Northern Thailand

We crossed into Thailand via a land border crossing near Udon Thani on a well maintained and nicely air-conditioned bus which made a very nice change from the buses we usually cross borders in (it didnt break down once either). From Udon Thani we flew up to Chang Main in the very north of Thailand mainly because we only had a 15 day tourist visa and didnt want to waste any time on buses. 

Chang Mai is Thailand's second largest city behind Bangkok and has a very different feel to the capital. Set at the foot of a steep mountain range it's a lot more relaxed and laid back than Bangkok. We stayed just outside the old town in a great hotel called ViengBua Mansion which was a recommendation from a couple from Bradford so we had to trust it. On the first day we got our bearings, walked around the old town, visited the Chang Mai  museum and generally took it easy. We also booked a mountain biking trip into the mountains and  tickets for the Muay Thai boxing match the next day. Unfortunately we didnt bank on bumping into some Canadian friends we'd met in Laos that night. One thing led to another and, after a stinking hot green curry, lots of Thai beer and tequila shots we arrived back at the hotel at around 3.30am. The bus was picking us up for the mountain biking trip at 7.30am.


Tash missed most of the health and safety, route planning and equipment overview, choosing instead to sit outside on the step and try not to think of cauliflower cheese sandwiches and the smell of tequila. I was fairing a little better with my bottle of Gatorade (great hangover cure by the way). 
To be honest i thought that the company were being a bit over cautious with making us wear helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and gloves. Little was i to know that the trip we had booked as a 1 on the scale of 1-5 difficulty level would actually turn into something from that Extreme Sports channel on Sky. We started out quite pleasantly on some fairly flat concrete roads chatting away with some of the other guys on the trip (one of them went over the handle bars trying to do a jump over a hole in the road, smashed her head on the ground and had to be taken back to her hotel in a van....oops). When we left the road we started to bike down little dirt tracks through the mountains. I couldnt really work out why the tracks had boulders and rocks in the middle and a nice sandy terrain on either side though. Then i found out. Since its wet season at the moment in SE Asia, it tends to rain once or twice throughout the day, and when it does, it rains hard. The tracks quickly turned into gushing rivers but, when you;re halfway up a mountain, there isnt really any turning back. The guides did their best to make out like they weren't worried but behind the smiles i could see feint signs of 'HOLY SHIT'. We were wet, our back packs were soaked through, our shoes were sodden and it wasnt even 1pm, we still had at least two and a half hours to go. Very slowly we made our way down the mountain and back to the bikng centre. We hosed ourselves down and jumped in a tuk tuk back to the hotel (his face lit up at the prospect of having two battered bruised and very wet tourists in the back). Quick bite to eat, shower, change of clothes and then out to the MuayThai boxing match.


I dont think i was really prepared for quite how violent the MuayThai boxing was. Its a sport that is steeped in tradition and each match is prefixed with chanting, singing, music and a sort of trance like dance around the ring by the two fighters. There were eight matches in total culminating in a Thailand vs Holland fight with 10,000 baht (about 3000 pounds) as the prize. The early matches involved boys probably as young as 13 or 14 absolutely tearing into one another, knock outs, falls, big punches and kicks being thrown. I actually felt quite guilty for using it as entertainment but in Thailand its a very noble way to spend your time or make your career and the fighters are very well respected. The prize fight at the end involved a dutch guy twice as tall and twice as wide as his Thai opponent. With the sport originating in Thailand, my money was on the Thai guy  and there was a huge amount of expectation within the room that the Thai fellow would easily dispose of his 'foreigner' adversary. It was over in the first round, the weight, reach and height advantage of the dutchman was too much for the Thai to handle. Two enormous flying knees to the head took him down and no sooner had his head had hit the canvas than the crowd started to disperse and head home.

Unfortunatey i spent the next three days in bed in the hotel room with a severe bout of Thai flu likely brought on by an intense mountain biking experience on top of a killer hangover. We left for Bangkok when i felt like i could brave the outside world.


We were told that there was a great litte town just outside Bangkok called Ayuthaya which had been previously the capital of Thailand before the Burmese took over and pushed the Thai lines back to Bangkok. Much of the original Ayuthaya landscape was demolished by the Burmese but lots of ruins from palaces and temples remain that you can walk around and climb on. Also saw lots of elephants who were taking part in a nearby show. So we spent 2 days in Ayuthaya. Great town, lots of history and we enjoyed learning about it and relaxing before the intensity of Bangkok.

