Vietnam

Hoan Kim Lake in the heart of the Old Quarter of Hanoi

We arrived in the tiny Vientaine International Airport in plenty of time and before long we were winging our way to Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. We had barely taken off before we seemed to be making our way back down, and I decided to whip out the trusty Lonely Planet and see if we could rustle up somewhere to stay.

We settled on a place which sounded good and, after collecting our bags and changing a small amount of money we hopped into a waiting taxi and sped off. I had read about scams which go on in Hanoi and more particularily Ho Chi Minh City whereby the taxi driver will take you to another hotel which pays him commision and tell you the place you are after is dirty, closed down or any other nosense they can come up with to get you go elsewhere. So when we pulled up to a hotel we didn't want to go to I wasn't surprised. I didn't think our driver even listened to us telling him the name of the place we were after. The proprietor of the place we didn't want to go to came out and opened my door. I told him the name of where we were really trying to go and he said "this is it". I pointed to the name above the door of his establishment and said we were looking for a different place. He told me not to worry, the name above his door was "just a nickname". Good one. I closed the door and we drove off into the sunset.

Hoan Kim Lake as seen from the restaurant we ate in.

After one more stop at a commission paying place we got it straight with the driver that we wanted to go to a specific address so he took us there directly. We hopped out and slung our bags on our backs and marched down the filthy alley which (we hopped) had a beautiful guesthouse at the end of it. We all felt a little nervous I think, given that it was after 8 and was dark, and Hanoi's a pretty hectic place. We headed down the alley and came to the place we were looking for, but it was closed down for refurbishments. Fantastic! Thankfully there were a few other places nearby and we checked out one of them but it was full. The owner knew another place and she rang them and we all marched off with our bags on our backs. When we arrived we discovered that she had forgot to ask if there were rooms available when she rang (I don't know what she actually asked) so we had to traipse all the way back over to her place because she assured us she knew another hotel. Off we went and this time Steven and I waited with the bags while Donna and Sheena checked out the standards of the next place. We waited, exhausted for what seemed like ages, both hoping the place would be acceptable. We were both relieved to learn that the girls had given it the all clear, so we set off again with our 20 KG bags on our back. Unfortunately that place wasd only available for one night, but guess what?...they knew someone else too. And so the Paradise Hotel became our home for our first night in Vietnam.

Next morning we arose relatively early and made our way to the Sunrise Hotel and negotiated them down to a not too steep price of US$11 per double room per night (the Paradise had been $17). We were trying to be proactive in Vietnam, knowing we only had twenty days there so the next day's plan involved a trip to the train station. First we checked the prices with a few agencies in Hanoi Old Quarter (where we were staying) and they were more expensive then what we were quoted in the Lonely Planet so thinking we could get ourselves a bargain and trying to be independant we made our way to the train station. It turned out to be somewhat confusing. The ticket prices were around the same as the agency had quoted and we were also being told that we couldn't buy "soft sleeper" bad only the far more uncomfortable "hard sleeper". The staff there also were obviously not used to dealing with English speakers.

After our failed attempt to get tickets for ourselves we took some time out to walk alongside Hoan Kiem Lake around which the Old Quarter is located. We relaxed with a can of 7Up on a bench beside the lake and then crossed the Huc Bridge onto a small island on the lake to view the Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple. The temple was nothing too spectacular but there were a few pairs of old men playing Chinese Chess which was interesting to see. I was tempted to challenge one of them but being that I'm not too sure of the rules of Chinese Chess I decided against it. They wouldn't have stood a chance against me anyway.

Hoan Kiem Lake after night had fallen.

