Hanoi - Vietnam

Hi again!

After a nice relaxing week in Laos, we flew over to Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam. I have two words for this city - Manic and Filthy! The amount of scooters is unreal! Theres no such thing as rules of the road, and every driver is obsessed with beeping their horn every two seconds! No seriously! Also, everytime you cross the road you're taking your life in your own hands. You just walk and hope all the scooters avoid you! Otherwise you'll never cross the road! But though we were all looking forward to getting out of the city, it's still something you need to experience if you're ever over this side of the world.

Our first day here we decided to do the whole touristy thing. But turns out that those tourist places (museums etc. ) close only on Mondays!! How crazy is that! Then we had planned on doing the overnight trip to Halong Bay for Tuesday and Wednesday, but turns out a typhoon was due Tuesday night! So long story short, we ended up doing the 1-day trip to Halong Bay. It probably turned out for the best though. It was very cloudy so we wouldn't have seen the sunset anyway (which is meant to be amazing) But it was still great to see all the limestone rocks. It's something that photos doesn't do it any justice. You have to see it in real life to appreciate it. And we got to stop in a fishing village in the water. There's a floating school there and all! Crazy. Then we also got to go into caves that were discovered about 20 years ago. So because of us not going on the 2-day trip to Halong Bay, it meant we got to spend Wednesday (today) doing the touristy thing again, but this time the museums were open.

We went to the Temple of Literature which was the first university in Vietnam, almost 1,000 years ago. It wasn't as pretty as we thought it would be.. Cool to see all the same though. Then we went onto the war museum. This was class! You got to see helicoptors, and fighter jets, and army tanks.

One thing we didn't get to do in Hanoi, and which we looked forward to seeing was the tomb of Ho Chi Minh. Turns out he goes on holidays to Russia for a few months every year around this time! Haha no really! They send his tomb or whatever to Russia every year for renovations.

Another thing we did in Hanoi of course was got dresses made. There are tailors and silk shops everywhere. So we all (just the girls) got dresses made for Ladies Day at the Melbourne Races, a week after we arrive in Melbourne :-)

But anyway, we fly down to the beach resort of Nha Trang tomorrow, and I can safely say we're all looking forward to leaving this city!!

Cathy x x

Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang - Laos

Hello!

Our next stop in Asia was Laos - the most bombed country in the world. Apparently up to 9 years ago nobody was even allowed into this country. But it's now all safe and a republic :-) But what a journey! After crossing the Thai/Laos border we got a mini-bus up to Vang Vieng. And OMG we'll never complain about Irish roads again! It was crazy the amount of potholes. At times he had to drive on the other side of the road to avoid the biggest potholes! But we arrrived safely anyway.

We went tubing the next day. What fun! It's just so random. You go floating down with the currents down the river, stopping at bars along the way. You have to direct your tube towards the bar, or else you might miss it. Then you drink your buckets in the bars and attempt the jumps into the river. You go about 50 feet up a tree, and swing down on a cable wire, and jump into the river! Myself, Alice and Gillian went to do the jump in the first bar. I think it took us 10 minutes up there to get the courage to actually swing down. But it's such an adrenaline rush! By the end of the day we had all gone down the ropes at different bars. You're meant to have your tube back by 6pm , but well we totally lost track of time. And by the time we left the last bar it was already dark! I counted and the were 14 of us all holding onto each others tubes floating down the river in the dark! Ah it was safe enough though cuz you float for about 50 minutes, then you see all the lights of Vang Vieng and it's easy to know where to stop.. Crazy day though!

By our second day in Vang Vieng we were all so wrecked! But the tubing was actually cancelled for some reason anyway.. We didn't hang around another day for it, as we had limited time, so we headed up north to Luang Prabang. Donal stayed behind though to go tubing with some Irish guys he met.

So after another nightmare road journey, 8 hours later we arrived in Luang Prabang. Our first impressions were that it was a beautiful city. Again it was a very quiet place. We stayed here 3 nights, and each night we went to the night markets. We were just addicted to them! Our first full day here we went to see the old Palace, where the Laos royal family lived until they were exiled in the mid 70's. Then it was off to Wat Xieng Thong - the oldest temple in Luang Prabang. I must say it was beautiful to see, but there really is a limit on how many temples you can actually visit!! :p

The next day we made a trip to the Kouang Si Waterfalls. We thought after seeing that beautiful waterfall while trekking in Chiang Mai, that no waterfall could beat it. But we were wrong. This was amazing! A must see if you're ever in Luang Prabang. Myself, Gillian and Alice went right up to the front of it, and the power of the water was unreal. We also got to see a bear sanctuary by the waterfalls. But obviously we couldn't go anywhere near them... Then on the way back from this trip, we stopped at a typical Laos village. It wasn't as cool as seeing the Karen Village in Chiang Mai, but nice to see all the same. You can really see the poverty of a lot of the Laos people.