Arrived in Bangkok intending to only stay 2 or 3 days before moving through to Cambodia. We actually ended up staying 5 days because its just such an amazing city that we couldnt bring ourselves to leave. The shopping is fantastic, everything from smaller markets to enormous shopping centres. The diversity of the city is incredible too, some areas show huge prosperity while others show huge poverty. The backpacker area glows with activity 24/7 with neon lights, market stalls, people hassling you to by a suit and anything else you can dream of. If you like the hustle and bustle of city life you cant help but fall in love with Bangkok. We met up with a friend and visited some of the more seedy areas on one night (seedy but touristy), we chatted to ladyboys who seemed very keen to show us everything they had, went to a 'ping pong' show, drank lots of Singha beers and generally had alot of fun in Bangkok.

We also had a day in the Bangkok Arts and Culture Museum, which conveniently sat right next to one of the biggest shopping malls in Bangkok (made it easy for me to persuade Tash to head in that direction). Great museum with lots of contemporary art, sculpture and an interesting interior design with a spiral platform snaking its way up the middle.

When we booked our bus to Cambodia we were well and truly ready to leave. Absolutely exhausted by the bright lights and energy of Bangkok

Books: Finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murukami. His style is very different (perhaps because it was a translation from an original Japanese text) but i really enjoyed the stories of girls, booze, university life and love. Lots of debate in the CJNB household about what the ending implies. Have now started 'Voices from S-21' about the school used by the Khmer Rouge to interrogate and torture their enemies. Also just started The Great Gatsby and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

Moment when a career change passed before the eyes of Tash: As we were walking out of one of the go-go bars in Bangkok where girls shuffle around the stage with numbers stuck to their tops, one guy who was sat on his own watched Tash walk all the way from he back and as she approached, reached out for her hand and beckoned her to sit down next to him for a drink. Although the 2000 baht was attractive, she declined the offer. 

Last days in Laos (Vang Vieng and Vientiane)

Vang Vieng was described by one of our Canadian traveling buddies as 'heaven for the lazy and the drunken', which is a great way to describe it actually. Unlike any other part of Laos we've visited, its swarming with sunburned, drunken Brits and its main street is lined with bars that have beds for seats and play Friends, Family Guy or the Simpsons all day every day. Its almost as if the bar owners have read the collective minds of the hundreds of hungover A-Level students when they put their menus together too: oreo shakes, burgers, fries, you name the western food you got it...flame grilled. And the reason so many loud obnoxious teenagers choose Vang Vieng instead of kavos to spend dad's money: TUBING BABY.....AND IT ROCKS. But more of that later.

Our first trip out and about in Vang Vieng (and we tried to keep as busy as possible to keep away from the town centre) was a kayaking and caving trip around the mountains in the surrounding area. A group of about 15 people, some English, some Canadian and some Chinese. First stop: pulling ourselves through a very dark cave while floating on inner tubes with the route only lit up by the miners light wrapped around our heads and powered by a car battery hanging by a loose thread round our necks (seemed safe at the time). For the second half of the cave we had to crawl on our hands and knees through muddy sand to reach an opening where we had a quick presentation on the history of the cave and how many people hid there during the bombing by the americans.

After lunch we hit the kayaks and paddled our way downstream towards the town chatting, laughing and splashing each other along the way. Met a couple of very pleasant, funny Canadian guys who we would later meet up again with in Thailand. A few fun, but not exactly adrenalin fueled, rapids later and we were home in time for the Family Guy where Stewie kills Lois. Excellent.

We only intended to stay in Vang Vieng 2-3 days but due to a 'mystery illness' affecting first me and then Tash we ended up staying for 6 nights. Whatever can be said about Vang Vieng, its a great place to rehabilitate and get your strength back.

On the final day once we'd both recovered, we decided to see what all the fuss was about with Tubing. Even the driving rain couldnt keep us (or several hundred other young people) away from the tube rent shop that afternoon, a little place where you hire the inner tube of a tractor or something of similar size and then catch a taxi up to the start of the river in the mountains. Before i go on let me just remind you that its wet season in SE Asia at the moment, the river banks are mostly broken and its running FAST, about 70 yards across, and with dirty brown water. Anyway, at the place where the taxi drops you off, you plop down into your inner tube and let the current take you, round the first corner you start to hear the pounding house music of the first bar with its crowd in bikinis and shorts playing drinking games with the free shots, cocktail buckets and cheap beers. If you want to stop at a bar, you grab one of the ropes flying through the air from the kids that are employed there all day to stop the tourists and haul yourself in. Few beers, few shots, bit of dancing later and then you take off again in your inner tube, worse for wear but 100% more confident in your ability to drive it downstream. The next bar we stopped in had a mud volley ball court (its still raining of course), basically a massive brown puddle with a volleyball net in the middle, guys throwing themselves across it and girls who have just found the latest (and free) spraytan.

More shots, more beers, jumps off the side of the bar into the river, river surfing on some wooden pallets tied to a tree (yep the rivers running that fast you can surf it) and then back into your tube for the journey to the next bar. This one had an enormous slide made of tiles that shoots you into the middle of the river. Unfortunately this is where it starts to get a bit messy for Chris and Tash as Tash decides to confidently take a run up to this slide, her legs slip out from under her and she cracks her head on the tiles before being shot off into the middle of the river. When she emerged im not quite sure who was panicking more, me or her. By some miracle she pulls herself into the side and tried to make her head stop spinning. She seemed ok after ten minutes or so we continued down to the next bar. At 'Smile' bar someone actually had the job of rolling up spliffs all day and handing them out free to the crazed western tourists. By that time though Tash's lips had gone blue and it was starting to go dark so we set off on the 30 minute inner tube cruise back to Vang Vieng (you arent supposed to float all the way home but after 7 beers, shots and buckets we thought we could do it). We arrived in Vang Vieng just as it was getting really dark (i really would not like to be stuck on that river in the pitch black).

All in all a great day. Fantastic, reckless, dangerous fun that your parents would be ashamed of you being irresponsible enough to be involved in. Oh and by the way 8 people have died this year already.

The next day we caught the 4 hour bus down to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Its a funny little town situated on the Mekong river (the other side of the Mekong is Thailand). There's a strong French colonial feel to most of the buildings but its definitely starting to be overtaken by the rapid development the Laos capital is starting to suffer from. We stayed 2 nights in a little guesthouse called Syri 2 although Tash still insisted she would not use the bathroom in our room after dark. We ate well, visited some of the surrounding temples, fountains and indulged in the many drinking holes...the Jazzy Brick being our favourite with old wireless radios, spinning dial telephones and 1950 artwork on the walls. Also had the best Tom Yum soup i'd tasted in Laos in Vientiane.

We set off to Thailand on a bus over the river at 9am the next day. Will fly to Chang Mai in the north from Udon Thani the border town.

Books: About half way through The Secret History by Donna Tartt which im enjoying. Typical american campus novel set in Vermont, NY. Great characters and a story thats peppered with greek and other literature references.

Most embarrassing British person quote: 'Zoe really wants to go to the killing fields in Cambodia (estimated 3 million people killed under the Khmer Rouge regime). I just want to stay in Vang Vieng and go tubing with my friends, i dont mean to desensitize it but its just a big field right?'...18 year old 'home counties' traveller.

Luang Prabang, the Bears and the Elephants

Luang Prabang is probably the most beautiful town we've visited in Laos, all the buildings have French style shutters, there's golden palaces and temples dotted all over and parts of it become pedestrianised at night to allow for one of the best shopping and food markets we've come across. The first night there we ate at the market with some German buddies we met on the Gibbon Experience. Barbecued fish, pork and chicken with a plate of noodles, salads and rices from the buffet stand. Freshly made jam doughnut for dessert on the way to the next bar. Amazing food with a cold Beer Lao for about $4 each.

We scootered up to the Kai Se waterfall the next day which we'd been told was the biggest and most impressive waterfall in the area. We werent disappointed with at least 5 waterfall 'levels' cascading through different swimming areas. I tried to resist jumping off the biggest one into the pool below but the other bigger boys all did it and i wanted to prove my masculinity. Spent most of the afternoon larking around in the waterfall swinging off the rope swings and following the other boys off bigger and bigger jumps. 

