vietnam

Hey guys !! I am officially in Cambodia i got here two days ago....... anyhow Vietnam starting from the top.
The trip from Laos to Vietnam ... are you ready for this. Setting off from Laos half one in the afternoon to arrive in Vietnam at eight in the evening the next day. The first bus we got took us 3 minutes around the corner, to get another bus which took us to the capital of Laos, where we had to get another bus to another bus to another bus which took us to Vietnam. The bus which took us to Vietnam was packed, so packed I had to sit on rice bags on the floor along with some other Lao people (the other tourist refused to sit on the floor). It was actually better than you imagine I slept nearly all the way there, I was a bit unsettled at first as a cock-crouch crawled on me I'm not a fan as you could imagine. When we arrived we managed to find a place to stay straight away which was great, we were tiered and officially stank (thought you might like to know). Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam the city is actually the nicest city iv been to in South East Asia. The traffic in Vietnam especially Hanoi is insane, mopeds everywhere, horns constant and at a cross road everyone at once. Me an Caiti went to see a traditional puppet show which was good the colors and music beautiful, the only problem was that me and Caiti were very tiered still from our journey we fell asleep towards the end and decided the wall of the theater looked like chocolate (expensive stuff over here). When Courtney and Charlotte joined us after three days in Hanoi we all decided to go to Ha-long bay. The journey there was actually decent, we were all squished on the back row with another five rows in front of us with five locals on each row, only took three hours. On the journey I made a fact for the world to know, The locals like to play chicken whilst driving (for those of you that don't know what it means, you go head on head with another vehicle.) scary stuff I close my eyes. When we got to Ha-long bay we found out the three day boat trip was quite expensive so me and Charlotte went and agreed to meet the others in Hoi-an. The boat trip was stunning, turquoise water, limestone cliffs peering out everywhere, sun shining loved it. On the boat trip we saw an amazingly big cave, went kayaking, did flips and jumps off the boat, hiking (I managed to fall on a rock and hurt my leg it has just healed now) and enjoyed the scenery. There is a story about disgusting tea too on a creeky water house, I shall not go in to detail as face expressions are needed. :s ! lets just say dirty, seaweed, manky, but hilarious. We then went on to meet Caiti and Courtney in Hoi-an.... Hoi-an is the place people go to to get clothes tailor made, every one got some amazing clothes. But that is all so we moved on after everyone received there clothes, although whilst there i got attacked by bed buds in one room and in the other we had a little friend munching away at our bed not sure of what it was. Next stop Nah-trang absolutely loved this place, beautiful beaches and coastline. We arrived at seven in the morning so we made the easiest decision to vegge on the beach, as the afternoon came we got a little restless and had a bright idea to rent mopeds again. Charlotte and Caiti went and had a mud bath, me and Courtney went for a drive. We went round a lovely coast line, through a fishing village and back the other way to see the harbour. On the second day we booked to go on a boat where they take you snorkeling and swimming around the coast, it was such a good day apart from some jellies having a little sting. Not wanting to go but time running low we had to bust a groove to the next place Menui (not sure of the spelling). Menui was also absolutely stunning, we went for a walk on the main beach front which was long allowing the kite surfers to play, the second day we woke at four in the morning so we could see the sun rise over the dunes. We disturbed the silence due to the fact we were sand boarding. The last stop of Vietnam was Ho Chi-min City, we stayed there for three days, on the first we went to the War museum, which was very interesting and shocking, we also visited the market where I bought the most amazing apple!!!. On the second day we hit the water park, it was sooo much fun and as you could imagine we were the oldest there by far but it was fun as the all the school kids wanted to join us going down slides. That night we went out for the last supper we splashed out and had ourselves a bloody good meal. The day I left for Cambodia was the day me and Charlotte had to depart from Caiti and Courtney who we have been traveling with for five weeks and cracking weeks they have been too, emotional stuff We shall meet again. (Im going to new york)

