Diary entry: 29/03/10

We got up early to have pancakes with banana, pineapple, and apple and honey!!! Then it was time to leave and trek some more.

Yesterday we covered 14km (we think) so we were very sore. It had also rained all night, with an incredible thunder storm so it was very slippery. Everyone in our group fell at least once. Soon we made it to lunch and the end of our trek. We think we have found the new highlight of our trek. We loved Sapa even if it was freezing.

Unfortunately it was time to head back to the train station and get another night train back to Hanoi.

Diary Entry: 28/03/10

It was very cold in Sapa and was raining. This made the windy roads very slippery and as we approached the hotel we were going to start the trek from, a motorcyclist skidded in front of our bus. The driver fell onto the opposite side of the road but we drove opver the bike. It delayed us quite a bit. The rider was shaken but O.K.

Anyway, before long we were at the hotel to start treking and there were laods of tribes women in colourful clothing waiting to take us into the mountains. Our guide was called San and was shorter than Lisa, but most of the women were.

We each got appointed a Hmong tribeswoman to walk with us. They wore wicker baskets on their back. Tim's was called Ju and was 55 years old. She was fitter than both of us!!
It was amazing!! They made horses out of grass to give us and hats out of ferns for everyone to wear. A sea of rice paddies cut into the mountain which looked like giant sets of steps leading up and down. The trek was tougher than either of us expected and we often slipped on muddy paths and had to have our tribeswomen help us. They had all learned a little English from tourists and asked us our names, where we were from and how many brothers and sisters we had. It was a fantastic morning and when we stopped for lunch it was time to swap tribes and the women wanted us to buy their handmade goods. We both tipped them for helping us but this was not good enough. They were both persistent and it soured the day a little.

After lunch and another hike in the afternoon we arrived at our homestay. It was fantastic and we were surprised to have a concrete building to sleep in. It was open planned with lots of beds and matresses and a tv in the corner. The tribespeople had got electricity only four years ago so it has been very exciting for them.

We had an amazing Vietnamese meal and played cards, encouraging the tribeswomen to join in and those who lost had to down shots of rice wine - it was grose. A tribeswoman called Ma, whose family we were staying with, was pretty good at the cards and kept winning. Her cute four year old son, Sam, patinetly built himself a tower from beer bottles, chop sticks and cards - it was very sweet to watch.

Despite being very cold in the mountians we were both warm overnight!!

Diary entry 27/03/10

We woke up with sore heads after a night of drinking very cheap beer. A bottle of Gold had cost us 10,000Dong (around 40p or 80 cents) but it came with heavy costs the next morning!! And breakfast consisted of cold omlettes and sweet bread which didn't help either!!

The boat came back to shore and while it did we were supposed to be sunbathing and swimming but it was too cold to do so.

After a quick lunch it was time to head abck to Hanoi, back in the packed mini bus.

When we arrived back, our guest house was kind enough to give us a shower, then we went to the Kangaroo cafe for dinner. It was set up by Aussies and had loads of information about scams around here. It hada newspaper article about how many tour groups had been arrested for overcrowding their mini buses and operating without licences. It was an eyeopener.

We then left for our night train to Sapa. We were both nervous because our guide book warned us about thefts on trains. Also some girls we met on the boat ahd their day bags stolen while they slept. They had locked the door to their cabin and slept hugging their bag. But during the night a man came in and took it out of tehir hands and when they tried to go after him a guard came out and stopped them. We couldn't sleep because we were so nervous but luckily it was fine - nothing happened and by 5am we were up in Sapa.

Diary entry: 26/03/10

We left early to get to Halong Bay. We had been warned that tour companies cram a lot of people onto the coaches that take you but it was unbelievable. Our minibus had little seats hidden everywhere. Wherever there was an alleyway or space by the door or driver, we were crammed in. We counted 24 people in our minibus. It didn't make for a very comfortable 4 hour drive!!

Another thing is that it is really cold in northern Vietnam, just 21C. It was a huge culture shock and we desperately rummaged inour backpacks for the jumpers we wore to the airport.