After this we crossed the road and walked up the street a little to the Municipal Water Puppet Theatre. Water Puppetry is an ancient artform originating in Northern Vietnam and it was very entertaining indeed. There were a number of different vignettes including a boy returning from university and the ensuing celebration, the battle between a fisherman and his prey, a farmer fighting against a cat who was destroying his crops and some sort of fire breathing dragons doing a funky dance (they really were fire breathing, which was quite a cool effect).The puppet masters were very skilful; they use long poles to control the puppets from behind a curtain and the water (which forms the stage) is murky so as to hide the workings. Apparently the puppet masters used to suffer many ill effects from being immersed in water all day so they now wear thigh high waders. The music is also an important part of the performance and is played live by musicians to the side of the stage. It was a high point of the performance for me although the level was a little ear piercing at times.

After the Water Puppet show we went to a nearby restaurant which had a great view of Hoan Kiem Lake. There was also a football match between Vietnam and I forget who on the TV. Vietnam scored about three goals in the first half which was enjoyable to see. Unfortunately the atmosphere wasn't exactly electric as most of the clientel seemed to be Americans who didn't give a shit if their host nation were involved in a momentous sporting occasion. We had a meal there and then headed back to the hotel on a cyclo (pronounced by the locals as siclo. A cyclo is another name for a rickshaw with the seat in front of the bike).

Traffic in Hanoi is a little crazy.

Next morning we got up and proceeded to a travel agency and booked our train tickets to Hue for Saturday the 28^th of October. We also booked a trip to Halong Bay for the 27^th which we would be arriving back from a few hours before our train journey. Afterwards we went out on the street and negotiated with a pair of cyclo drivers for a trip to the Museum of Vietnamese History. The cyclos in Hanoi can carry up to two passsengers (at a bit of a squeeze) so we got two drivers to team up and chaffeur the four of us to our destination.

Me and Sheena in Our Cyclo.

When we did arrive at our destination (after a couple of near death experiences) our driver insisted he would wait for us and we could pay him later. We then discovered that the Museum of Vietnamese History was closed for lunch. We would have known that had we checked the Lonely Planet, but having neglected to do our research we were left feeling a little silly. Thankfully our cyclo driver came to the rescue, letting us know that he would be willing to take us to the Temple of Literature and then back to the Museum of Vietnamese History (for an extra payment, of course). We spent a few moments negotiating what the final payment would be, and settled on a mere 100,000 Dong (five euros) for each cyclo. So we set off on another death defying journey across town and arrived safely at the Temple of Literature. This temple was founded in 1070 and dedictated to Confucius and included some fine examples of ancient Vietnamese architecture. It was built to honour the scholars and men of literary achievment. In 1076 Vietnam's first university was founded there. (I didn't learn this information off by heart, I have the Lonely Planet sitting beside me).

Some of the grounds of the Temple of Literature.

For some reason tortoises are somewhat respected in Vietnamese culture and the names of the people who received doctorates at the university were recorded on stones atop the tortoises pictures here.

After the Temple of Literature we met up with our drivers again and the took us back over to the history museum. It was a little dull, dealing with ancient histroy and featuring a lot of ancient tools and jewelery etc. which had been excavated from various sites around Vietnam. We unfortunately had no time for the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution which would have held more interest I believe.We then took our cyclo back to the edge of Hoan Kiem Lake and whipped out our money to pay our drivers. As it turned out there had been an apparent miscommunication and our driver began demanding an extra 20,000 dong on top of the 100,000 we had already arranged. We had agreed on 20,000 for the initial trip to the history museum and it turned out we had not been clear enough in that the 100,000 was for the whole trip. We had made this quite clear by means of a pen and a map but he was chancing his arm anyway. We kept repeated ourselves reminding him of how I had pointed out on the map the journey which we would be paying 100,000 for and when he became aware that he'd only be getting what we'd agreed on he said “okay 10,000, very cheap”. We high tailed it out of there leaving him rather annoyed.

High jinks at the circus.

Later that evening we went to the circus which was very entertaining. It had a story running throughout involving some sort of emperor with a big long beard and moustache and some sort of bad guys who were dressed as lizards, turtles and a whole host of other animal costumes. We didn't understand all of the story, being that it was in Vietnamese, but we were able to follow the gist of it. As part of the story there was the usual athletic displays of gymnastic ability along with elephants, dogs, goats and other animals performing tricks. It was an enjoyable night although, perhaps like all circuses some of it seemed a little cruel (such as the aligator wrestling, which involved one of the guys lifting the aligator out of the water and holding him out for us all to see).

