The Big Trip...

Hey everyone

So i left Hue after 24 hours...there just wasnt much to see there. I spent my one and only evening chiling out in a bar with a group of people also travelling alone which was really lovely. Having not met many people in Vietnam, it was nice to be part of a group again!

Anyway, I got teh bus to Hoi An, and after 5 hours of sitting next to some vietnamese grandmother, listing to a vietnamese comedy show on the TV (lets just say nobody was laughing as the bus was 90% tourists), i arrived into Hoi An.

Hoi An in a really beautiful town, with ancient buildings, set on a lovely lake. Even the motorbikes are less annoying here! Anyway, after checking into my hotel (which is lovely and right in the centre) i headed straight to the tailers!

So..over the past few days i have bought: 3 pairs of trousers, 4 shirts, 4 skirts, 2 tops, 1 pair shorts, 1 winter coat, 1 pair knee high boots and 1 pair of shoes! Excellent. Oh, and then i made a trip to the post office to send it all home cause there is absolutely no way i can carry it around me with (all bar 2 tops and 1 skirt..cause its nice to look nice once in a while ) I do think that the post office in Hoi An is the only post office in the entire world that is open 7 days a week, from 7am to 10pm. Craziness!

At night i have been meeting up with some girls i met, Sarah Jane and Holly, from London, and going out for lovely dinners by the lake. Its all very pleasant here.

Tomorrow i am flying back to bangkok because i have had enough of Vietnam, and from Bangkok i'm going to head to Cambodia.

Keep in touch xxxxxxxxx

Hey everyone

So I'm in Vietnam now. And what do I think of it? Well...cant say i'm its biggest fan. Before i arrived i was prepared for thinking this as I had heard mixed reports about the country, but I won't make a final decision until I have left.

Probably one of the reasons why i'm not loving it here is that sitting in Laos airport i suddenly felt really really ill. After phoning mum and worrying her i checked myself into airport exec loungs (that cost me $2) and tried to calm down.

The flight was fine, and i felt a bit better. On arrival into Hanoi i was pleasantly surprised with how advanced everything was...they have proper roads, lighting, infrastructure..the works. I really did not expect that. After leaving the airport, me, 2 japanese people and some vietnamese woman were all sitting in the minibus waiting for it to leave when we were told it would be another hour's wait. Having none of that, we all piled into a taxi to the city. The taxi dropped us off at a random point that was helpful to NONE of us. Someone then shoved a flyer into my hand for a guesthouse that looked alrite, so i jumped on the back of his motorbike (yes, thats how everyone gets around here and it scares me senseless) with my rucksack and off we went. The room was fine and i was so excited to sleep. But then i felt really ill again and it was another sleepless night for me.

The next day in Hanoi I just wandered around the city. But whatever bug i had was refusing to shift so after another phonecall to my poor mother (i actually cant help it when i'm ill...i gotta talk to her!) with me moaning that I wanted to come home and her trying to convince me otherwise (i swear, you'd think it would be the other way round!) i sat myself down in a comfy cafe for the rest of the day with a trashy novel. Bliss.

After such a wasted day, i was determined not to let it spoil my next day. I was off to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is about a 3 hour drive from Hanoi and is made up of over 3000 islands. There are loads of legends about the Bay and how it was formed, and its something to do with a dragon...i really couldnt follow it though!

I only spent the day there and that was enough for me. We sailed through the islands, visited a kiatdergarten school (the the British Embassy bought, wouldn't you know!) and clambered our way through some magnificant caves. It really was lovely.

By the time we arrived back into Hanoi at 7pm, i was exhausted so i grabbed some dinner and settled in for an early night.

Today I was up at 4am!!!! to catch my flight to Hue. I decided to fly rather than take the train simply because the train takes 14 hours and costs only $15 less than the 1 hour flight. Sweet.