Halong Bay was a huge tourist attraction with thousands of people queuing up to load on loads of little boats - sleeping 16 people each. We had lunch onm board - fish and fish. It was to be our staple meal for the next two days!!

Once we got out onto the bay there were laods of peaks jutting out of the water. We moored up and went to explore some. Inside a ginat cave there were staligmites hanging from the ceiling. They had been lit up in different colours and looked great. We were soon making frineds with the others on the boat and then we all went kyacking together. It was great fun rowing out to little caves and clambering around them. There were bats circling around and we noticed a bird of prey flying around the top of one of the mountains. It was huge - big enough to be an eagle, although it was too far away to tell.

Then we given 30 mins to shower. Lisa had a cold one and Tim had a hot one, due to our very dodgy water heater.

We then chatted and drank beer for the rest of the nhight. It was quite expensive on the boat but there were little ladies who rowed out in small boats selling beer for cheaper. It was a peculiar sight, especially as they didn't have any lights on their boats, but we were happy to drink cheap beer!!!

Diary Entry: 25/03/10

Waking up early, we grabbed breakfast on the run. We were on a mission to see the Mausoleum where Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Min's) body lies. He is the Vietnamese Communist leader who died in 1969. It was there he read out the declaration of independance to half a million people on 2 Sept 1945. His body lies in a glass coffin - brillantly preserved. We had to get there early as it shuts at 11am - weird. We both thought he was going to get out like in a horror movie. We wondered how well he had been so brilliantly preserved but later found out he goes to Russer for three months a year to be re-emballmed!!

Afterwards we attempted to go for a tea and coffee. The only problem is they don't have milk in Vietbnam so they put condensed milk from a tin in. It tastes like there are eight sugars in there - yuck!

Our legs were tired so we hoped on a cyclo (a bike with a two-seater bench on the front). It was very cosy and the main problem with Hanoi is there is traffic everywhere - millions of scooters zipping about. It was very scary, especuially when he took us down the wrong way of a dual carriageway in the face of cars coming the other way at fast speeds!!!

We then went to the Military War Museum which was littererdwith propaganda about the Vietnam war. They had tanks and air jets they had captured from the Americans and in front were plaques telling you how many Americans they had killed with it after they had discovered how to use it. It was good to hear about the war from the other side though, normally we watch American movies about it and never really feel for the Vietnamese people, or think about the families they left behind. It was also incredibale to realise just how one-sided the war was. The Vietnamese people were basically farmers and had no technology when the war began. There was a famous quote in the museum (by someone we forget) which said that the army were advancing in technology at a rate of 20 years ion one day through the war.

Unfortunately there were laods of Japanese tourists there too and they loved to climb all over the jets and tanks, despite the guards shouting at them to get off!!!!

We then booked up our tours to Halong Bay and Sapa.

One last stop before we could sit down and have a beer. Tim wanted to go to the water puppets showq - on every night. We queued up but the couple in front of us got the last tickets for the night. We gave up and went to the pub. We watched the crazy traffic for the reest of the evening.

On the way home we stopped off at a little street kitchen - little rooms with an open stove with big pots on. Everyone sits on little stools a couple of inches off the street. The floor is littered with chicken bones and because of this Lisa put her feet up on another stool. But a local lady came past and threw Lisa's feet off in disgust. She went and got a napkin to wipe down the chair. It seems it is fine to put food and ash on the floor but not to put your feet on a chair!!!!!

Diary entry: 23/03/10

After a night with no beers (only the second night since we got out here) we managed to get up at 5.30am to go and feed the monks!! We bought bananas and satsumas the night before from the market after being told that the locals who walk around and try to sell you some in the morning, charge phenomenal rates. It was super cool to see hundreds of monks, all single file, coming out of the wats and walking around the town, looking for food offerings for the day. Each one had a little round food tin, tied to their waists and lifted the lid when someone offered something. Tim walked one side of them to take photos of Lisa as she put the food in, the only problem was that they all seemed to love the look of the satsumas. It isn't one of the things people sell on the streets in the morning so the monks are very rarely given them. The monks walked passed as slowly as they could, eyes fixed on the bag of satsumas, lifting the lids of their pots and almost begging for one each. We had promised that we would share the food equally so we both got to hand it out but Lisa had to call out to Tim to come over, otherwise all the satsumas would have gone before he had chance to hand any out. We both felt pleased we had made some monks happy, and we got some great photos too.

