The flight to Chiang Mai was very smooth, and extremely preferable to the alternative - a 30hr journey via bus and train. Having spent the past week hopping about from place to place, we decided to spend 5 days in Chiang Mai, and it proved to be a good decision.

Our time in Chiang Mai consisted of visiting the numerous temples, watching a Muay Thai fight (Thailand's national sport), wandering through the night market, watching Chiang Mai FC play out a 1-1 draw, riding, washing and training elephants, as well as teaching an American the rules of rugby in an Irish bar whilst watching England beat Wales.

Our time in Chiang Mai was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip so far, and the fact that it has a small, walled centre makes it easy to navigate. Our visit was also undoubtedly faciliated by the fact that we could call on Paul, who had written a travel guide for Chiang Mai, and ask him for advice on the area.

After 5 days however it was time to move on, and we headed towards Laos, taking two buses from Chiang Mai to the Thai/Laotian border. Having spent a night at a guesthouse overlooking the Mekong River, we headed to the Laos border, where we would spend three hours waiting for our entrance visa to be granted. The delay meant that we missed the 2 day slowboat to Luang Prabang in Laos, and so we decided to take the 15 hour overnight bus, which at the time seemed like the better decision.

After a journey that saw Laotian people crammed in the coach's aisle on plastic stools, vomiting kids, the wreckage of a lorry on the side of the 'road' and 8 hours on a winding, bumpy dirt track, we decided we would probably avoid coaches in Laos.

Luang Prabang itself was very pleasant, and we spent three days there cycling along the Mekong, visiting the night market (where every stall sold the same thing - first evidence of communism in practise?) and going to the only place that stayed open past midnight - the bowling alley.

There is nothing wrong with Laos, and the likes of Vang Vieng and Vientiane are undoubtedly nice places, but the problem with the country is its lack of infrastructure and mountainous terrain, which means that it takes an inordinate amount of time to get anywhere by land - our 15 hour journey saw us only complete 505km.

Rather than take a 30 hour coach to Hanoi in Vietnam, we booked a flight there instead, which saved us 29 hours and 20 minutes. The flight was extremely smooth, and a mistake in our visa application (we had set our 'valid from' date as the 16th March, but flew out on the 14th) was thankfully negotiated at Hanoi airport.

Our first day in Vietnam has seen us explore the capital, looking predominantly at museums and tributes to the various wars Vietnam has fought in the past century - it is particularly interesting to see Vietnam's take on the war with America.

Hanoi is definitely a very modern city with a big French influence, and it is probably very different to what those alive during the Vietnamese war imagine it to be.

It is a country that has a huge amount to do, and our plan is to visit Halong Bay, before heading south on the train to the likes of Hoi An, Hue, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh.