Sabaidee from Laos!

Have done so much since the last blog so here's a snappy run down of some of the best bits so far.

Our 3 day trek in Chang Mai, N Thailand, was fab. We had a really good group:a slovenian couple, an Oz girl and her Israeli boyfriend and a French father and daughter. An awesome couple of days with plenty of giggles, mainly at the expense of our hilarious and knowledgable trek guide called "Pot" aka Pothead/ legend. Trekked for two days and first night in a Lahu (hill-tribe) village up in the mountains. The views from our hillside hut were stunning- you've probably seen the pics of the amazing sunset. The locals were real characters, serenading us at sunset with Ronan Keating's "you say it best"! An Oasis and Beatles sing-song topped of a great evening. Second day of trekking we headed to a waterfall lagoon and continued on to our riverside camp for the evening. Day three brought ellie treks; not so "white" water rafting and bamboo raft racing- all of which were thoroughly enjoyable and full of BANT!

After a great week in Chang Mai we headed up to the Northern border with Laos called Chang Khong. Crossed the border and boarded our home for the next two days- the slow boat, which would take us down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang.

Met some really cool people on the boat, saw some beautiful scenery along the way and after a night's stop, we arrived in Laos second largest city.

We heart Laos!

Laung Prabang is a charming, small city with plenty of character because of it's French heritage. We hired bikes for one day to explore the city and visited the beautiful Khuang Si waterfalls- yes we did jump in off the top!

Next stop: Vang Vieng...... where do we begin?! Really cool/ crazy town renowned for tubing. Had high expectations of this place and it didn't disappoint. From our cute riverside bungalow to swinging from trees into the river and partying on the riverbanks in the sun- the festival atmosphere of this place was awesome.

2 days later we left battered and slightly soggy but having had a fab time and made our way, or so we thought, to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Vientiane in Loas.

After a 12hr coach journey through the night to the border we were banished and told to return to Loas as our visas were "unacceptable". You will be pleased to know that there were no arguments, no tears and we climbed aboard a crammed cargo bus back to Vientiane for another 12hrs.

To cut a long story short, we went to the embassy, our visas were absolutely fine and flew by Laos Airways (toy plane) yesterday to Hanoi....so here we are.

Staying in a really cool hostel run by two Auzzies and visited Ho Lao jail this morning where John MCain was held amongst other American POWs during the war. On a brighter note, we've just booked a three day tour to Halong Bay- so excited. From here we'll travel to Sapa in the North and then down the Vietnamese coast to Ho Chi Minh City.

Photos to follow- having some trouble uploading them.

Keep the messages coming, it's great to hear from you. Will try and keep you updated as much as we can.

Lots of love xx