This was the head of the bad guys with some of his cronies in the background.

The next day was Friday the 27^th of October and we were up before 7 so we could have breakfast in time for our 8 AM minibus to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is about three hours north of Hanoi and the journey was relatively comfortable. We arrived about 11:30 having taken a short break around the half way mark and waited in the harbour while our guide arranged our boat. We didn't have to wait long and soon we were boarding via a narrow wooden plank. Two of the deckhands held a bamboo pole at either end of the plank to use as a bannister. Our guide turned out to be a bit of a plonker. He wasn't the worst guy I suppose, I just thought he seemed a bit bad tempered and he got annoyed when I asked him to run through our itinerary becaused he'd already said it. I just wanted to clarify something and he said “I have already explained it clearly”. We were also a little annoyed because we wanted access to our cabins straight away (we were going to be sleeping on the boat) but for some reason we couldn't leave our bags into them until after our lunch. Lunch wasn't for a few hours so we entertained ourselves by relaxing on the upper deck of the boat. The views were amazing. Halong Bay is a very popular spot on the tourist trail and we counted at least forty other boats over the weekend.

Our boat was similar to this one.

All the boats in the background to the left would have had about 12 tourists on board. Quite a prosperous tourism industry has grown up around Halong Bay.

Our first stop was at a large network of caves. The were quite cool although at one stage I knocked on a large boulder and got the distinct impression it was made of plastic. Some of the rock formations looked like dragons and our guide pointed out another set which looked like an old married couple. It is said by Vietnamese people that Halong Bay was formed when a dragon used the route as an escape into the sea. The mountains and valleys were formed by his tail and body in their hurry.

This was the view from where we exited the caves.

Our lunch consisted of seafood, rice and vegetables. Not my favourite as you will know but I do enjoy seafood in batter or breadcrumbs and fortunately this is the way it is usually served in Southeast Asia. After our lunch we were finally able to enter our cabins and I was very impressed. We had stayed in hotels with shabbier rooms than these. Of course that's not saying a whole lot, but the seemed quite comfotable, with an ensuite and small lamp and a window opening out onto the gangway. We had no electricity at that time so we had to quickly get changed to get into our clothes for kayaking.

This was another great moment when our guide annoyed me. He kept telling us to hurry up, when it was his own fault for not letting us into our rooms earlier that we took an extra couple of minutes to get ready. Sheena was a little annoyed because she wanted to go swimming which is what the others on our tour were doing while we kayaked. The itinerary we had seen in the tour office had said we would be going swimming but as it turned out we wouldn't have the chance. Anyway we grabbed our lifejackets and proceeded to where our kayaks were. We guided our boats across the huge bay, alongside the mountains raising up out of the sea and trying to avoid the paths of the large boats like ours which were criss-crossing the bay. I quite enjoyed it although Sheena hated it (she remebers it more favourably now, at the time she was annoyed about not being getting the chance to swim and also as kayaks cause her to get a sore back). It was a good feeling to be among those large boats and massive mountains on a tiny insignificant kayak. The scenery was great too.

After about 90 minutes on the water we returned to where we'd got on and climbed out, trying our best not to fall back in. Surviving unscathed we waited for the others to return. There was a small fishing community there with a few different enclosures built into the floating platforms, each filled with a different breed of fish. Soon our boat returned and we got back on board, going to our cabins for a quick shower and then back to the dining room to wait for our dinner. Dinner was similar to lunch, only this time there was some battered squid, which was delicious, if a little rubbery.

Soon everyone started going to bed, starting with the crew and followed swiftly by other members of our group in drips and drabs. It was about half nine! We had all being expecting a bit of a booze up and a bit of fun, but it wasn't meant to be. We had a comfortable nights sleep, rocking gently in the middle of the bay, surrounded by hundreds of snoring tourists on many more boats.

