So since I last wrote in here A LOT has happened...including travelling throughout Vietnam and crossing the border to Laos!
Sabadee from Laso!
Hoi An and the cooking class was a huuuge success! So much fun and we all, even though slightly biased, agreed that it was probably the best food we had ever tasted. We were given a recipe book so we could replicate when we got home, so fingers crossed. We all decided that after this huge success we deserved to celebrate it by going out that night and drinking too many buckets infront of the World Cup final...it was a good night.

The next day was a travel day to Hue, and i think for everyone it hurt! The best way to see the town was on the back of a motorbike. We hired out motorbike drivers for the day and went from sight to sight, and on several occasions were quite relieved that we had actually made it! I dont know that any of our driver had ever been taught how to ride a bike and passed a test. I would HATE to drive over here. There are just no road rules at all, and we have seen so many crashes between us all that it's starting to seem a bit tooo commonplace. The end of our motorbike tour took us to a dragonboat along the Perfume River-definately the most flattering view of Hue was on water. Hue was also the best place we had been to for a night out aswel, buckets again, and lots of good places for dancing.

We were all so glad to struggle through the final of our overnight trains to Hanoi, the Capital of Vietnam and our last destination. There happened to be a 21st. birthday in our group, so another excuse for a night out, but this was after seeing the dead body of Ho Chi Minh, and water puppet show where none of us had a clueee what was going on! The Old Town in Hanoi was amazing. It's nicknamed '36 streets' and each street sells a certain type of product...a silk street, a wood stret...etc and it was just always buzzing with street venders and energy.

I dont think any of us could beleve we had made it to Hanoi and we were going to have to say goodbye to people that weren't continuing on. I made some of the most amazing friends on this leg of the tour and i am already missing them so much! We have made plans though to travel Europe together sometime soon. Our final farewell took us to a kareoke bar....oh dear!

So now here i am in Laos. I think, from what i've seen so far, it's got the good bits of Vietnam in terms of the scenery, and the undiscovered nature of Cambodia, and all at a much slowed down pace. It's not a lie that it's known for its 'rubber time' but after the last few weeks of non-stop everything, i have embraced this quite happily!

Saying that we are about to head to Viang Vieng, which is famous for 'tubing': a whole day barcrawl down a river, in a rubber tyre. They drop you off at the top of the river, and down the 4km stretch you can stop off at as many bars and musbaths and you can handle...AMAZING!