I arrived into Hue at 7:30am and went straight to my guesthouse which is fine. Still not feeling 100% so am taking it easy for the most part. I went to the Citadel today which is a city within a city. Created in 1804, it is still really beautiful even though it was bombed quite a lot by the Americans. I had a wander around this area for an hour or so and then walked through the markets of Hue. Apparantly this is the best place in Vietnam to buy conical hats and although I desperately want one, somehow i dont think (a) i would look good in it (b) the vietnamese would be impressed and (c) i would be able to get it home in one piece.

The main thing about Vietnam that i do not like is the traffic and it seems to have follwed me to Hue! There are 3 things i do not like
1) you can never cross the road or when you do its whilst praying because there are no traffic lights and 1000's of motors on the road!
2) Vietnamese drivers are really really impatient and they constatly beep their horns to make drivers get out of the way - its sooooo annoying
3) the motorbike drivers are infuriatingly annoying as every 2 seconds i am approached asking if i want a lift anywhere...i feel like wearing a sign saying 'no, i want to walk thanks'. (However, it is a good conversation starter with other travllers as we all have a mutual hatred for the drivers!)

Ok, after that rant, i just want to say that although the traffic annoys me, the thing that everyone said would get to me the most was the people. I have heard that they lie and steal from you, but so far everyone has been so friendly and lovely (apart from the motorbike drivers!) and if anything, have made my stay in Vietnam more enjoyable.

Okay..thats all for now. Tomorrow I am heading to Hoi An to get some clothes made for me

Hope everyone is doing well at home

Love Danielle xxxxxxx

Very quick entry here...

My second last night in Laos and i mwet up with Hans and Jo. We went out for a great dinner then settled into my new favourite Bar to watch a movie. Its all very exiting stuff in Laos (well the country has an 11.30pm curfew!)

The following day I changed hostels again after the worst nights sleep ever! Upping my price to now $15 a night (and people thin laos is cheap..i tell you, i resent paying 7 pounds 50p for a room) i had a beautiful room 2 doors down from my last hostel. I spent teh day with Jo and Hans, going to see more temples before our final dinenr together and an early night all round.

On my final day in laos i met up with my friend Mike (whom i met in Fiji) for lunch and then took a tuk tuk to teh airport and it was farewell to Laos.

Great Country, great people...everyone should visit.

Sabaidee everyone! (that means hello in Laos)

Well, i know i have not updated for my entire time in laso, and this is because its been a really relaxed and chilled out week and there has not been too much to report...so i thought i would condense it into one blog entry.

Luang Prabang (LP) is an absolutely stunning french colonial town set upon the Mekong River. On our first night there a big group of us went out for dinner adn then had an early night as we were exhausted from our previous bad night's sleep in Pak Beng.

On my first full day in LP i just chilled out...sat by the river bank and read my book, had a tradittional lao massage and people watched from the quaint cafe's. At night a group of us went to the food amrket for noodle soup and then had a wander round the textile night market. Textiles is amajor industry in laos so it only seemed right to give back to the community and treat myself to a handwoven silk scarf!

Day 2 in Lp and we all hopped into a tuk tuk to take us to Tat Kuang Si. This is a multi tiered beautiful waterfall about 1 hour outside LP. We spent the best part of the day swimming there and en route back to LP we stopped at a laos village which was really interesting. AT night we all just went out for dinner again and wen to a bar. Everything closes in Laos at 11.30 due to government legislation so there s not too much to do at night (which is fine).

Day 3 in LP and i decided to be active and see the city. I visited the Royal Palace Museam, Wat Xieng Thong (probably the most beautiful temple i have ever seen) and i climed Phu Si (2000 steps..not so easy!). This gives great views over teh city and has some unique temples at the top.

I left LP the follwing morning for Vang Vieng. This was a 5 hour bus journey and was surprising fine (apart from the mountain road that left me almost throwing up!) On arrival into VV i was dissapointed. We had left this beautiful quaint town and arrived in a touristy building site, where every restaurant shows friends on widescreen tvs. I spent the afternoon trying to find a half decent place to stay and then met up with the dutch couple and olga for dinner.
Then me and Olga went to a bar which was full of backpackers and i felt like i was in Australia again..very strange.