A lonely place to live!

Dinner time!

Next morning we were up bright and early. Awoken by the boat's engines bursting to life at exactly 7AM. We got dressed and went up for breakfast, which was eggs and toast. After breakfast we went to the upper deck of the boat, enjoying the morning views and settling down for some reading (I was reading John Pilger's A Secret Country). It took a good few hours to return to Halong City, and we then waited a short while for a minibus, which took us to another reteraunt where we were treated to another seafood dinner. Battered squid and french fries! Yummy! Then we set off again on our minibus for Hanoi. The return journey was a little less comfortable than the way up, but we all survived in one piece.

That evening we clambered aboard our train for Hue. Setting off at 7 PM. There was another bunch of backpackers further up the carraige from us, among them an Irish girl named Anne-Marie from Tipperary. She was good craic. They turned out to be travelling in a big group of around eight which they had all booked seperately. Some sort of group tour with flights and some activities included in the price and some things were extra. Seemed like a bit of a crap way to travel as everything they did and everywhere they went was already predetermined.

Hey! It's me! On board the train.

Hue

Sunday 29^th of October and we arrived into Hue train station at around 8:30 A.M. The night before on board the train we had put our names down with a guy who worked for a guesthouse in Hue. He said we could get a free pick up from the train station to his guesthouse and would be under no obligation to stay there if we didn't like it. We had heard stories in other places where you got a “free pick up” but then had to pay if you decided the place was too covered in cockroaches for your liking so we were a little sceptical. We told him as much but he was quite insistant and wrote “no obligation” and “air conditioning”, “TV”, “$10” and a couple of other things on the leaflet he had, and said to show it to reception. We figured it was worth the free pickup and the place would do for one night if we didn't lke it.

So as it turned out we got the VIP treatment upon arrival, having a man waiting with a placard with my name on it outside the station. I gave him a big friendly wave and we helped him and his friend load up the back of their minibus. Soon we were on our way to the Thai Binh II Hotel (the chap on the train the night before also worked for Thai Binh No. 1).

This bridge crosses the Perfume River. Only bicycles, motorbikes and pedestrians were allowed on this bridge, there was one for cars further down the river.

After settling into the room we took a walk around Hue, looking for somewhere to eat. We relied on the trusty old Lonely Planet as usual and it led us across the bridge pictured above to the Lac Thanh Restaurant run by the very nice Mr. Lac. Mr. Lac is a deaf mute who is quite deaf but not quite mute, as he can make some sounds. First we had lunch (I think I had french fries and battered prawns), and then Mr. Lac came up to have a chat with us. Through a combination of gestures and pictures he encouraged us to take him on the following day as our tour guide. He started by showing us a map, and pointing to the different pagodas and tombs and either giving them the thumbs up, or the thumbs down. He also drew quick sketches of one or two of them to demonstrate that there were perhaps too many people at one, or the structure was too small and not particularily impressive. He also mimed driving a motorbike and put a big fake grim on his face accompanied by an enthusiastic thumbs up. The gist of the conversation was; you can do an organised tour which costs $8 or $10 and you get a minibus with many other people and also takes you to all the sites, some of which aren't as good as others, or....you can do it Mr. Lac style, for $7 whereby we each get a mototaxi and whizz around to all the best places. He drew a picture of four people on motorbikes and the sun shining down on them and we all agreed. He would pick us up from the Thai Binh II the next morning at 8:30 AM (He initially said 8, we counter-offered (being lazy backpackers) and he suggested a compromise of half 8). After bidding our adieus to Mr. Lac and his wonderful (if slightly greasy) food we headed for the world famous Hue Citadel (which Mr. Lac had provided directions to).

On the way to the citadel we passed a number of tanks and anti aircraft guns behind some walls. This is one of the tanks. The sign in front of it reads: “M48 Tank with the artillery of the US equipped to puppet soldiers for raiding and killing the people. In the spring 1975 campaign, captured by the liberation army at Phu Bai of 25^th March 1975”.

