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Good Morning Vietnam, Good Evening Laos Hello All; apologies that it has been a long time but we have been rather busy! On the last blog we had just left China and arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam with only a limited plan. Basically following a day in Hanoi mooching about and ...shopping,(both very easy to do there), we ended up going on a tour to halong bay on the understanding that it was generally the easiest way to see it and to stay on a junk etc. The tour was good in so far as the scenery and the fellow travellers we met, but left a sour taste with respect to how it was run, not really our style of thing. A s*** rep and two guest having money stolen on the boat seriously not helping matters.That said we reclaimed the experience by taking our selves off sea kayaking for an afternoon.The rep tried to dissuade us from trying to canoe to 'Monkey Island' near Cat ba so that he could sell a tour there, and said that it would take 4 hours to canoe. Well we were not to be put off as I had a version of planet of the apes in mind with monkey policemen and monkey teachers etc, and as it turned out we made the trip in 25 minute and had time to see the monkeys as well as explore elsewhere.
We had another day in Hanoi on our return and decided to head to Hoi An on peoples recommendation, again we got a bit scammed as the vip 12 hour bus we were sold ended up being a 24hr bench over the bus engine with 4 other people with the brakes lights showing every time it braked... Kirst says she is not doing it again…
Trials and tribulations aside we made it there eventually and the two nights wehad intended to stay became 5 as it was so nice. A beautiful relaxed town where you can get a tailors shirt made for 7 quid, great food and beach and lots of other things to see. One day we hired a Moped and rode ourselves eventually to the My Son ruins (having got lost only twice... my bad!). In short I drove and Kirsty 'helped' by shouting_everything she perceived to be a danger in my left ear almost constantly it seemed... including at our point ...PIG!!! as the 20 stone porker leapt out of the back of a trailer to avoid the evening menu and was then chased benny hill style down the road by 10 Vietnamese.
From Hoi An we had a flying day and flew to hanoi and on to Laos in one day to where we now rest in Luang Prabang. Laos is a stunning country so far and a lot more laid back than vietnam. We saw the monks morning tithe on our second day here (5am start, cheers kirst) and then took a 8 hour boat north to Nong Kiaw up into the wild country. Luang Prabang is very pretty but when you get this far north the countryside is amazing. The following day we did a day trip with guide to 100 waterfalls which though very hot was great and the laos version of packed lunch worth the trip alone! Not happy with our adventures to that point we managed to get another boat further north again to Moung Noy which is the start of the middle of nowhere. That day we took ourselves off on a well known trek to a local cave you can swim in and then on through the rice fields to the village of Ban Na, by this point people are staring at the strange falang (foreigners). The Day was finished off with dinner on the riverside and from there we have made our way back to Luang Prabang from where the adventures will continue....
We'll be in touch soon
Ian and Kirst. xx
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