Right next door to the waterfall was the Bear Sanctuary which had around 20 Black, Sun and Asiatic bears that had been saved from all sorts of pretty horrible circumstances including being locked in a tiny cages and used for the extraction of 'bear bile' which is still used to treat headaches and other similar ailments throughout Asia. Amazing to see the massive (and baby) bears so close up. The Japanese tourists next to us did everything they could to get one bear to tear through the electric fence and rip their throats out. Sadly the bear thought better of it.

We had a day exploring Luang Prabang town anfd then booked onto the 'Mahout' Elephant Handler Experience for two days. When we arrived we had an hour learning the basic 'mahout' commands how to turn the elephant 'left', 'right', 'straight on', 'stop eating the tree' and 'can you please bend a leg so I can get on top of you'. One of the elephants we found out had had part of it's back leg blown off by a landmine while he worked for a logging company. Now he had a much better life taking bananas from tourists. We spent the rest of the morning riding the elephants through the jungle, round their territory and up to their sleeping area. In the afternon we visited another spectacular waterfall with over ten different levels, the bottom of which was being used to give tourists elephant rides. Everywhere there were elephants splashing around, people swimming, tourists in rubber rings, I doubt I'll ever see such huge animals playing so informally with people ever again. Tash and I climbed the waterfall as far as we could stopping for some relaxing 'spa treatments' along the way. We spent the night getting drunk and chatting with our new mahout buddies somewhere deep within the jungle where our little lodges were.

The following morning we trekked into the jungle to collect the elephants from nursery and rode them back to the river for their morning bath. My elephant's formal 'mahout' guide had had a particularly heavy night on the tiger whisky and couldn't face the bumpy ride back to the river. As a result I rode Mae Boun through the jungle and into the river on my own. Each of us took a scrubbing brush to our elephant while they splashed us and each other with water from their trunks. We stood on their backs, fell in, splashed around some more and then took them for breakfast. Soon after we made our first downpayment on an elephant of our own. 18 more installments of $1000 and it will arrive in neutral bay where I've got a particularly dense wooded area I need clearing.

We said goodbye to our elephants just before lunch and beaded back to luang prabang in the early afternoon. The next day we caught a bus to Vang Vieng, 200km and 7 hours south.

Books: Finished The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. Dark but very enjoyable, he has an incredible imagination with so much attention to detail, will try to find some more of his books to read while I'm away.

News from home: Dave has narrowly avoided a high speed crash in the bullet train during his visit to China. The freshness of the local sushi seemed to restore his nerves though. Don't expect to read about the crash in the Chinese press however as the government ran with the headline 'Flower local to Beijing wins first prize in Chelsea Flower Show' instead.

Northern Laos and into the Jungle

We ended up staying three nights in Luang NamTha. Laos because we liked it so much (and because we'd found a very cosy little guesthouse called Zuela that we liked). Its a quiet sleepy little town set deep within a mountain range next to a river. Nobody really cares that you're a tourist, nobody is trying to thrust objects into your hands and you can just go about your tourist business the way you want to. Somebody really needs to do something about neutering the local dogs though. At one time i counted almost 15 trotting down the middle of the road towards us like they'd had enough of the humans and had come to liberate Luang NamTha armed with fleas, sharp teeth and large doses of rabies.

On the second day we hired a scooter and explored the surrounding areas. A couple of very large gold temples had been built at the top of long staircases framed by stone dragons and reptiles. We headed further afield out of the town and started riding through miles and miles of flat rice paddy fields with small little shacks dotted throughout. We stopped for a beer at one of the restaurants on the way back which was right in the middle of the rice fields. It didnt last long though as the heavens opened and we headed for home on the bike and without a poncho. Arrived very wet at our hotel room 30 minutes later.

The rainfall made for an interesting scooter ride down the mudtrack to the waterfall in the afternoon. I pretty much almost squashed both of us a few times with the bike as the back wheel slid out and we got covered from the waist down in a nice reddish mud. Got to the waterfall in one piece though and hiked the rest of the way in t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. The locals had a good laugh at the stupid white tourists. Was worth it though and the sun even came out when we got to the top.