This huge flag lies directly across from the entrance to the citadel. The flag tower is 37 metres tall and is the tallest in Vietnam.

The entrance to the citadel.


Six headers are better than three.

This dragon was almost as stylish as me.

The Citadel was constructed around 1804. During the Tet offensive of 1968 Hue was the site of some of the bloodiest battles and the Citadel bore the brunt of a lot of attacks.

Next morning we were up bright and early for Mr. Lac's Motorbike tour. We were sitting outside the hotel waiting when at about 8:45 four motorbikes pulled up. Sheena had the honour of being Mr. Lac's passenger. We pulled off with a squeal of brakes leaving a cloud of dust behind us. First stop on the journey was Thanh Toan Bridge. The trip was a little nerve racking but we all survived in one piece. It was interesting that a deaf man could drive successfully considering that the horn is a vital tool for communication on Vietnamese roads.

Thanh Toan Bridge.

The first tomb we went to.

We stopped on the side of a big hill here. I presume this was the Perfume River also but I could be wrong.

We pulled up here on the side of this bridge to let Sheena and Mr. Lac catch up. The had stopped to take a quick look at one of the pagodas which wasn't worth going up to but was worth passing by. Apparently.

There's Mr. Lac himself on the red bike with Miss Sheena behind him.

Mr. Lac's brother and Sheena.

Laos

This is a view of some of the crowd enjoying a boat race on the Mekong river.

Laos, beautiful Laos. We left Bangkok for Laos on Saturday the 7th of October. We took an overnight train to Nong Khai in the northeast of Thailand, and then took a tuk tuk directly to the Friendship Bridge which links Thailand with Laos. We paid $36 for our visas (Irish people pay $35 instead of the usual $30 and a $1 overtime fee because it was a Sunday). We then, after some hassle, arranged a tuk tuk to the capital Vientaine which is around 25 kilometres from the border.

The guesthouse we had intended on going to was full so the driver took us elsewhere, where the charge was 600 baht/night. It turned out to be full of mosquitos but would do for one night. That day we got lunch in said guesthouse. We all chose the chicken burger with chips and pepsi combo which seemed quite cheap and it turned out to be about 9 or 10 chips with a pretty measly amount of meat on the burger. Needless to say we didn't eat there again. At the time there was a boat racing festival going on so we were both lucky to see it and unlucky because a lot of the guesthouses were fully booked. We ended up booking somewhere for the following night in "the Author's choice" in the lonely planet. It's called the Vayakorn guesthouse and was very nice indeed. A double room cost $18.

There was a great atmosphere in the town that night, we walked down to the river and got to see a couple of races. There were hundereds of people along the banks of the Mekong and I guess a lot of them were culchies, or the Laos equivalent because the were having a great time staring at us. We just stared right back and then took a stroll around through the amusements that were set up. There were lots of fairground style games, throwing tennis balls into holes to win a prize and bursting balloons with darts etc., and also a couple of live music performances. I also had my first taste of Beer Lao and it was very tasty.

This is Pha That Luang, the most holy Buddist site in Laos

I forget the name of this stupa but the tuk tuk driver obscured my view of it, but I like the picture anyway

The following morning when we got up to change guesthouse we discovered that it was raining very heavily. We were going to get a tuk tuk but decided to walk seen as we were already soaked by the time we found any drivers, and he was also asking for too much money. When we got to the street which our guesthouse was on we discovered that the road was flooded, impressively so. we waded through up to our ankles and continued on to the guesthouse. I was wearing my runners and the didn't dry our properly so I didn't wear them for the next three weeks or so when I finally got them cleaned in Hue. They smelled pretty bad of mold.

