Vietnam so far...

After tubing we spent a day in Vientiane, although there wasn't that much to do there, it was mainly just a stopover for getting to the airport. So the following day we had our flight to Hanoi in Vietnam. Lao Airlines is an interesting experience! The plane was quite small, and I looked at the safety card to see that there weren't any lifejackets, and in case of a crash you were supposed to take the cushion out of the seat and hug that for dear life as a flotation aid! Glad it didn't get put to the test!

Hanoi was a shock to the system after the gentle pace of life in Laos. It is a noisy and busy city in Vietnam. Driving is another experience altogether! The cars all drive down the middle of the road and it seems to be a constant game of chicken to see who will pull over first, you or the car driving head first towards you! Crossing the roads is pretty scary too, the technique is to just walk out at a constant pace and let all the motorbikes swerve around you. The moment you stop or do something unpredictable a crash will happen. I almost wanted to close my eyes at some points!

We spent a couple of days in Hanoi, wondered around the night market and went to a water puppet show. Also went to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum which I found quite creepy and didn't enjoy very much. Half our group left in Hanoi, and another 7 people joined (with 2 more guys so James was happy he wasn't the only one anymore!) So Saturday night was a night out for dinner and drinks to get to know the new people and to say goodbye to the others. A few of us ended up in a club on a boat (after visiting the irish pub... yes we are making the most of the culture...) which was absolutely rammed with both locals and travellers. Health and safety doesn't seem to be such an issue here...

We left Hanoi the next day to go for a trip on a junk boat around Halong Bay. It was absolutely amazing, definitely another highlight of the holiday. The boat was gorgeous, beautiful dark wood and little rooms with twin beds. With blue skies and clear water it was pretty much idyllic. The perfect way to spend two days. And the food! I've eaten more seafood than I could possibly imagine. Lunch was 8 courses, dinner was 10 courses... all amazing fresh seafood. Fresh crab, prawns, fish... I've never been so full! But we burned it off with a swim in the lagoon. Hannah and I couldn't resist any longer so jumped off the smaller boat in the lagoon and swam back to the main boat. The James, Hannah and I spent ages jumping into the water, swimming back and doing it all over again. The water was stunning. But then there was a shout from one of the boat crew, warning us that a huge jellyfish was swimming our way, I swam so fast out of the water!!! Was less inclined to jump into the water after that!

Four of us (James, Hannah, Laura and I) stayed up with a few beers that night. We then decided it would be a good idea to sleep under the stars at the top of the boat rather than in our nice comfy beds down below. Woke up at 6am to find I was the last person remaining, everyone had realised that it wasn't quite as romantic as we'd first thought!

Had another huge lunch of seafood before heading back to the harbour. I was feeling quite tired and worse for wear after only 3 hours sleep...

We headed back into Hanoi to wait for our overnight train to Hue... I'm not a huge fan of Hanoi, it's much too busy and overwhelming. Our next stop is Hue, then Hoi An, followed by Ho Chi Minh City. I hope the problems in Bangkok calm down over the next couple of weeks...