We spent the rest of our last day here just chilling out. It's soo hot here you don't want to do much else. Tonight we plan to go to a traditional restaurant on the riverside where they remove the centre part of the table and fill it with a pot with charcol in. Then we fry our own dinner (which you would think would be cheaper but is actually more costly!!). Still, it sounds like a lot of fun.

Diary entry: 22/03/10

We had hoped to get up at 5.30am today to go and watch the monks of the town come out of the wats and wander around as locals offered them food to feed them for the day. However, a massive hangover prevented us from doing so and when we finally emerged from our room at 9am the little Lao-n lady who runs the place asked us what we had done that day. We didn't want to admit we had done nothing as this town is an 'early-to-bed, early-to-rise' kind of place. We booked a tuk-tuk with some other people to go and visit a nearby waterfall and had a wonderful time there!! There were around five places we could have a swim in and there weren't too many fish there either. The walk to the top was tiring but we made it. They also had a bear rehabilitation centre there where loads of westerners volunteer. We met an Aussie guy who was over from another centre in Cambodia for just three weeks to look after these bears, all saved from bile farming in China and the neighbouring countries. We also met a Scottish girl who was doing a phd in, well, bears!! They told us that they had set one bear free a year ago and tracked him to see how he had got on. Unfortunately after six months he was killed by a female bear and now they are scared of letting anymore go. It was great watching them feed though, very funny and cute with big white stripes on their chests!! On the journey back we were made to stop off at a traditional Lao-n village (basically an excuse for the locals to try and sell us stuff). There were loads of kids chasing us and trying to get us to buy friendship braclets off them. We got a bit bored so tried to make friends with them. We successfully taught them our names, learned their and then Tim started playing karate with them. They loved it and at one point he had three of them all kicking him at once. We were all giggling but then their parents came around the corner and realised they were be-friending the westerners instead of selling them things. They got told off and all ran away. We managed to get one "bye" out of one of them as they fled! As soon as we got back from the waterfall we booked tickets to go to the Royal National Theatre to watch some traditional Lao-n dancing. It was very good but a bit weird. For example, to begin with they played out a story which was basically about a giant who ruined a pretty village and a monster who managed to restore it. The king of the village then offered the monster any reward he wanted so he chose to marry the princess. The princess didn't want to marry the monster (unsurprisingly) and the king didn't want her too either, but he had made a promise so he forced her to marry the monster and she was unhappy ever after (NICE!) They then had some guys dressed as monkeys dancing around. They captured the monkey moves brilliantly and as they scratched their chins, Lisa realised they reminded her of Tim when his beard gets too long!! It was a fantastic day anyway!!

Diary entry: 21/03/10

Excited about having a new place to explore, we got up early, had breakfast in a traditional french cafe (it is all very heavily French influenced here after an invasion in the early 20th century) and set out wondering around the hundreds of wats (temples) to explore.
As we passed a beautiful bridge we bumped into our friend Muriel who we had met in Kanchanaburi. She is a married Dutch girl who was recently made redundant and so left hubby at home to blow all her redundancy money on travelling and making herself feel better. she had made some more friends and invited us to join them for a two hour boat ride along the Mekong aound sunset. It sounded like a great plan so we agreed.
We went to one wat which had loads of mosaic pictures around the walls. We learnt that is was a way to teach the illiterate people the stories of Budda. There was one picture of an adulterous couple running away from some people with spears up a tree where birds were waiting to peck at them (NICE!). There were loads more Buddas to take in and after several hours meandering around we met up with Muriel, David and Leanne (a couple from just down the road from where we used to live in London) and took a carrier bag of beers along the river.
It was great fun and we almost forgot to look at the things along the river as we all had fun!! We got our boat driver drunk and he had to be sick over the side!! In the meantime, we waved at little children playing in the river and saw a massive wedding party going on.