The following day, the 10th of October we decided to do the walking tour Lonely Planet set out for Vientaine. Only we decided to do it on bikes! We rented bikes for 10,000 Kip ($1) and set off, first making our way to the Patuxay. It's basically a rip off version of L'Arc du Triomphe in Paris but is quite cool nontheless. There is a plaque on the wall which is quite hilarious. The text reads: "At the northeastern end of the LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Patuxay or victory gate of Vientaine, built in 1962 (Buddist Era 2505), but never complete due to the country's turbulent history. From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete. Nowadays this placeis used as leisure ground for the people of Vientaine and the seventh floor on top of the building serves as excellent view point over the city".

After Pataxuy we cycled to Talat Sao market and had a wander around. They were selling everything from Chinese violins to massive speakers, and from chopsticks to mobile phones. Me and Sheena went halves on a dodgy converter that doesn't work properly so that we could charge more than one thing at a time.

We didn't adhere to strictly to the walking tour itinery after that, we followed the route but didn't necessarily stop at each of the sites along the way. It was a good way to get a taste of the city though and we all enjoyed it. It's easy to cycle around because it is closer to Athlone Town in scale than to the sprawling metropolis of Bangkok for example.

The Monster of Concrete, Patuxay

Rockin' the free world on our bikes!

The next day we went to see Pha That Luang. We cycled up there too, which included a hill. That was tough going in the midday heat, let me tell you. Sheena's chain decided to fall off halfway across a junction, going uphill which was an exciting moment, but she made it through thankfully. Pha That Luang was cool, it was nice and quiet. When we arrived it was closed for the midday siesta, but there are monastry's surrounding it, so we had a look around them. We also enjoyed a nice refreshing drink under a nice lady's umbrella there. As we were cycling away from the grounds we noticed another stupa to our right. We cycled towards it and I began to realise that it was a military installation of some discription. Donna was taking a picture of the large flag which was flying, and I was just saying that she probably shouldn't take any pictures, when an armed man sped up on a motorbike and said "That way please!" We scurried away with our tails between our legs.

The next day we went to the national museum in Vientaine. It was excellent, with the downstairs exhibits dealing with the stone age and dinosaurs, the bronze age etc. while upstairs there were exhibits relating to the tribal minorities populating Laos and also a lot of detail on the French and American occupations and subsequent revolution. That day we also booked our bus tickets to Vang Vieng for the next day.

Vang Vieng

Our bus dropped us at Thavisouk guesthouse (as buses tend to do. I guess it keeps the fares cheap for us given that some guesthouses are willing to pay commision) which was actually quite nice, so we booked into the more expensive riverside rooms, at $12 a piece. We should have gotten the cheaper $10 rooms which were about forty feet further back from the water, because we never actually sat back and appreciated the view. Instead we sat back and appreciated the view from the restauant attachted to the guesthouse and got drunk.

Next morning, nursing a slight hangover, we made our way to find a different guesthouse, eventually settling on the Babylon Bar ($4.50 between two of us). We spent the rest of the day chilling out quite a bit, watching "The Killing Fields" in the downstairs restaurant of the Babylon Bar.

This is the view from our guesthouse's restaurant

Vang Vieng is famous for its caves (apparently) so we took a day trip to some popular ones not far from the two of Vang Vieng itself. We began by wrangling a tuk tuk for the day at 100,000 Kip ($10) between the four of us. Our driver had a negotiator (i.e. friend who spoke better English than he) sitting in the back of the vehicle with him and another friend, so I countered his first offer of $20 with an offer of $5 with a big smile on my face. That wouldn't do at all, they said so we settled on $10 (the going rate). Then the negotiator tried to pressure us into getting back to Vang Vieng earlier (so that his friend would be able to procur more business, I guess) by asking how long we would be spending in the caves. "Two weeks" I said. How we laughed. Ten dollars is the going rate for hire for a full day, so we just speculated about maybe taking around four hours with no intention of keeping an eye on time and then headed off.

