Hoi An, Vietnam

Well, haven't we had some interesting adventures on our slow journey around Vietnam? (It was a rhetorical question, no need to answer it...) It all started going pear-shaped when the two misguided adventurers decided to try to do it themselves, avoid the vulture-like locals, and get their own way to one of the world's most beautiful places - Halong Bay. It was nice - the 20 or so minutes we saw of it from a distance in the rain. Really nice. (Sarcasm intended). Debacle is a word that sums up the 8 hour return bus trip crammed in with fighting, spitting, hustling locals - and I mean crammed and I mean hustling. (No sarcasm intended) These guys will scam money out of you faster than you can say 'Visa Card.' The ten-seater bus held at least 25 people, sometimes more, along with all of their luggage - a big screen tv, bundles of clothes, suitcases. I was disappointed at the absence of chickens and goats. In all, we missed sailing through the most beautiful place on earth because the bus kept stopping to cram more people on. We arrived to find that the boat had left without us... We hung our heads in defeat and headed back to Hanoi.

After our untriumphant return to Hanoi, we got drunk. Very drunk. It helped a little. Even the serious hangovers on the bus south to Dong Ha were an outrageously pleasant sensation compared to our experiences on the previous day.

Dong Ha was excellent. We chased Charlie through the underground tunnels dug by the Viet Cong in Vinh Moc. They were crammed, damp and dark. It was amazing to see this elaborate system of tunnels dug straight into the clay earth. It was even more amazing to be sent out to explore the place on your own. The kilometres of tunnels housed hundreds of villagers and Viet Cong soldiers for five years. Carved into thr tunnel walls were family rooms, wells, washing rooms, baby delivery rooms (17 babies born underground!) conference rooms, armouries, even a hall for showing films and cultural events. Impressive stuff!

We moved onto Hue to explore the ancient ruins of the Vietnamese Imperial Citadel. Most of it got destroyed in the recent wars which is sad to see. It would have been very beautiful in its day. Now we find ourselves in Hoi An, getting measured up for tailor-made clothes for next to nothing. The inner thigh measurements were Dennis' highlight! After a bit of R&R (Read: Drinking) we will continue our journey south. Adios.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Congratulations to Bob and Nic on the birth of their daughter Mia Ruby!!!! Wishing we could be there.

After Luang Prabang, we headed to Phonsovan to see the most heavily bombed part of the world - North Eastern Laos. It was interesting and slightly disturbing to see how the villagers use the bomb casings to build and decorate their homes. They use pineapple cluster bombs as ashtrays, bomb casings as table legs, fences - just about everything made of metal has been supplied by the US government. It's scary to walk around the place, because only 10% of the country has been cleared of unexploded bombs. They still present a very real threat to locals as these things are just out there, buried in rice paddies or lying on the ground just waiting to go off. Scary!!!

Laos is now far behind us. We managed to do a border crossing without even getting shot at, which was nice. Our first stop in Vietnam was Tam Coc, where we took a disney-esque boat trip through some beautiful limestone caves surrounded by rice paddies and cliffs. This was after visiting a so called 'floating village', Kenh Ga, where mobs of kids tried to pick pocket us (unsuccessfully). We braved the traffic and hired our own scooter and rode with the best of them! Vietnamese traffic is seriously mental.

We are currently enjoying the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, the northern capital of Vietnam. It is a pretty cool place (literally) as we are currently experiencing the winter monsoon. The best advice we were given to cross the streets here was to close our eyes and hope for the best. The etiquette for crossing the road is to walk out slowly and at an even pace into the traffic and cross your fingers as cars, buses, motorbikes and push bikes speed on past only centimetres away from you. It's great fun. We do it just for kicks, especially at peak hour! Apart from the traffic, Hanoi is great for shopping and drinking cheap home brew (20c a glass). We're loving Hanoi.

Hope everyone's well - we are - and we'll add photos ASAP as this computer won't let us. Take care.

Laos

Welcome to Laos, one of the most undeveloped and sparsely populated countries in the world. It is a step back in time to travel around this place. The village way of life still predominates, major roads are unsealed, foreigners are a bit of a novelty.

We crossed into Laos from Northern Thailand and our first journey into the country was a 10 hour bus trip over 180 km of haemmeroid inducing, gut shaking, bone crunching road to our first real stop - Luang Nam Tha. Here, we hung out with the locals and got a first hand glimpse of remote hill tribes and their trading practices. The kids were terrified of the Falang (foreigners) and it took a while before they would even come near us. There was a lot of staring, which seems to be the way people communicate with us here! That evening we shared a meal of chicken soup and rice whisky on a bamboo mat in a village with some locals. Again, more staring, particularly at the female falang! It was an insight into their way of living.

Our journey eastward to Nong Khiaw was a harrowing experience. After a 4 hour bus ride, where the locals displayed an unnerving propensity to vomit en-masse while the bus driver impersonated Speed Racer, making the bus lurch and change direction violently at each sharp curve, we reached Udomxai. Our next ride saw us hanging out of the back of a ute (Laos taxi!) as we crossed some pretty serious mountains. We drove through torrential rain, lightning and thunder (yes - we were still hanging out of the back!) and 3 and a half hours later, arrived a Nong Khiaw, chilled and drenched to the bone. At least we weren't alone - our backpacks and their contents had been drenched too. Nong Khiaw was spectacular; a little village nestled in between huge limestone mountains with a river that ran through the centre of town.

After a few days of drying our clothes and books, we caught a longboat 6 hours downstream to the beautiful town of Luang Prabang. You may actually be able to find this one on a map. The night markets are fantastic and we plan to spend up big time. Andrea has gained permission to lose control and plans to make the most of it.

The Dark Depths of Asia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments for us. It is fantastic to keep in touch and still know what is going on in our 'normal' lives while we are away. Great to hear all the news. Scroll down the page to see more photos if you haven't already seen them.

We are about to cross the border from Thailand into Laos. It is only a stone's throw across the Mekong River.

After Australia Day, we moved on to see some ancient ruins in Ayuthya and Sukothai. We rode around these cities on pushbikes, as the flat terrain is very conducive to an afternoon of mild physical activity. In Ayuthya however, our lovely afternoon pedal turned into a bit of a Tour de France (or Thailand) as we somehow ended up riding about 20km out of town. We knew there was something wrong when the ruins and temples petered out and were replaced by the faces of locals looking at us strangely. We knew we were lost when they started getting genuinely excited to see us. Dennis' directional abilities have lacked their usual lustre of late.

We then ended up in Chiang Mai, discussing deep and meaningful philosophies with Buddhist Monks in a program called 'Monk Chat'. The program teaches monks how to speak English by exposing them to interested foreigners. It was a very interesting way to spend an afternoon.

Today, we have travelled 7 hours (from 6am) through the jungle mountains in the North of Thailand in a rickety old bus, with the locals. It makes for a very uncomfortable trip when the seats are made for skinny people!!! (more to the point -not for Andrea) Next trip we'll book the back seat! Even Dennis found the seats to be extremely narrow. We will be in Laos for the next week. As we're unsure of the state of the internet there, we may not update for the next couple of days. Until later, you guys play nice.