The photo below is of the car wash that i had to take the scooter to in fear of losing my deposit because of all the mud that was caked to it:

Took a kayaking trip down the NamTha river through the rainforest with a guide the next day. Great experience and definitely saw things that we wouldnt have seen without being on the river for a few hours. 22 rapid sections as well which made the journey even more fun. The ever reliable CJ and NB team managing to avoid capsizing this time (which was good because we had all the food on our boat). The guide was good and told us lots of useful information about the villages and Laos in general. At one point, we saw a big white bird soaring across the river in front of us. Tash asked the guide 'what was that?'. He replied 'a bird' and continued to paddle down the river with an air of 'where do they find these tourists?'. He cooked us a great lunch of barbecued fresh fish we picked up from the market in the morning though with lots of sticky rice, omelette and beans. We didnt ask what the fish was and just ate it quietly (its a fish you idiot).

And so onto Huay Xai and what many tourists come Laos to do...The Gibbon Experience.

Dreadful organisation from the tour company (missed emails, no receipts, office closed during opening times etc) but they dont really need to be any good, they know they have a product which you cant find anywhere else. After kitting ourselves out with all the stuff they recommended (hiking boots, torches, bug spray, lot of socks etc...about $10 all in) we set off out to Bokeo where the trail started. From there we picked up our guide and set off hiking through the jungle with six other tourists (German and American) that we'd spend the next two days with. After two hours we got to the first zip line: almost 800 metres across a deep valley with running water at the bottom, as you took off across the valley you looked down on the clouds and the miles and miles of rainforest. An amazing experience and one that British Health and Safety would have an absolute field day with...a 30 minute video on how to attach yourself to the zip line and a guide who looked at me blankly when i asked him if he wanted to check my harness. As we continued the climb to the treehouse where we'd spend the first night, we probably had another 10 or 11 zip lines at various lengths and different speeds, all though with incredible views cutting through the jungle.

The last zip line took us to the doorstep of the treehouse where we would spend the night. Soft beds, fresh duvets, clean sheets, toilets and mosquito nets....and the best bit: a shower with running water which looked out across the valley (definitely someone out there with a pair of binoculars having a lot of fun). Stayed up till at least 9pm getting drunk (yep they even had red wine) and talking with the other gibbons. The incredible noise of a jungle at night wasnt even enough to keep us awake after all that walking, fresh air and red wine. Our treehouse below:

Up at 7am the next day to do some more zip lining around the area before breakfast. We then made our way back down the mountain stopping for tea, coffee and lunch by one of the many running streams. Didnt get to see any gibbons in the end and the guide just laughed at me when i asked him when theyd come swinging through the trees (how about renaming your tour then mate).

Took the slow boat (2 days) down to Luang Prabang yesterday and planning to stay here for a few days before heading south to Vang Vieng and then the Laos capital of Vientiane.

Books: Just finished The Sorrow of War, a story set during the Vietnam war. Pretty heavy reading but extremely well written and gives a much different perspective on the war than the one you usually get from the yanks.

Most annoying tourists: Spanish (i thought the British were renowned for their moaning)

Food proving most dangerous to the health of Chris and Tash (Get me to a toilet....NOW):

Sapa and the road into Laos

Took the 12 hour day train up to Sapa from Hanoi venturing out and booking our bus tickets ourselves at the bus station (in very loud simple english and the few vietnamese words we've learned) rather than through one of the million travel agents in the backpacker district. Turned out to be about 25% of the price if we do it ourselves....which put a smile on my face (I am PJ's son after all). We went for the soft seat option rather than the cheaper 'hard seat' which was basically a wooden bench....for 12 hours.

We werent 100% sure about visiting Sapa as we hadnt heard too much about it but we had a few days spare and felt we'd done everything we wanted to in North Vietnam. It turned out to be a good decision, a beautiful mountain town with rice growing on stepped plateaus built into the side of the mountains, waterfalls everywhere and a wide river cutting its way through the valley. We hired mountain bikes one day and biked up to the Silver Waterfall about 20km north of Sapa. Unfortunately it was also 20km uphill which hurt after pretty much no exercise in 4 weeks. The waterfall was pretty cool but to be honest i was more eager to get back on the bike to do the downhill section...which was awesome. very little traffic and lots of bendy mountain roads to whizz down. Great fun.2 hours uphill and about 20 minutes back down it.

