Hue, Vietnam 17-18 April

After a gruelling overnight bus from Hanoi, 13 hours (in a bus that was DEFINATELY not the one on the picture that we signed up for), we (sleepily) arrived in Hue. Unfortunately we were fairly useless with taking our camera with us in Hue… so not many sightseeing photos! We took a cyclo around the citadel, this was previously the capital with a ten kilometre fence perimeter. It is also a place where thousands of Vietnamese people have died during the French and American invasions.

An American man we met randomly in a café told us an amazing story of how an older Vietnamese lady saved his life during the Vietnam war by hiding him and three other engineers in a secret tunnel in the ricepaddies and passing them food and water for four days before showing them the way back to the US camp (past the VC). For the past eight years he has lived in Vietnam six months of each year, teaching English to the locals for free.

Our last night in Hue was soured when two guys unsuccessfully and very obviously tried to pickpocket Jay’s wallet while one of the guys picked him.

Halong bay, Vietnam 15-16 April

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any colder we arrived in Halong Bay for our overnight boat cruise. Bikinis and boardies we had packed were not quite appropriate. The lime stone cliffs were gorgeous despite the rainy weather and we begrudgingly kayaked around a few of the islands! It was definitely worth it.

The boat was aptly called the Party Cruiser…so it only seemed fitting to make sure it lived up to its name and after a few games of four kings we well and truly had the party rocking! We had a ‘proper’ fantastic night with six northerners (UK). These six were Emma and Tom (AKA Taliban), Danny and Lee, John and Aisha.

Sapa, Vietnam 13-14 April

The amazing views of the endless rice paddies in the mountains was somewhat dampened by the cloudy weather. The trekking was not like other treks we had encountered. We had one main lady guide who spoke reasonable English and we also had had our little friend each (a little lady that shadowed your every step and by the end you had to purchase one of their hand knitted goods).

The home stay was a beautiful large house – a lot more modern than expected. The bamboo house did not leave Katie feeling secure for the hour-long, massive lightning storm. They could sleep up to 15 guests, we were fortunate to have a gorgeous Polish couple (Darek and Kate), as well as 3 Canadian ring ins, who happen to be sisters!

The second day of trekking was to be quite harder than the first day-however with regular stops as the cold weather and mist set in, it seemed quite easy. The scenery overall was simply magic. As we walked through the jungle, our guide told us about the small snakes that drop from the trees…Jayden definitely took some wide berths when unnecessary!

Hanoi, Vietnam 12-13 April

Hectic and bustling, the traffic and honking was an intense change to the slow pace of Laos. We wandered around the lake and sights and stayed at a hostel that had free beer!!

We saw the great man Ho, his body has been amazingly preserved. It was quite powerful walking in complete silence past his body (and the fourteen guards with bayonets).

Vientiane, Laos 10-12 April

We hired motorbikes with the family, Tristian, Adie (aussies), Matt (pom) and Kev (Canadian)out to Buddha Park. The trip was to take 20km, however with a couple of wrong turns and 55km later we ended up riding past small villages only to eventually ride straight to where we were suppose to be!!Qutie an enjoayable ride.

It was a scorching 40 degrees so we decided to take the direct route back to the city. We had read in our out of date guide book that the Australian Embassy had a pool open to the public. We rode around on the same street for ages, at least six u-turns before we spotted a definite-looking aussie opening a gate. We followed him in to find out the embassy was no longer open to public but had a short dip to cool off anyway.

Our last night with the family (before we headed different directions) was destined to be a big one... and it delivered! We finished the night at a Laos nightclub packed with locals... even Jay was a giant they were all so little!!!

Vang Vieng, Laos 6-10 April

Party central - party island (Yatesy I think you need to organise the footy trip here!). We went tubing on the first day. We have been looking forward to this for a jolly long time and it didn’t disappoint! You hire a tube, the tuk tuk drives you up the river right next to the first bar. There are bars on each side all providing various forms of entertainment. Free shots, plenty of beer, loud tunes pumping, massive rope swings, zip lining and slides, one called the death slide (where many people have come to grief).

Katie got the ball rolling, tackling every ride possible. It’s like a massive amusement park on water, you could imagine the look of excitement on Katie’s face, from start to finish. A huge party, all day, everyday. Adrienne provided us with the days first buster, by not letting go of the zip line-only to fall on her head. Kevin was then not to be out done. The force of the ‘stop’ on the zip line flipped him one and a half times through mid air before crashing into the water. We all abandoned that ride!!

A bike ride to the caves and the blue lagoon was unbearably hot- I think Jay wrung a litre of sweat from his shirt! Hottest day we have had by a streak. The road out there was comparable to riding on giant rocks. There was little to no sign posting which resulted in us getting conned into the wrong caves initially. The caves were humungous and the cool change was a needed relief.

Luang Prabang, Laos 2-6 April

We had an inside tip from a couple that we met in KL about a secret tier at the big waterfall and climbed through scrub and up a smaller waterfall to reach this secluded oasis- it was just heavenly, so peaceful and beautiful! Laos new year starts next week and is celebrated with massive waterfights but the waterfights have begun already. In our tuktuk our driver stopped on the bridge and we were ambushed by about ten cheeky kids who drenched us from point blank range. We were prepared the following day to take revenge and had eleven water bottles as our artillery and a tactical team unit ready to strike back! This was our introduction to Kevin (who has made the adopted family to 6) and how could he not resist liking us when our competitive side was in full flight.

