have any Laos Kip so couldn't buy any food or drink or pay to use the toilets - the worst is yet to come...! 20 minutes after leaving the border the Police pulled over the bus and searched behind the towels which were on the shelves above our heads - there were gold boxes and plactic bags lining the shelfs at the back, they then ordered that everything was taken off the bus and brought outside, as well as emptying the luggage area at the bottom of the bus. After about an hour they seemed to have settled the ordeal with a fine (i'm guessing, because everyone handed notes to the drivers assistance after we'd left). We also didn't stop for a toilet break for around 5-6 hours - only for the men at the bushes - of course!!

SO, i think that was definitely worst experience (but quite funny in heinsight), of the whole trip so far! Luckily Laos is lovely, very calm and relaxing, even though it's the poorest of the 3 we've been to so far people are very relaxed, the don't try and sell you things 24/7 and the don't beg. It was hard to believe we were in the Capital city when we arrived in Vientiane - a world away from Vietnam - hardly any motorbikes! Lonely Planet does say that it's tagged as being the most laid back capital city in the world and it definitely seemed that way!

Only one night in Vientiane before heading to Vang Vieng - the home of Tubing, basically floating down the river in a giant rubber ring and stopping off at numerous makeshift bars on either side of the river with music blaring out of all of them - and people flying above you on zip wires 20m above the water (people have died while Tubing so we were quite cautious - although the bars don't help themselves by forcing free whiskey shots on you!)

We did two days of tubing then headed to Luang Prabang which is where we are now - it's so nice! The night market is amazing - I feel the temptations of the Siem Reap markets coming back to haunt me! Haven't been well the last 3 days (stomache bug again) but the health advice for if you get ill in Laos is to get yourself to Thailand! Eeeek, good job that's our next stop!

I will be reporting from Thailand!

Lucy xxxxxxx