The last stop of the night was to a bar called Utopia. It was along the river and had been set out lovely. There were loads of different areas, all with a Moroccan feel to it. In between there were big bombs (just the shells we hope) and motorbikes, oh and a volleyball pitch. We partied the night away and drank one too many beers!!!

Diary entry: 20/03/10

Today we spent seven and a half hours travelling to Louang Prabang. We had been warned by some friends that it was a bumpy journey and even if we didn't usually suffer from travel sickness we should get some travel sickness pills.
We were glad we had listened!! It was a very uncomfortable journey. The seats were too small, even for Lisa, so Tim had a rough time. They were also covered in plastic coverings which stuck to our skin in the boiling heat!!!
It was incrediable scenery though, all up the sides of mountains which the locals were burning the dry, dead crops, ready for rainy season. There were loads of little Lao-n villages. consisting of four of five bamboo huts with a water pump in the middle - their only source of water. They may have a little shop selling water, fruit and gasoline in case anyone ran out in the middle of their mountain drive.
Sadly, we were having too much of a rough time to think of taking any photos to show you all!!
When we arrived in Louang Prabang, we spent a long time finding the right accomodation. Most were expensive and therefore too grubby for what we wanted. But a bit of perseverance (which is a tough thing with your backpack on) we founda lovely little place with deep mahogany wood vanished in giant panels from floor to ceiling. It made us feel like we were staying on a boat!! It was down a little alleyway, meters from the Mekong River and a great base for the four days ahead. Tired, we went for some food and a couple of beers which sent us off into a deep sleep!!

Diary entry: 19/03/10

Our last day in Vang Vieng!

Today we decided to hire a long boat and do a tour of the 4km of river which we were supposed to have tubed down a few days earlier. We had seen a lot of people walking around with bandages on and thought they had all fallen badly off the swings and slides at the tubing. But when we did the boat trip we realised it was actually where it was sooo shallow, they had cut themselves on massive rocks just beneath the surface. We were pleased we had got too drunk to complete the course on the tubes as we may have injured ourselves too. On the boat trip Tim got to show Lisa where he had climbed up the rocks the day before and we watched locals washing themselves and their clothes, and making seaweed for eating. We also saw water buffalo in the water.

It was cool but an early night for us in preparation of the long, windy journey to Louang Prabang the next day.

Diary Entry: 18/3/10

Today was Tims day to do something he has wanted to do for absolutly ages (and it finally moves him up from someone who climbs brightly coloured plastic!) and went outdoor rock climbing for the first time. Had an amazing morning in beautiful surroundings with just an instuctor (Adam) and two Canadians (Nick and Alex). Tim could bore you for ages talking about the amazing holds the Laos limestone has and that wicked climb with the tree trunks all the way down, but lets just say that although he came back with completely shredded up hands and sore all over there was a smile from ear to ear!

Oh and there were some baby goats that were pretty interested in it all as well.

After some lunch, we decided to go for a walk out to one of the closest caves in the area (2km which turned into about 3 when we took a wrong turn and ended up having a mexican stand-off with a local dog then walking into a locals shack that seemed to have some kind of giant mutant chickens (at least in Lisas eyes) and strange noises coming from inside. Does Laos have a 'Texas chainsaw massacre' equivalent?

So anyways we legged it back to the right track, with a little help from some local women who though we were quite funny for going the wrong way, and found the cave. Eventually.

At the bottom of the cave was a few guys in hammocks who take 10000Kip (less than a pound) each and lead us through a padlocked, rust barbed wire fence, up a few bamboo ladders, over some rocks (that we would have walked straight past if the guy hadn't showed us!) and into the cave. Inside there were some pretty impressive stalicmites/tites although one area was a bit freaky to go into as you had to squeeze through a small crack and down a slope to see it.

After that the guide told us to climb to the top of the hill and see the view of Vang Vieng which we started but soon found out that it was a proper scramble over sharp boulders and over bamboo bridges... this all got too much for Lisa so Tim carried on up until it got too hard in thongs (too slippery) and Lisa was yelling for him to come down as there was something in the bushes nearby! Lesson for today... don't climb with thongs on in the hottest part of the day!