The next day we hired a scooter and decided to travel a bit further afield to some of the surrounding villages. We werent exactly banking on having to navigate rivers running across the road, the road turning into a boggy mess and dogs,chickens and geese that wanted to taste my ankles at each corner. At almost every village we passed people waved and shouted hello at us too, i also lost count of how many times i had to tell people that i wasnt Daniel Craig. They seemed quite disappointed that i wasnt in the new James Bond movie.

After 2 days in Sapa we had to make the decision about how we would get over the border into Laos. It is possible to do it directly from Sapa but the crossing in the very north has only been open 18 months so they are still feeling their way with the procedures and diplomacy. We'd also read a number of horror stories online about this crossing requiring 3 days in a minibus along some of the worst roads (and most ill equipped buses) in Vietnam...so in the end we decided to do it anyway. You only live once right and a story about being stranded in the jungle between Vietnam and Laos would be a pretty good one to tell.

In the end, the trip probably wasnt as bad as we were expecting but the conditions were fairly gruesome. I counted 27 people on a minibus that had 18 seats at one point. Every time the driver pulled over to let someone else on the travellers all groaned with disappointment at the prospect of losing yet another inch of seat space. Perhaps not quite as loud as the suspension was groaning though as the bus heaved its way from one pothole to the next. Unfortunately the best parts of the road were nearest to the edges which brought us ever closer to the sheer drop into the valley...i did actually wonder on a number of occasions whether the tragic deaths of 2 British travelers, a Korean family of nine (now thats brave) and 16 Vietnamese would make the front page of any newspaper. Probably page 3 of The Mirror i decided (Papa would no doubt skip straight to the Sudoku and only get to the article about the death of his grandson around mid-morning.)

Border crossing was fine, not sure what all the fuss was about...my visa and all passport details carefully transcribed by pen into a small exercise book by a Laos border officer. My only advice would be dont use the toilet at the border crossing, Tash is still having nightmares.

Another three buses and 3 days on the Laos side of the border brought us to where we actually wanted to spend some time. We now have a fantastic air conditioned room in a place called Luang NamTha in North Laos quite close to the Chinese border. Plan to do some biking/trekking/kayaking here for the next few days.

Books: 'First they killed my father' by Luong Ung. A true story about a little girl growing up in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) during the 1970s. Amazing story, pretty harrowing in parts and incredible to think about the things that happened to a 6 year old girl and her family.

Most drastic action in the name of food: The Korean family we met on the Laos border crossing had shipped boxes of food from Korea to Vietnam so they didnt have to eat any of the foreign muck (most of which were piled high on top of the minibus in the pouring rain). The way the 3 teenage korean boys kicked and pulled the boxes up the hill after the final boat ride into Laos showed how pleased they were with the idea

Most flagrant breach of health and safety regulations:

Hanoi and Halong Bay

Arrived in Hanoi after a 12 hour sleeper bus from Hue. Not a bad journey really, even managed 40 winks despite the roads lifting my entire body out of the seat ten or twelve times. Hanoi is an incredible city, definitely one of my favourites so far. With Vietnam being colonised by the French some time during the 1800s, Hanoi seems to have picked up the french influence much more than any of the other cities we've visited so far. We've eaten croissants for breakfast and drunk tasty coffee (which makes a welcome change to the thick, syrupy sweet Vietnamese stuff). A city that i can see myself tootling to and from the office on my vespa scooter on someday.

A bit of light sight seeing on the first day punctuated with regular coffee breaks...probably the most memorable was the famous Hanoi Hilton prison where firstly Vietnamese dissidents (during the Vietnamese defence against the french) and then America soldiers during the American war in the late 1960s were holed up. Funny to see the Vietnamese propoganda on the walls, lots of photos of american prisoners cooking christmas dinners, playing volleyball in the yard and laughing  with the prison guards. The photos of torture, cockroaches and 200 prisoners in a room built for 30 no doubt still hidden under the bed of a vietnamese general somewhere.