I only had one full day in VV and i spent it tubing on the river. The tuk tuk drives u 3 kilometres upstreamand u float all teh way back to teh start. This started really fun and you can go along loads of ziplines over the river, and there are bars and restaurants all the way along so you can stop and just relax for a while. Then the weather changed and it got cloudy and the wind picked up and started to blow us the wrong way!! It was not amusing..there we were..the 4 of us frantically paddling to stopus from going in the wrong direction! Eventually we gave up and got out of the river, grabbed a tuk tuk and headed back home.

That night we sat and watched friends in a restaurant for about 2 hours (you think thats bad..the guy sitting next to me had been there for 11!) and had an early night.

The next morning i caught the bus to Vientiene. This bus journey was not as good as the previous one as it was hot, cramped and took twice as long as it should have...oh well..the joy of public transport in Laos. I arrived late afternoon, checked into my guesthouse and me Olga for dinner. WE had a great meal (the food here is awesome!) and then we wernt to a bar called the Chicago Bar where we put on a movie on the wide screen, sat on compfy sofas watching it and sipped on cocktails..all for less than 1pound!

Today I got up early and checked into a cheaper guesthouse and then set off on a supposadly 6 hour walk arounda ll the cites of the city. It took me 2 and a half hours (i have no idea where tehy got 6 hours from - the city is small). I visited Patuxai (which looks like teh Arc de Triuph in Paris) and climbed up it to get great views of the city. Then i walked throuhg some markets and onto That Dam which is one of VIetiene's oldest Buddist stupas. I then visited a couple more temples and some big foutain in the centre, before going to JoMa's cafe (such a good palce..its a chain here) for lunch and a read of the Laos times (which is in english). Thats about it for Laos so far...I leave for Vietnam on the 29th.

Till next time
Danielle xxx

Hey everyone

So, I have just spent the past 3 days travelling by bus and boat, and although the scenery was amazing..ther novelty wears off after about 1 day of it!

Anyway, here's how the last 3 days panned out...

I was up really early to be picked up by the shuttle bus that would take us to the Thai border. The bus (which was supposed to come at 8am) finally turned up at 10am. It was one of those little minibuses with no aircon and no radio..oh, and it was full to maximum capacity. There we were, 9 of us, crammed in like sardines, absolutely sweltering and stuck on this bus until 6pm. Great. Actually, it was fine because the people were a good laugh and we did a couple of stops at some random markets where the bus driver gets commission if we buy anything. We had a little fight with the driver cause he kept stopping at travel agents trying to get us to buy Laos visas off them for more than the price at the border, because then he gets commission. When we refused, he took a strop and started driving really erratically from then on.

We arrived into Chiang Khong at around 6pm and went straight to the guesthouse which was basic but perfectly fine. Once again we were tried to buy a visa but we were having none of it. We all went to bed early anticipating the boat trip to follow.

We were all up early again to go to the border crossing and this went smoothly and was much cheaper than at any travel agent. Needless to say we were very pleased with ourselves for standing our ground. After being stamped out of Thailand, we got a short boat ride over to Laos where we got stamped in. The we boarded a long boat that would be home for the next 2days. This boat can fit about 150 people sitting, and i reckon there were about 200 people on the boat. The seats are wooden and lined up so that there is pretty much no leg room and they are probably the most uncomfortable woodenbenches you have ever sat on. So, teh 2 days passed relatively slowely as we all tried to find a position that didnt kill our backs.

Halfway through the trip we stopped at a place called Pak Beng for the night. It was adequate (but for 100baht a night you can't really complain!) and a group of us went out for a nice dinner. What wasn;t so great was the electrical storm later on that shut off all power! It was an experience.

Day 2 on the boat was pretty much the same as day 1 and we arrived into Luang Prabang at 6pm. Luang Prabang is such a lovely quaint town and i'm going to spend a few days here to chill out. The main street is lined with lovely antique shops and smart restaurants that only cost about 3 pounds for a meal. The guesthouse that i am staying at only have 4 rooms, so a group of us are all staying there which is nice.

Hope all is good at home

love Danielle xxx