A good day had by both of us (although Lisa isn't too keen on caves anymore) and the Beer Lao was well earned by us both!

Diary Entry:17/03/10

The day of the living dead today. After 6 million episodes of friends and a lot of fruit shakes... we bring you to the 18th...

ps. We did have a nice Indian curry though :)

Diary entry: 16/3/10

So today we went tubing which entails hiring giant tractor inner tubes and floating down the river.....well, there wasn't much floating because the river is packed with bars and even if you didn't want to go in them, they throw bottles out to you on rope and pull you in. Everywhere there are rope swings and zip wire swings which everyone is going on despite having one too many. It was really something that can only be believed if you see it but was excellent fun. We met our friends, Emma and Ross, and headed down about 12.30pm. Straight away we were given free shots. There were three bottles to choose from. One had a snake inside and was full of whiskey, one had giant hornets with whiskey in and one had a very strong redbull-type stuff with Lao-an whiskey in. We tried most of them throughout the day and washed it down with beer. We also found a place to play mud volleyball which was great fun but the mud smelt horrible. It was about 10 mins into the game, when we were all covered in the mud, that we realised where the mud came from. The nearby toilets had pipes running straight into the mud pit. Nice!! We still all had it in our hair when we woke up this morning!!

We were spray painted from different bars offering free drinks in the evening and given head bands to wear!! It was loads of fun and we didn't stop till midnight when we were very, very drunk!!!

Our accomodation is down a very steep mud path and then over a rickety bridge which consists of wooden planks (about two planks width wide) and badly nailed together!! This makes it difficult to get back to at the best of times but tonight it was going to be a real challenge. About 9pm the skies started lighting up with lighting. About three different storms all heading our way. It downpoured for two hours until we decided we should try to make it back home. The mud path had become a slide and as Tim tried to reassure Lisa that it wasn't slippery he fell straight from a standing position to a lying one. It made a very loud thud and on closer inspection this morning, left lots of tiny cuts around his bum!! He was brave and said it didn't hurt though, well, not as much as the hangover!! We made it back safely in the end and fell into bed caked in mud and sand!!

Most of the tubing photos are on a disposable camera so we have to wait until we can get it processed before showing you all, but (if the computer will upload it) here is one of how we looked at the end of the night!!

Diary Entry: 15/3/10

We went around Vientiane's biggest Wat (Temple) this morning. It was very simple but had 10,177 Buddas inside!! Believe us, that's a lot of Buddas!

We decided to travel by local bus up to Vang Vieng. It is just 155km up the road and we were told it would take three hours. We both thought we could put up with the rickety little bus and no air-con for that long. Some guys tried to force us to go on a tourist minibus and became quite pushy but a local Lao woman swore at him and told him to go away. Then another local woman showed us the best seats on the bus to get some air. I think they were impressed that some backpackers were trying it 'local style!'

The journey took a lot longer than we expected and we finally got into Vang Vieng four and a half hours after we climbed on. We were bother pleased to get out!!! Tim found some amazing little bungalows (bamboo huts) for us to stay in. They were very basic with no glass in the windows and in a field with cows and chickens grazing outside. It was pretty cool though and Tim fell in love with the hammock outside!!

In the evening we went out for drinks and bumped into our friends, Emma and Ross, who we met in Kanchanaburi. We were all really pleased to see each other and agreed to go tubing together the next day. The boys even managed to get the girls drinking beer. It only took 30 years for Lisa to agree that she liked the taste but Beer Laos tastes quite different!!

Diary entry:14/3/10

We both slept well on the night train and when we got to Nong Kai on the border at 8.25am. There it was easy to get another train across the Friendship bridge (built by the Aussies) into Laos. Getting our Visa was easy and we shared a taxi with two other couples into Vientiane. The city was soooo quiet. Nothing like Bangkok at all. We found a place to stay and went around a museum (which was pants) and then got drunk (how surprising). We decided to cut short our stay of the Laos capital and head straight to Vang Vieng the next day. This was a place we were both itching to get to. We wanted to go tubing and climbing here.