From Hanoi we booked onto a three day tour of Halong Bay (not generally keen on preplanned tours but there's no other way to get a decent boat tour around what is claimed to be the 8th wonder of the world apparently). We took a bit of a chance on the Elizabeth Sails tour because i couldnt find any reviews online but it worked out well with a deluxe room on the bottom floor with three large windows so we could wake up to those amazing halong bay views. Great trip, incredible scenery and surprisingly good company ranging from an eccentric Italian who still lives with his mum, a bunch of swedish students who had eaten snake the day before the tour (including the beating heart)  and a Dubai(n) businessman who insisted that we go to visit his 'wonderful land' someday (probably will mate thanks for the offer). Mountain biked through the CatBa national park, wandered around some massive caves and visited monkey island where the monkeys come down to the beach at 4pm every day and steal anything that isnt screwed to the floor (some irish blood in them maybe).

Couple of days chilling in Hanoi and then off to Sapa on the first train outta here tomorrow (6.10am)

Books: Just about to finish The Help by Katherine Stockett. Great story set in the early 1960s about a group of black maids who set out to tell the story of their everyday lives with nasty white women who do anything they can to maintain segregation (definitely worth a read PJ for some ideas to try in Bradford).


New pet hate: Money belts. Just be a man and stick it in your pocket mate yeah (although did hear a funny story from a guy the other day about him forcing his girlfriend to wear the money belt out one night and left the hotel before they realised she had a dress on. Paying for the meal was apparently an experience which the other diners particularly enjoyed)

Best meal: Day one on the halong bay boat tour, clams, squid salad, crab soup, fried grouper. Free

Best tourist tat: We visited the vietnamese university where Confucius studied for part of his life. For anyone who isnt familiar with Confucius, he is one of the founding fathers of modern life; writing books on education, the component of the ideal man, how he should live his life, interact with other people and how governments should govern. Alot of people believe that much of the Western culture is derived from the teachings of Cunfucius. So it seems appropriate that this is what was available to buy in the souvenir shop:

Essay/Book/Screenplay Writing Progress: Nil

Wahey íts Hue

Hue (about half way up Vietnam )... the old imperial and cultural capital of Vietnam situated on the perfume river with a citidel within a citadel within a citadel at the centre. At the heart of the three citadels there was a purple kingdom where the emporer lived with his 500 wives and eunuch servants. Sounds pretty good to me, i move in next week. We took a boat tour round some of the sites in Hue today, a few tombs and bagodas and gardens etc, not bad but extremely hot all day (37 degrees) which kinda took the life out of it a bit.

Ás a city Hue hasnt really captured my imagination like Saigon ỏr Hoi An đid. It just doesnt seem to have the character that thóse cities do, it all seems to be background noise with very little substance. The history here ís the main reason why travellers stop but thếse are all very individual pieces located in different párts òf the city or (as in most cases) about 20-30 km outside the city. Hue í also known to have some of the best food in Vietnam and we put off our decision to book a cookery class until we got here. However, we've actually found the food to be quite disappointing compared with the other cities where even the street food was very reliable and tásty. On the first day we followed a recommendation from the hotel receptionist for some of the local 'Banh Bot Loc Boc Tom Thit'. Thís was pork and shrimp steamed in rice pastry wrapped in a banana leaf. Sounds ok right? But it actually looked like a đodgy shrimp wrapped in see through jelly. Didnt finish it and went out looking for some pho instead (always reliable).

Went out for japanese food lást night with an english couple we have met, funny night with stories òf  tattoos, travelling and the ripping apart òf the other snorkelling participants (where we met them), plenty of beer and cocktails sat on the street cỏrner, we got in about 1am with the tour bus departing at 7.30am. Yeyses.

Booked on the 5.15pm sleeper bus to Hanoi tomorrow.

Hoi An

Arrived in Hoi An yesterday after a 12 hour sleeper bus north from Nah Trang. Only 6 bucks for the entire journey and took twice as long as the train but we're on a budget and trying to save a dollar here and there (put that handbag down Tash). Bad decision all in all, people sleeping everywhere including the floor and the damp patch near the toilet. Vietnamese pop music played at top volume from 5am onwards (not sure why, even the Vietnamese seemed to be unimpressed...there was definitely nobody singing along). Beautiful city though, probably one of our favourite so far, incredible french/european architecture in the old town which drops down to the river where a million red laterns light up the bridge, restaurants and the river banks. Had a romantic stroll down the river, a few beers and finally ended up back at the hotel which is set back from the old town about 10 minutes walk from the river.

Hired a scooter today and saw a bit more of the city, found a tailor and spent a small fortune (we're on a budget yeah) on tailored suits, shirts, skirts and playsuits. Will be ready tomorrow apparently so no doubt a whole family will be up late tonight making it all up. Tash also had her first scooter less today, almost ended up in the river but turned out ok...thinking the easy rider tour up to Hue might not be such a good idea afterall.

Another great meal last night...beef with lemongrass, garlic and cooked over a barbecue wrapped in a banana leaf. Amazing tastes. $15 with 4 beers

Just about to finish No Country for Old Men. Improved the more i got into it and now finding it to be a real page turner. May move onto DJs recommendation The Quiet American if i can find it (all the books for sale here are photocopies of the original...i just hope that the author sees some of the $2 i paid the street seller for No Country for Old Men)

Last days in Nah Trang

Headed out on a boat yesterday to do some snorkeling around the vietnam coral reef, doesn't look like much from the surface (just dark blue water lapping at the islands) but when you get underneath the water there was an incredible array of coral, fish, crabs and flowers. It's the first time I've seen seen that much ocean life outside of the aquarium and I was amazed at the colours and how close you could get to the fish. Whenever you saw an area that interested you, you could dive down and have a closer look making the fish shoot out from their hiding places, some of the more confident ones turning to look at you as if to say 'im trying to have my breakfast' before slowly swimming off. Great fun, lots of backpackers on the boat so got to know them a bit, still a bit surprised at how close some people hold their cards to their chest, when we're all in the same boat (geddit) and just trying to have fun. Photo below is of the snorkelling team at lunch...just a 3 course meal knocked up for us by the captain and the guide (shrimp, squid, noodles, salad, chicken etc)...we were only expecting a cheese and ham roll.

Heading off to hoi an today on the sleeper bus (full bunk bed style sleeping areas). Hoi an also has a huge number of bespoke tailors which we'll be taking full advantage of

Books
No country for old men by cormac McCarthy...seen the film which is stopping me from getting into it think. His writing style I also find a bit jumpy.

Highest number of people on a scooter seen = 5

Dinner last night - more pho as we were trying to keep the costs down. Unfortunately the cheaper the food the more likely you are to get a warm Beer served with ice

Cutest puppy we've seen so far posing with Tash (shortly before he vomited and diarreahed)...a near miss fOr Tash, spotted by me when I saw him doing the Rosie cat heave.

South Vietnam

So here we are, after working my 'tates' off for 7 years, here comes 4 months of uninterrupted time off. Who knows if the decision will be one i look back on with fondness or regret, who knows if its potential career suicide. One thing i do know though is that im excited about doing something different for four months.

Flew into the madness of Saigon (3 days), did a few tourist sites, the cu chi tunnels (tunnels dug by the vietnamese during their defence against the americans), the war remnants museum (agent orange attrocities) and ate some amazing food from little street stalls (beef cooked in a bamboo shoot one of the best). Also introduced to the vietnamese pho here, a hot bowl of steaming meaty broth with slices of meat, noodles, lots of onion and with a big side plate of mint, coriander, lemongrass, parsley and chillis. Tear it up and throw it in for an amazingly tasty, fragrant soup. $1 each bowl. I'll have two please mate but easy on the chillis yeah.

Mui Ne (2 days) next 4 hours east on a sleeper bus. Chilled beachside town, not much to report

Nah Trang (3 days), heavily touristy at one end but fortunately we're staying in the north end where its 100% vietnamese. Lots of local eateries and a balcony overlooking the ocean. Hired a scooter today and took off south towards Cam Rahn 30km away. Great little beach with barbecue huts as close to the waters edge as they could be without floating away.

Snorkelling trip booked for tomorrow to explore the coral reef.

Two books so far:
'One Day' by David Nicholls...nice story not particualrly life changing, apparently theyre making a film, will do well as a film. 
'Beatrice and Virgil' by Yann Martel...incredibly well written and researched. A book i'll remember for a long time. Makes me want to write a book