We did some more bikeriding around Wats and out into the country side disturbed by Tristan getting a flat miles from anywhere. We relaxed at a great bar on the river, Eutopia where you lounged on triangle beds and played loads of cards. The noght market was bustling but Katie did not shop it up- must have been unwell…very unwell.

Luang Nam Tha, Laos 31 March-2 April

We met another travelling bud Matt on a death defying mini bus trip from the border. There was endless screeching of corners on the wrong side of the road, on a road equivalent to the great ocean road, however with incessant potholes. We are afraid to say that our new found friend is a pom but we will give him a chance!

Our first impression of Luang Nam Tha was very average and we considered leaving the next day. We hired our bikes, and to our surprise we came across some of the most magic scenery and small run villages. Which in turn kept us there for another night. It only got better when we ate at an Indian restaurant ( the best recorded meals for the trip) and only $20 for 5 people, including beers, rice and stacks of naan.

Chiang Rai, Thailand, 27-31 March 2010

There was a massive street party on the Saturday night, which we accidently found. The population is said to be around 40,000 people and we think there were around 20,000 thai with minimal tourists at the event. Dancing (mums sort of dancing!) around maypoles which looked like a typical Saturday night disco. Many food stalls including cooked grasshoppers on the spot-we weren’t at the stage of tasting these yet! But we did see a small child beg her mother for a cup full-we thought she won lotto when her mother gave in, haven’t seen someone so excited to eat bugs!!

Massive cool clock tower that lights up at night to go with regular fireworks and thousands of lanterns being released.

The Tom Karen tour (trek through villages) was amazing, and introduced us to our new adopted family in Tristan and Adrienne (Sydney). The trek begun with a leisurely boat ride up stream, to then meet elephants which we rode for a good half an hr. Not sure who smelt worse, Katie or the regular farting of the elephant! We then had lunch only to be interrupted by a huge storm. In this time Tom Karen introduced us to a delicacy of bamboo worms and rice whisky! After questioning Tom Karen about the food, he told us “we eat everything that flies except aeroplane”!

We trekked through Akha and Lahu villages before staying with Akha village for tea. We had a massive night cooking traditional foods, drinking plenty of Chang and talking in 3 different languages! Tom was translating these 3 languages for us and the hosts, especially with Jayden’s motor mouth and never ending card trick!

Visited the Golden Triangle which is where the 3 countries (Thailand, Burma and Laos) all meet at one point. It was quite an experience.

The long neck (rip off) tour was very disappointing, especially when they have had the rings on since they are 3 and Katie’s neck was longer than most! We visited the school in the village which was probably the highlight and Jayden gave them some Baranduda teaching tips. We were also disappointed that we chose this instead of the white temple which we later saw was so amazing.

We also visited the most trippy bar I’ve seen yet the TeePee bar which included scream masks, a noose in the toilet and would have been no bigger than a sauna.

Chiang Mai, Thailand, 25-27 March 2010

The plane was extremely pleasant as we had prepared ourselves for a 7 hr flight only to realise when we boarded it was only going to take 2 and a bit hrs!!

We took a Tuk Tuk around to have a look at the sights, we saw many temples, paper umbrella making, teak carvings and the gem and silver museaums.

The thai cooking class was a fabulous experience. It began at 9am and we were to pick out our 7 dishes that we wished to cook. Both of us chose different dishes and they were magnificent. Lookout Thai Puka you may have a challenger when we arrive home. We used some extremely unusual looking vegetables, one was a mushroom that looked like an elephant ear and had a rubbery texture. We couldn’t believe how quick it was to cook all the meals and by the end of the day after sampling our 7 dishes and everyone elses, we all needed to be airlifted back to our guesthouse!

Tiger Kingdom was brilliant in the sense we got to play with 3 medium sized tigers aged about one. Didn’t take Jayden long to find a new set of tiger mates!!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 22-25 March 2010

We started our travels at Matahari Lodge in Chinatown, just near Pasar Seni Station.

Chinatown and the pettalling markets was a smaller version of Koh Sahn Road and equally as hectic.

We discussed easing our way into the asian cusine in length before finding ourselves the only foreigners in a street stall with pork and chicken dishes on the way. The same place was packed with local schoolkids who could barely stop staring at us to eat their meals.

We bussed to the Batu Caves where there was also an attraction to the monkeys living there. The caves were somewhat impressive, however the mood was somewhat spoilt by the tacky shops, selling flashing figurines. We timed it perfectly to leave as a deluge of rain fell and begun blocking roads. Some cheeky ‘P’ platers thought it would be nice to drive through the puddles and plash us! They must have realised how mad Jayden was as they came back to appolagise before finding their next victim!!

We were surprised that at each monorail stop they announced to be wary of pickpockets- and of course, mind the gap!

An early 2am departure from our guesthouse to the airport after our air asia flight was re-scheduled!