laos

After spending 14 hours on the back row of the mini bus being squashed by bags, we made it to Vientien. When we were booking our trip to Laos we intended on getting the slow boat up the Mekong river but they have had a bit of a drought, so it was in fact the bus. When we arrived in the capital of laos (Vientien) we were dropped of in the middle of the city, you never get dropped of at a station we have come to realize. (always prepared for suprises). It didnt take us long to find somewhere to stay and it was very cheap, excellent! and in the centre. We stayed in the capital for two nights, whilst there we were very happy to see a bakery, a place that actually has a carrot cake for Charlotte and a chese cake for me, as you could imagien the americans had a bagels, and just to top of the bakery they had free wifi. We went to the local market and experienced the most amazing shakes ever!!!!! banana, lemon, mango and another one that some one else had. Vientien wasnt very exciting so we quickly headed on to Vang Vieng. Absolutly loved Vang Vieng, we caught the local bus there. On the local bus we met two american men about 50 and they were blumin halleriois!!, half way to Vang Vieng they stopped by a field 'toilet stop' men one side of the hedge woman the other. When we got to Vang Vieng the american men showed all the tourists where to go as one of the americans have been living there for a few months now. Steve one of the americans showed us to a cheap hotel and told us loads of information of where to go in town. We went tubing the day after our arrival, it was 1-2pm when we got there, it cost us 55.000kip to rent the rubber ring and get the tuktuk there. When we arrived on the river side we automatically picked up the vibe of the place, music playing, everyones chilling and drinking and when not drinking they were dancing or swinging from the trees in to the water. The swing from the tree was pretty high and when you land wrong, I speak from experiance, it hurts and bruises. There are many bars to float too but we like everyone else ended up staying in the first 4 bars. The second bar was my favourite as they had a bigger space with a lot more people to mingle with, they also had a zip wire in to the water. Me and Charlotte did the zipwire and I have never felt as much pain, there was a metal nut on the zip wire that you hit which jolts you, by the time I had seen it it was to late, I hit the nut with my face and did a back flip in the the water the pain o the pain. (I didnt do it agin) We all woke the next morning with achs and pains all over, we stayed in bed that day and watched HBO. When we had recovered we highered push bikes and went for a little meander around and out of town, we did a little off roading to try and find the lagoon. The scenery was beautiful many limestone cliffs, sets of trees, and fields. The day after we had all highered out bikes I went off on a bike on my own, I had such a fantastic day. I cycled past where tubing was and then decieded to turn down a little dusty road which took me to a little village , where there were loads of children playing when they saw me they ran after me giggling and tryig to catch me I slowed down and walk with them, when I offord them some water they got very excited which shocked me. They took me to the river, loads of children playing to my right and people bathing further down the river to my left. Before I left the village I bought them all some juice from the local shop and they managed to say thankyou in english. It was the best thing ever to see how happy they were drinking there juice. Before I handed my bike back I headed to the river close to where we were staying. I sat on the pebbles and did a bit of painting I was then joined by five to six Lao kids, so I let them play with my little pallet of paints, they played for hours, they were so sweet. On the last day me and kate diceded we were heading to Vietnam, and Charlotte and Courtney decided they were going to check out Luang Praung before coming to vietnam, Alex decided she was going to head somewhere on her own for a bit a catch up with us along the way.