Fisherman style (from the Thavisouk guesthouse)

The first cave we went to is called Elephant cave and is, basically, a load of crap. It cost 3000 Kip (0.25 Euros) to get in and there's pretty much nothing to see. It's only a few metres deep and all that's in there is a statue of Buddah and some rocks carved into the shapes of animals such as elephant and snakes. We were a little disappointed and left after a couple of minutes. 3000 Kip seems like a lot more when you're in Laos and when I wrote down the 0.25 euros just now it made me realise how little the entrance fee actually was. Still, I wouldn't recommend Elephant cave to anyone as you could just peer in from the entrance and see all there was to see in there.

Sheena with her 3000 Kip ticket

We started to follow the sign posts for the next set of caves and a Laos man was following us carrying a torch. We knew we'd have to end up forking out a guide fee so we tried to get rid of him in the most polite way possible. I still felt rude though because of the way he reacted. Still, if you don't want to pay for a guide you just have to tell them up front because they don't mention any sort of fee until you're finished with their services.

After we got rid of him we were followed by three other kids (two of whom had been the ticket sellers for the Elephant cave). For some reason which I now regret we didn't get rid of them and they followed us all the way to the next cave. The next cave was quite cool, after waiting around for about twenty minutes we got into our swimming gear and hopped onto the inner tube from a tractor tire and then floated along the river into the cave where there was a rope we could pull ourselves along on. We spent about ten minutes floating through the cave which was quite cold. One of the kids who had followed us came inside as our guide so I understood we they followed us then. Afterwards we saw the man who we had given our entrance fee of 10,000 Kip to give the kid some money. We hung around outside the cave for a while splashing around in the pool outside and then rying off in the sun, and I also took some pictures. The kids kept whistling at us, and gesturing for us to leave. We pretty much ignored them, because we had decided that we'd seen enough caves for that day.

We told the kids to skidaddle but they wouldn't and started following us as we made our way back to where our driver was waiting. I guess they got impatient for their tip because they started making demands for money. I was walking last with the three kids behind me and they started tapping me on the shoulder and making loud fake throat-clearing noises. We were getting pretty pissed off but eventually gave them 10,000 Kip. I didn't mind giving it, it just bothered me the way they expected the money even though we didn't ask for their services and tried to make it clear that we didn't want any guides. at least the little kid who came into the tubing cave with us actually did something for his "guide fee".

After that frustrating episode we made our way back to a restaurant by the river which we crossed to see the caves. We got a drink and relaxed for a few moments in the picturesque settings. It was very beautiful, despite the table being covered in ants.

This is a view of the restaurant where we relaxed after our hectic day of wandering around looking at caves

We then got our ferryman to drop us back across the river and paid him our fee (10,000 kip each for a return crossing. Our driver crossed with us but he didn't have to pay), and then hopped into the tuk tuk. Our driver ran over a chicken on the way home.

This is a view of the mountains surrounding Vang Vieng

The day after the caves we high tailed it out of Vang Vieng on a six hour bus journey to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang

Here are some suckers flying into Luang Prabang. I bet they were jealous when they realised they could have been stuck on a bus with me for six hours.

We arrived in Luang Prabang at around 5 o'clock and , after taking a tuk tuk into town, we began searching for a guesthouse. We eventually settled on a aplce called the Sackarinh which was clean and seemed freidnly, although the rooms smelled of damp a little. They had a TV and bottled water provided every day so they weren't too bad. At $12 between two there can't be much to complain about anyway.

That evening Steven was feeling a little under the weather from our long journey and Myself, Sheena and Donna went to a travel agency to try and sort out flights to Vietnam. We booked some for the 24th of October from Vientaine to Hanoi.

The following day (the 17th of October) we rented bikes for the day and cycled our way around the town. We started out following the recommended Lonely Planet Walking tour but ended up just doing our own thing. At one stage, as we were stopped to gather our bearings a man driving a pick up truck carrying some sheets of corrugated iron took a corner a little fast, and off fell his entire load. Three of us helped him load back up his trucks and he seemed very grateful. We went back through the centre of the town and headed for a wooden bridge which got a mention in the Lonely Planet. It was quite picturesque and a bit of fun cycling across it, feeling like a Laotian commuter. We then cycled out a road leading to the airport where there was a bus station with a market outside and there we took the oppurtunity to stock up on more water. All this cycling was thirsty work. We then made our way back towards our guesthouse and enjoyed a slap up meal at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards we booked a trip to the Pak Ou caves the next day, which also included a boat trip along the Mekong and stops at a couple of villages along the way.

