Frantic Hanoi , Vietnam  Hanoi is a massive assault on all of the senses. There are 6 M people and 4 M  scooters and motorbikes in the city and all of them want to be in the same street as you. They all blow their horns simultaneously so the noise goes straight through you. I found myself eyeball to eyeball with a guy on a scooter who as blowing his horn at me and I was shouting "toot,toot,toot,toot,toot,toot!"  His face was a picture. It made me feel better....

Vang vieng  The best thing about Vang Veing is the fabulous countryside in which it is set. The River Song runs along the side of town and beyond that enormous limestone karsts rise directly skywards. The balcony of our hotel had a great view of the scene and we spent a morning there recuperating from the home stay and catching up with the blog. In the afternoon we rode our bikes 14km over incredibly bumpy roads and in 38 deg to blue lagoon. The lagoon was a r...

Home stay -Laos Following a 7 hour bus journey through the stunning mountainous Laos countryside to Vang Veing we arrived at our home stay village. Every trip includes an overnight stay with a local family. With fond memories of our Hill Tribe village stay still haunting my psych I wasn't particularly looking forward to this. We were shown into a tiny little bedroom with no glass in the window. At least the mats were up off the floor on a little frame this time....

Luang Prabang Where Chang Mai was relaxed Luang Prabang is positively laid back. The former French colonial capital on the bank of the Mekong is a beautiful, restful city. It's French colonial architecture is quite distinct in this part of the world. The French influence still lingers with many cafes and patisseries to tempt the weary traveler in off the hot street. However, with so much to see and do here our two days were to be pretty full on. We started off ...

I'm writing to you today from our slowboat sailing down the Mekong river. Crossing the border into Laos was an adventure in itself. We had risen at 6:30 in order to be first in the queue. However, lots of other tour groups had the same idea. It was about half an hour waiting in the sun before we completed the exit checks from Thailand. At one point a group of Chinese nationals made a break for the front of the queue but big Frank and I growled loudly at them and...