We’ve done a heck of a lot of stuff since I last posted so I’ll try and keep it brief. We’re now in Laos which means yet another currency to deal with. Pounds to Thai Bhat to Cambodia Reil (but everything is priced in US dollars) to Vietnam Dong (cue many dong related jokes from the boys…) and now to Laos Kip. And we’re travelling with mostly Aussies so they’re converting back to Aussie dollars. Hurts my head. Need to now get used to dividing by 12,000 – not easy!
Our last day in Hoi An, we visited the My Son temple ruins (a small Angkor) about an hour from the city. The ruins date from the 4th – 11th century and were built by Cham kings. A lot of the temple complexes were bombed by the US during the war in 1969 and 1972 as there were covered by thick jungle – the US government were sent a letter by the Vietnamese basically saying please don’t bomb our sacred mountains and temples but apparently it was received too late and the damage had been done. Such a shame as the temples were in pretty good condition for their age until the B52s arrived… That afternoon we hired bikes and followed our guide around the back streets and into the countryside surrounding Hoi An – beautiful expanses of paddy fields and fishing ponds – made even nicer by the sunset!

We then had a 4 hour drive north to Hue – the drive was beautiful and we had to cross a mountain pass which our bus hobbled up laden with 15 people and their luggage. The views were spectacular and we all wished it was bright and sunny to make it even better. We also stopped at a picture postcard beach – completely deserted and proper white sand and blue blue sea – shame we only had 30 minutes there as we all could have happily spent the rest of the day lounging and swimming, but we were on a schedule to get to Hue for lunch and to visit the citadel. The citadel is about the only thing to do in Hue and it was well worth seeing – similar (but a lot smaller) to the forbidden city in China – lots of temples, royal buildings etc – again some of which was destroyed by the US bombs (and a typhoon).
From Hue, we caught our final overnight train (which thankfully smelt less like cabbage than the previous one) to Hanoi – we arrived again at 5.30am but this time couldn’t check into our rooms till midday so we all spent a knackering morning wandering around the Old Quarter, eating ice-cream on ice-cream street, drinking coffee on coffee street and looking at all the weird and wonderful food on sale in the markets. After a well needed rest and bath, we went to watch the water puppet show – quite interesting but glad it was only an hour and cost only £2!
After our long day in Hanoi, we packed our daysacks for a 2 day trip to Halong Bay – a UNESCO site 4 hours east of Hanoi filled with limestone karst inslands and lots of caves. We took a bus to the port and then hopped on a wooden junk boat for an afternoon cruise around the islands which included a visit to a cave and a stop for swimming. The cave was massive and a complete tourist trap - gift shops on the way out! Only 4 of us ventured in the water for a swim – it wasn’t that warm outside but the water was almost as warm as the air so it was great diving off the boat into really really deep water. We stayed the night on Cat Ba island – the only permanently populated island in the bay. We spent the following morning kayaking in the bay to get to a small beach on an island populated with small golden monkeys who were very inquisitive and ready to steal any of our stuff including our shoes! Fortunately we rescued our belongings and spent a relaxing hour swimming, sunbathing and exploring the beach – was the nicest beach we’ve been to so far possibly as we were the only ones on it and we’d got their by the power of our arms only! Unfortunately we had to leave paradise behind and get the hydrofoil and bus back to Hanoi for our final night with the Vietnam group and leader. We had dinner and then headed for some drinks at a Bia Hoi (fresh beer) stall on the pavement – they whip out some plastic tables and the small plastic stools and ta da you have a bar! We had one day on our own to explore some more of Hanoi before meeting our Laos group and leader that evening. We tried to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum (where Uncle Ho’s body is encased in glass sarcophagus for all to see following the tradition of Lenin and Stalin) but we got there an hour after it closed and during the lunchtime closing of the museum – timed it all wrong! So we abandoned that plan and after some Pho (noodle soup) we visited the Temple of Literature (site of the first university in Vietnam) and then walked the scenic route back to the hotel to see the non-touristy parts of the city. Hanoi was a lot nicer than Ho Chi Minh City even though it’s just as manic and busy but it being about 15 degrees cooler and not humid helps a lot!
From Hanoi, we started the Laos portion of trip with 2 very long days on buses – a 7 hour trip to Vinh, and then a 12 hour trip across the Laos border and onto Vientiane. As soon as we got into Loas, the rain and cloud disappeared and we were treated to spectacular sunny views of the Ammamite mountains. Although the drive was long and our bus very cramped, the scenery made it pass a lot quicker and again it was interesting to see how quickly the buildings, people and atmosphere change as soon as you cross the border.
We had 2 nights and one full day in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. It is a tiny capital city with only 600,000 inhabitants and sits right on the Mekong River overlooking Thailand. We spent the day visiting a temple and museum, climbing 100 steps to see the view from the Victory Monument (the Lao-ish Arc de Triomphe) and having a very good (and not ‘special’) massage. We all assembled at a riverside bar to watch the sunset over the Mekong – beautiful before heading to a nearby restaurant serving delicious BBQ fish and meat. We entertained ourselves by singing along to the very cheesy and bad karaoke video being played! From Vientiane we had a 4 hour bus drive north to Vang Vieng – the adventure capital of Laos. The drive was again beautiful and through the mountains and we had another blue sky day, as we do again today. Yesterday we all went tubing - literally you hire a truck tyre inner tube for the day, get driven up river and float back down stopping at bars on the way. Most bars have swings, zip-lines or waterslides over the river - Chris did a zipline and the waterslide and I sat on the side and laughed at everybody's crash landings in the river :-)

We heart Laos.