We left the crazyness of Hanoi behind and headed for the tranquil waters of World Heritage Halong Bay - an archipelago of over 3000 islands. The islands are made of limestone and rise out of the water incredably spectacularly, as is usual with limestone there are also hundreds of caves dotted about, back in the day it would have been great for pirates or smugglers! Ha long means 'where the dragon is under the sea,' legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay t...

Our 24 hour bus journey from Vientiane that was meant to be horrendous actually turned out quite well, both me and Sarah had a spare seat next to us and a small amount of valium helped us to a full nights sleep!Immediately we noticed that Vietnam is much more populous and there is a huge military presence around, every 5 minutes or so you will see someone in army uniform!! Our hotel in Hanoi is really nice, we even had a bath in the room - luxury!! After a rel...