I left Hanoi on the overnight train to Lao Cai, I managed to sleep most of the way so that was good. We arrived pretty early and were taken to Sapa by bus. The weather was not very good. Wet, cold and very cloudy so we couldn't really see much of the view once we arrived. Sapa is a very nice little town though. Its up in the mountains and resembles some sort of Swiss alpine village. Before heading off on a 2 day trek we had enough time to purchase rain poncho...

After Sapa I headed back to Hanoi, to join another tour leaving on the same day to Halong Bay. Unfortunately for me, after the rain and the cold evening in Sapa I came down with pretty bad cold. Yes ok, I got man flu! The first day was spent on a boat sailing around the bay which was really beautiful. However as my man flu worsened I had to retire to my bunk for a marathan sleep. This did mean that I missed out on the kayaking and swimming and an evening of drunk...

Well I fell lucky and managed to get a flight to Hanoi in the end, a cancellation. I'm glad too as Ive spoken to a few people who took the bus and it was a complete nightmare. I arrived yesterday morning, and got completely ripped off by the bus driver, didnt actually realise until he'd gone. Nevermind! He'd also dropped me off by some lake and told me that it was a different one (just what kind of place needs two lakes anyway) so I managed to get ver...

Phew, Ive got to tell you, todays a scorcher ! I'm now in Vientiane. I've been in Laos for 8 days now. Its a really beautiful country, the scenery is amazing. The journey into Laos is not something I'm eager to do again in a hurry. I took a bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, then crossed the border into Laos and travelled by slow boat (very slow boat) to Luang Prabang. This took two days. I'm not gonna lie to you, after 3 hours of sitting on a w...

F#%k me! How big are the spiders here! ! !Sorry for the language but they are big! I feel like I have done so much this last few days that I don't know where to begin now. I arrived in Chiang mai early Sunday morning. The night train from Bangkok was a complete nightmare from start to finish. I messed up and booked the wrong time, then when I finally had it sorted there were only seats available. So I might as well have taken the bus, but nevermind. I found a...