After another grueling roller coaster of a bus journey, we arrived at the Vietnam/Laos border. As usual there was a mini sweetener of $2 USD on top of our visa fee (apparently this was because it was the weekend but in reality, it was more likely the guards beer money for the night ahead). The crossing was chaotic but did go a little more smoothly than the previous borders, queuing is not a concept Asians get unless it is into a temple. A few hours later and w...

It's oh so quiet…Sshh…sshh - the 'moany blog' Hanoi and Halong Bay We caught the overnight train at 2pm from Hue to take us to our next stop Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Like the other train rides this was another fawlty towers experience. It is not unusual to get to your cabin and find some locals who have camped out there without a ticket, staring at you blankly even when you try to tell them you have tickets for the room. This time we had a couple of ...