Luang Phabang

We went to an amazing turquise waterfall today with bears and tigers (unfortunaly they were in a cage and not looking too happy!) but it was fun. We climed half way up the waterfall and had a little paddle in the pool up there. Jimmy and tom got all adventuroues looking over the edge , i swear they nearly fell!

The night market here was amazing and i brought myself a couple of prezzies (i've been so good about shopping so far. i deserved them!) The evenings here have been very mellow sitting around camp fires drinking beer and tucked up in bed just after midnight coz of the dam curfew. i feel like a kid again getting sent home to bed ha ha!

Me, Danielle and Jimmy got up at stupid o'clock this morning to see the monks giving arms. It was really intereasting seeing hundreds of monks parade down the street in their bright orange gowns holding there bronze pots. We donated them some rice and some kind of turkish delight looking thing. We were assured they'd like it....rather them than me lol!

The best place in the whole wide world!!!

I love it here...its amazing! The last few days have been fun. We currently traveling with an English guy, an Canadian guy and a crazy American which has made our time here fun! We spent the first day here sitting in tubes floating down the river with a beer in hand. What a genius idea...a river crawl. It couldn't have got much better but it did. At each bar there were zip lines and huge rope swings over the river. it was crazy. The more beer the more confident people became and technique developed from the simple swing and jump to flips and posses in mid air. i have a feeling we may be here for a while!!! Yesterday was tan topping up time so we found ourselves some hammocks by the river and didn't move from that spot till sun down. Easy life...people bring you food and beer so its all good.

Last night we decided to have a crazy one which started off with drinking bingo. 5 numbers you got a shot, 7 numbers a drink and 10 numbers a cocktail bucket. Somehow we manage to get them all (there was no cheating....honest! lol!!) Things just got messy from then on....

So today we hired bikes to go cave hunting which was cool. Lyndon managed to take us to the back of beyond through farmers fields and jungle. I don't think the others appreciated it due to their pounding heads (Thank god i don't get hangovers...i don't think id drink if i did!)

Now we've got a tough decision to make....how long to stay for??? we want to go and stay with the monkeys in the north but its so tempting to stay here a bit longer and go tubing again tomorrow....anyway a beer loas is calling me!

Vientiene - adios motorbikes!

wow! Vientiene seems so quite and peaceful compared to vietnam. What happened to all the motorbikes!!! I keep expecting to hear beeping horns everywhere but no just silence...whats going on. We spent a couple of days here which have been fun. not really done much apart from go out and sleep but its all good. Theres so many more travellers here so its been fun getting to know some new people. not really got much else to say just wanted to let you all know im still alive ha ha!!!

We've found the sun in Loas

Yey! we've found the sun. it'sn been well earnt after the freezing cold las few days in Vietnam! After Hanoi we flew back to Hue for a day. Didnt really ndo too much as we were both knacked and had colds :( Poor us, ha ha! Then yesterday we set off on what turned out to be a 12 hr bus journey across the boarder in to Savannakhet on a local bus. The bus was so uncomftable compared to the cheap tourist buses in Vietnam. We were both in grumpy moods....only to find out that we had to take a night bus up to Vientiane that evening. So we arrived in Vientiane this morning at 5am and have slept most the day away. But we woke up and its really sunny! so everythings alright now ha ha!

Halong Bay

Its been fun to stay on a ship over night in a pretty place but unfortunately i was disappointed with what i saw after everybody raved on so much about it. To be honest it reminded me of Krabi...big limestone cliffs surrounded by water. The trip was fun though. We were with 3 Aussies (well 1 Aussie and 2 kiwis....that kill me if they heard me say Aussies ha ha!) Our evening entertainment was martins guitar and Lewis lovely singing, or lack of it ha ha! I taught everyone to play animal snap after a few drinks and due to lots and lots of cheating a pennalty of performing the chicken dance was introduce. it was hilarious! Much to our amusement when me and Danielle finally went to bed (the boys stayed up singing) we realised that we had been entertaining the whole ship - ops! we'll at least Lewis crush on the Swedish girl was now public knowledge ha ha!

Hanoi - its an ace city!!!! u should go!

Hanoi has really suprised me! i had been told that it was an industrial city and that Ho Chi Minh was so much nicer. DON'T BELIEVE IT! Hanoi is lovely. The majority of the town is in the old Quarter or the French Quarter which is so pretty. Reminds me of studying the tudors at school! And people dont seem to hassle you as much here. The city has a very european feel to it. Theres a lake in the centre of town which gives the whole place a relaxed feel and we've found ourselves losing hours just bimberling around. This is the sort of place i could live!!!

We went to see Ho Chi Minh preserved body today which was eary! i'd never seen a dead body but to be honest it just looked like a wax model. No magets crawling out of his ears and all that. We went to the Hanoi prison too which was horrid. i wasnt too fond of it and some of the dark rooms were scary! Tonight we're off to see the famous 'Water puppets' show which should be fun and than another early morning as we're setting off to Ha long Bay (can't wait till we get to Loas and can have a lye in. Even if its just till 8am!!!)

Sapa - Treking in the misty hills

so.....we've just got back from a couple of days treking in the muddy hills of Sappa. Its been so much fun, almost like skiing and i only fell down once!!!! i thought that was good! The views were amazing, lol! (it was so misty that you could only see about 10 metres ahead of you). Our guide was a 15 year old girl from one of the local tribes. She was already married! can you believe it - how young! apparently most people marry at when there about 11! Shocking. We stayed the night with a local family who made us a feast and insisted on continually toasting us with rice wine - yuck! Although this trip was fun, im glad to be back in Hanoi where its warm and i no longer need to wear 5 layers of clothing (its reminded me so much of otc - i hadn't realised that miss it so much till now!)