Laos was an fantastic place. Its so laid back amd peaceful and friendly and just not as developed as the rest of South East Asia is getting to be. On the first day, we took a two day boat to Luang Prabang. It was really stunning, mountains and countryside on both sides of the Mekong. It was lovely. There were just 8 of us plus the family whose boat it was... it was the most relaxing two days. We stopped overnight at a village called Pak Beng... which felt like such a real Lao village... barely geared up for tourism... just a few shops and lots of cute little Lao kids playing in the street... and we had the best Indian meal ever!!

Luang Prabang was my favourite place in Laos. It seemed like it had more character than the actual capital... it was really pretty and quirky. I went elephant riding, which was great fun and they are so cute, but I felt a bit bad that they were being used for tourism. Later that day we also went to visit a famous waterfall, which was gorgeous and swam in the bottom. They also had the best night market in Luang Prabang and I bought more jewellery!!! On our last day there I got up at 5 to go and see the people in the street giving food to the monks - its all the food they get and they're only allowed breakfast and lunch, they're not allowed to eat til the following morning after that... it was interesting to see but I didn't take part... I thought its a bit rude since I am not actually Buddhist.

Next we headed to Vang Vieng a small town where I did absolutely nothing except lie in a hammock by the river at the hammock bar and get a massage. Hard times for me!!!

We finally headed to Vietnam, and arrived in Hanoi about 4 days ago. Its so different to the rest of South East Asia. In many ways it reminds me more of China. Especially with the thousands of motorbikes on the street. Its impossible to safely cross the road... you just have to go and hope for the best!! Even more than in Vientiane, you can definitely see the french influence here... there are so many cute little bakeries and stuff... I went to see the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum. It was a bit creepy seeing his body... it looked so real.. but was really cool. And the museum was really interesting with loads of quotes of things he had said about the Vietnamese people and the revolution... definitely made me want to find out more about the history. I've spent a lot of time walking around the old quarter, which has this beautiful lake in the mniddle and then loads of shops and things. Its a really nice place. I really like Vietnam so far. I also went to see a water puppets performance which was different and a bit quirky but quite amusing!!

After a day in Hanoi I headed to Halong Bay for 2 days, which is this beautiful bay surrounded in limestone karsts and caves everywhere. Did a lot of relaxing on the boat and a bit of swimming, though I was too gutless to jump off the boat!. It was so gorgeous there.

I came back to Hanoi last night and ended up meeting these two lovely American girls and going to a jazz bar with them, and may be meeting them in Saigon in a few days. I have one more day here and then I get the train to Saigon this evening which I am excited about.

lots of love.xx