thailand

Now for the amazing trip to the North of thailand.I had to wait in Bangkok for a day or two for Charlotte as she was flying out the day after, the place we had found on the internet was truely amazing simple meaning we got free breakfast (weve been deprived, our main foods have been noodles and rice). whiilst waiting I met Alex a surry girl, we were talking and descovered that she is alone traveller and heading the same way, she is now travelling with us for a while (marvellous). The day after charlotte had arrived we headed straight out of the city (were coming back at the end of our travels), we had decided to put the tent to good use in khao yai national park. Khoa yai was a blast from getting there to staying there and leaving there. To get to the national park we had to get two trains through bangkok to get a taxi to the bus station, a bus to another bus station where we were meant to be picked up by another bus, it just so happens the buses dont run late at night.Hmmm now we had to find somewhere to stay (tricky very tricky) all the signs are written in thai, we had to ask many people for a hotel of somekind. Finally making it to a hotel only to find it is booked out, we were hot tierd and didnt want to walk anywhere else so we asked if we can sleep on the wooden benches in reception, the ladies at first thought we were joking but in the end they said we could and thought it was hilarious. Before we went to sleep the thai ladies brought us blankets and a pillow, and woke us up in the morning with a cup of tea bless them. Sort of refreshed and ready to continue our journey we catch our next bus, the smallest local bus full of people and pinapples, we squished on and enjoyed every minute of it even if we were falling everywhere. Finally we saw the gate, paid for our ticket in and then asked how we get to the campsite "hitch" okay. It didnt take us long to catch a ride and we were lucky enough to be picked up by a lovely family, which took us to two campsites they didnt like the look of the first one and heard there was a better one. The campsite was lovely we pitched up on the edge of a stream which was on the edge of the jungle, it was so nice just to lay in the sun listening to wild life in the jungle. On our first night in the park we went to bed relativly eairly as we were tierd from our day, all three of us and our huge bags all squished in to a tiny 2 man tent (very unconfortable). As we were dosing off i heard heavy breathing around the tent, it was an animal and a big one from what i could tell, the animal started ripping up bags out side. I woke Charlotte up and just as I did so the breathing got closer and the animal started scraping at our tent, omg its a bear were going to die (it was going through all of our heads), it was now sitting on the end of our tent eating through the pot noodles and crisps we bought (can you belive he left the banana cake). Still we were all shacking in fear of death from the bear, we divised a plan Charlotte was ready with her flip flop and mosquito spray, I had the pen knife and Alex had a lighter, we could take on the bear (really!) an hour past he was still there except this time we heard him eating grass, which made us think bears dont eat much grass especially not that much, Alex bravely stuck her head out of the tent...................it was infact a noodle eating deer. The next morning we were very tierd as you can see we didnt sleep very well, but still we got ready for our hike to the waterfall (the one on the beach) it was stunning. On the last day in the national park we hitched to a bigger waterfall, we got picked up by a motobike gang of harley davidsons, o my life it was so much fun I always wanted to do that. That night we were playing cards out side talking about how funny the night of the bear/deer was, as we said that we heard the loadest bear roar ever and it wasnt far.(we never saw it as you can tell im still alive to tell the tale) Time to head on to changmai we managed to hitch all the way to the bus station this time (excellent). we reached changmai at 4am the person that worked there said the desk isnt open but we can sleep in the hammocks on the roof for free, amazing. Chang mai is such a lovely place and I would definitely go back there for a holiday, the markets were amazing and if i had a lot of money i would have bought it all. Whilst we were in chang mai we went on a package trip in to the jungle where we got to, bath elephants, ride elephants, hike through the jungle, go to a trible village, bamboo raft, and white water raft. We met so many cool people on the trip, we are now infact travelling with two of them Cati and Courtney. (we have now officially discovered they are just as mad as me and charlotte) Before we headed in to laos we checked out Pai a little hippyfied town in the mountains, it was such a chilled out little place which i loved. Overall i have loved every part and minute of north thailand i recommend.

hey guys i am currently in south east asia, i have traveled through Indonesia, north of thailand, laos and am now in vietnam, i have the south of Thailand and Cambodia still to do before I return home. (blimey i have a busy life)

I'll fill you in on my travels so far ..........

