Hey everybody. Well it feels like ages since i last wrote on here and so much has gone on we have been busy bunnies ! so last when i wrote we were in vaingvein in our beautifull hut which i now miss very much! In vaingvein we mostly chilled in the hut as we had been to 3 countries in 2.5 weeks and done almost 48 hours of travelling i think we deserved to rest for a few days! although we did go on a long bike ride to see the lagoon and caves. the lagoon was only 7k away but the road was really rocky and you had to cycle through herds of bulls and cows which were just walking along the road. was scary at first but then it became fun trying to dodge them. on the way to the lagoon we saw a cave place which sounded nice so we went of the beaten track to a more beaten track and cycled for another 2k but couldnt find the cave then we rememberd how everyone told us not to go looking for the caves without a guide as lots of travellers get lost there!! so we cycled back to the road pretty quickly! When we finally got to the lagoon with very sore bums, hands and sweating galore we met the guys who we were meant to meet and we all went swimming in the crystal clear blue water it was lush! so we were all swimming around and then to my horror there was this HUGE HUGE yellow and black stripped spider and with no exageration it was like the size of both my hands together!!! so after that i refused to go in the water after that and everywhere i go now im scared i will see one! We left Vaing Vein after 4/5 days and took a 7 hour coach journey to Luang Propang which is this beautifull small french style town north east of laos. It was really nice and quite a posh village! The couch journey was a mixed experience it was up in the hills and you go around and around and around and then you start to feel very sick and even more sick then you stop at this small rural village which smells and you want to be sick because you feel so ill but you cant!! then i went to the toilet and there was a monkey!!! but it was tied up and looked really skinny! eventually we got back on the coach and the rest of the trip wasnt so bad as you started to turn the other way and go down the hills! if they built a straight road the trip would only take max 1.5 hours! and on the road its full of cattle and the bus was driving at 30 mph toward them then either swerving out the way as they didnt move or the cattle just moved in time so it was abit frightening! Our second day in luang propany we went to this huge waterfull and when you walked in there was bears and tigers which were really cute and we met the girl the runs the sanctuary on the over night train to lao and she told us all the bears were looked after which they were and they were all saved from poachers so that was nice. We then walked around this huge waterfull and walked up along the side of it and you had to walk throught small waterfulls on the edge of the cliff thing and it was very slippery but we all survived!! We also all went swimming in the swimming areas and its quite scary as im a big whoose with water and bugs and your in this lagoon you cant see your feed and your treading on rocks then you suddenly feel something brush against your leg i was hoping it was a fish not a water snake then you would see people jumping and making odd noises because they would feel it to! but we all decided it must have been big fish! and got out the water quickly! That night we went out for dinner with some people we met at the waterfull and we had a lao bbq thing and it was so much fun basically you have 2 bbqs on the table and there in circles and you fill the bottom up with hot water which is where you cook noodles, veg, morning glory hehe (it is a veg but made me chuckle) then on top you cook your meat and sea food and i always thought if you mixed raw meat cooked meat and sea food you would get food poisoning but luckerly we were all ok the next day! the meat we had buffilo, squid, chicken, prawns and lots of meat and sea food which i have never seen or tasted but it was all really nice! That night we heard about a night club which was meant to be quite good so we thought we would give it ago! when we got there we were the only western people in the club and they were having some karioki competition but over hear karioki is basically for professional singers you cant just jump up in a drunken state and try to sing! a while later people were on the dance floor and we thought we would strut our stuff with the lao people! it was so funny i think they were all taking the micky out of us and laughing at us but it was good. i was also on a mission to take photos of some lady boys as there was LOADS which will explain some random photos!!! The next day we went to a smaller waterfull which was compleatly different from the one the day before and when you arrive there is elephants and i fed and strocked them then one blew its snot all over me!! not just a little bit either it was rank as we walked down to the waterfull so did the elephants and people were swimming in the water then the elephants walked in and starting swimming and bathing and then they started pooing it was so funny people were in the water at the time and they were climbing up rocks and trying to get away from all the poo haha everytime i think about it it makes me laugh! thank god i wasnt in the water or it would be a different story! On sunday we decided to rent bikes and do the cultural bit and visit all the temples which was good fun. we went to 2 or 3 temples and they were so pretty covered in gold and the monks were walking around doing there chores it was really nice to see. one temple we went to they were all praying and chanting which again was nice to see then stacey dropped her bike and they looked around and laughed ops! Later on in the afternoon when it was cooler we walked up this big hill (more exercise) and on top of the hill is amazing views and there is a small temple and loads of golden buddahs. you can also walk in caves which is lit up by big golden buddahs it was really nice. in one of the caves was a foot print of a buddah which strangely was more like a monsters food it was huge like about 3-4 foot so i think that was a lie! In the evening we went to the market and had some street food it was only 5000 kip which is about 25p and it was really nice but i kept on finding bugs in mine then i ate a mouthfull and heard a bif crunch! so it put me off eating it! Finally we got a flight to hanoi in vietnam which is where i am now! the town is big, dirty and so much traffic you have to cross the road and dodge about 15 motabikes and a few cars but the traffic never stops so you just have to go and dont stop!!! we are planning to be here for a few days then take a trip to Halong bay and cat ba island as they seem nice! SO overall we are having a fantastic time met lots of people seen lots of things and its a real experience. Im having lots of trouble with my camera and cant get the images onto the computer but nore can stacey so guess its just this side of the world. UPDATE aparently its a virus the mans just done staceys so im going to see if he can fix mine so my photos might me on here or on a disk for when i get back! lots of love lynsey xxxxxxxx