Boatman on the Mekong in Luang Prabang

Next day we were up pretty early for our boat trip and got a take away breakfast of a baguette with chicken or tuna as a filling. The boat trip was quite cool, although it took ages and the novelty wore off after a while.

This is a view of the Mekong as we made our way to Pak Ou Caves

Eventually we reached the Pak Ou caves and had to climb across another tourist-laden boat to make our up to them. There was a stone staircase up to one caves on the right first, which had several small staues of the Buddha and some larger ones also. There was also a nice view across the Mekong from the entrance. Then you could make your way up several more steps (which resulted in much perspiring) to another caves which was in near-total darkness. This was also filled with Buddha relics.

Big pile of Buddha statues in Pak Ou caves (first cave).

After this we head back to the boat and made our way back to Luang Prabang, stopping off at two vilages along the way. The first was a paper making village and the second made textiles. It was quite interesting seeing parts of the two industries in action, but the stops were more so that we'd buy stuff than so we could see actual demonstartions of the processes involved. The villages still made nice scenic stops along the way.

We had booked a trip to a waterfall for that afternoon but we arranged with our tours agency to transfer to the following day, because we were tired and hungry and had nothing arranged for the following day anyway.

That evening we went to see a traditional dance show in a building on the grounds of the museum in Luang Prabang. It was interesting to see, the traditional dance is very similar to that of Cambodia and Thailand, and was based on episodes from the Ramayana which is an epic tale relating to Hinduism somehow. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana

After the show we ate in the Luang Prabang bakery which had lovely food but we all ended up ordering too much.

Our trip to the waterfall was booked for the afternoon so me and Sheena got up early and went to the museum in Luang Prabang. It was quite an excellent although small museum and we enjoyed looking through it.

Krung Si waterfall

In the afternoon we went by minibus to the waterfall which was named Krung Si. It took about an hour to drive there and when we arrived we changed into our swimming gear and hopped into the very cold water for a quick dip. Before long a big group of young buddhist monks came along and were doing acrobatic flips off the waterfall into the plunge pool where we were swimming about 8 feet below. There was also a high branch reaching over the water which had a series of steps to help people climb up so they could dive (or bellyflop) into the pool.

R. Kelly eat your heart out

The water was nice and refreshing but before long I hopped out and decided to explore further upstream. There were many more waterfalls and plungepools further up the river, and some great photo opportunities. It was very scenic.

That evening Sheena felt quite ill and was very sick with vomitting diarrhea so we were unable to travel the next day. We were supposed to be going back to Vang Vieng. We had booked our tickets in advance (and paid) so I wasn't sure if we'd be able to change days or get our money back but the tour agent was very nice about it and it was no problem to change to the following day. I didn't even have to give an explanation that Sheena was sick he just said "sure".

Next morning Sheena was still feeling lousy but was more up to travelling so off we went. The bug she had must have been passed around as Donna vomitted on the bus and I felt a little nauseous also. It wasn't a particularly fun journey. I also felt nauseous that night and the next morning I vomitted too and felt terrible all day. We had intended going tubing in Vang Vieng (tubing is where you hop into a tractor tire inner tube and float down the river) but we didn't have time due to everyone (except for lucky Steven) being under the weather.

I was feeling much improved by the next morning and we got a minibus back to Vientaine. It was our last night in Laos and we celebrated by taking our Lariam tablets and eating in a lovely resteraunt called La Terrasse.

Next morning we made our way to the very small Vientaine International Airport and said goodbye to Laos. It was the 24th of October and we were going to Hanoi.