starting our travels in indonesia me and charlotte met in Jakarta the capital of Java. We headed straight out of the city to Pangandaran we had to catch two trains, a taxi-bike, and a mini bus (which me and charlotte thought looked like a rock bands van), we reached our destination at midnight. Pangandaran was a small but very beautiful town with a long stretch of gold sand, and distant views of the coast fading away. The best day was the day we highered out mopeds, we tazzed along the coast to find the green canyon which we had been told so much about by the locals, we got a bit lost on the way there and ended up visiting a little village. The green Absolutly stunning canyon was a guide took us climbing and swimming in the canyon rapids (love that). After a few days we headed to yogyartar. The train was to yogya uncomfortablly comfortable, simply because our bags were where our legs were ment to be, and our knees were where our hands were meant to be. Yogya is home of the Borobordur which i must say is stunning, whilst we were walking around the local temples people were coming up to us and asking for photos, no joke we had about 50 photos. After about three days in yogya we found a trip of going to Bali on the way stopping at Mount Bromo. Bromo well this was intresting, hehe, apparently getting up at 4:30 in the morning to see the sun come up over the volcano is ment to be the most amazing sight you will ever see. Me and charlotte woke at 4:00 after a cold night sleep (was not expecting cold!) To see that it was rainy and cloudy out, but still we push ourselves to get up and go (past participle of stayed in bed). We had decided to walk to the volcano and see the sun come up, we did not see anyone else walking as they wernt on the same tight budget and could aford a jeep. As we started walking the way we had been told the night before we noticed there were no signs anywhere (Jes louise) we were then faced with a three way split in the road ooo which way to go. We ended up in a field and couldnt see ten feet infront of us because of the rain, finally it got light and we could now see the volcano but not the top. Although we were drenched and tierd felling the thought of a sausage sandwich kept us going (which we never really got its not on the menu over here). We then were picked up at 9 the same day to finish our trip to bali !!!!!
Java ferry ... ............................................. .......................................... Bali
Bali Bali Bali Bali Absolutly loved! We started our trip in Sanur a place on the south coast with beautiful beaches. We stayed in Sanur for about 4-5 days we needed a little relaxation after our travel through java. Sanur is where we were officially introduced to the famous words ' "massage" no thankyou "manacure, pedicur" no thankyou "hair braiding" no thanyou', the local woman on the beach would constantly ask the same questions even if the woman standing next to her did. There was also a funny surfer guy who rents surf boards, if you picture hawiian surf guru and youve got him (very cool, very cool). We were also introduced to orange water which may not sound very important but i tell you its what me and Charlotte needed constantly to live (so refreshing ahhh). It then came to the time we had to move to the next destination which was originally going to be apperntly Nusa Dua but they only cater for people with money. Time to move on already. We carried on to the next place a little tiny villlage Ulu Watu on the coast, next to the surf spot padnag-Padang. The most beautiful beach tiny (the size of goldern burn for any one that knows) was at the bottom of the road we were staying on. To get to the beach you have to go down many steps and baboons and then dodge you have to escape the many woman selling Sarongs "you want sarong" i can hear them now. After a few days at Ulu Watu we hit Kuta. The first couple of nights me and charlotte went out to the clubs pretty amazing any one that has been there will have heard of Bounty a lot of fun. Many dyas in Kuta were spent swimming, surfing, sunbathing, reading, the other days we Rented mopeds and went to checkout what was around Kuta. Which brings me to the day we went to find Jimbaren beach, Charlotte was the driver of our moped and i was the navigator not doing a very good job as we missed the turning. We ended up visiting Dream which was Absolutly stunning beach and then heading back to find the other beach. As we were flying down the country road to the beach singing at the top of our voice "titanic" of all songs, Charlotte did not spot the speed bump ahead we would have given triple-x a run for his money (it was sooo funny you had to be there moment). While Charlotte was away visiting her family in Kuta Lombok I remaind in meeting some locals, which took me to Ulu watu temple and a local fish market where we bought some Snapper fish and tuna fish, we got them cooked at the BBQ cafe round the corner (delicious). ALOS I got invite to have a traditional meal at thier house OMG the most amazing dinner ever.
That is just a brief over of Indonesia, missing out a lot as it would be hard to explaine it all, and all the random funny Happenings.