Well we didn't do much else here in Luang Prabang, except for some more compulsory pampering and massages :-) Oh one more thing about Laos - there's a government imposed curfew of about 11pm , so theres not much to do here in the nights. But there is a bowling alley open until 3pm, so that kept us going.

Next stop is Vietnam.

Cathy x x

Koh Phi Phi , Phuket - Thailand

Hi again!

We never bothered going to Koh Samui in the end as we had heard from so many people that it's just way too commercialised, and not that much better than Phangan. So it was time to head west for Koh Phi Phi. After arriving I think it's safe to say that everyone's first reaction was OH MY GOD! It's such a beautiful island. And so small.

The first thing we did here was book tickets to do the trip to Maya Bay. This is where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed. On the way to that island, we got to stop at Monkey Island first. This is like a beach with just monkeys on it. So we kayaked over to them and fed them bananas. Our tour guide said we were the first group in a while that no-one got attacked by the monkeys!! haha. Phew! Next stop was to go snorkelling and more kayaking around the island. Emma and Alice actually found Nemo!! AND his house! But none of us could find him afterwards.. And then last stop of the trip was to Maya Bay. It was so beautiful! I couldn't really remember it from the movie but was still fabulous all the same. The sun wasn't really out that day so I'd say it looks nicer on a sunny day. We didn't complain though.

After 2 nights in Phi Phi we decided to spoil ourselves and book into a 4-star hotel. And we loved it so much we stayed an extra night there :-) It was literally like paradise! They had their own private beach out the back, and a fabulous pool in the middle of the complex.

There's not too much to say about Phi Phi really. It's just fabulous. A definite place you must visit if you're ever over this part of the world. And you can head to the beaches in the night and chill out. It's more relaxed than any of the previous islands.

Our last stop this side of the country was Phuket. We really only had a day here so we headed to Patong Beach. Phuket is way more built up than any other island. You'd think you're on the mainland. But there seems to be loads to do here. Since we only had a day here, we really had to make the most of it and spend the day shopping :-) Day well spent by all!

We're hanging around in Bangkok at the moment waiting for Sarah to arrive, and then for our bus to Laos tonight. Our first stop is Vang Vieng, and tubing down the river :-)

Until next time,

Cathy x x

Koh Tao, Koh Phangan - Thailand

Hi Everyone!

So after doing the whole tourist thing for over a week, it was time to relax on the islands. On Tuesday we arrived in Koh Tao. It's the smaller of the three main islands off the East Coast of Thailand. The weather was quite bad though. Well when I say bad it was still so hot, but was cloudy. And as soon as we arrived on this island we realised the only real thing to do here is diving. It's huge on this island. Most people come to do the 4-day PADI diving course. Alice had already done this, and decided to do the 30 metres dive while we were here. Well it was a good thing the weather wasn't great as all 7 of us just conked for the whole day. The last week had taken it's toll on us. But this rest just meant we had plenty of energy to make it to the beach party that night! It was class seeing the Thai guys juggle and play with fire. And you just order your bucket of Sangsom (whiskey) and coke and chill out on the beach for the night.

After a day in Koh Tao we decided to head down to Koh Phangan. This is where the full moon party was to be, and this was definitely the party island in Thailand. Alice stayed an extra night in Koh Tao to complete her diving course, and the 6 of us headed down South. The night after arriving we decided to take a stroll and see what the place had to offer, and we stumbled across the full moon beach. Class! What a night! You just have loads of bars on the beach beating out all kinds of different music, and then there are stands everywhere selling buckets of drink. And they'll pretty much make up whatever drink you want for you. And at about 2 euro , it's a bargain! :) And there was those Thai guys again playing with their fire. And a skipping rope on fire which Donal decided to attempt. Check out the video on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDXQSuxaWy8

Two nights later we had a pool party at our place we were staying, Coral Bungalows. It was advertised all over the island, so there was a huge crowd down for it. Lots of drinking, and then time to go for a swim, while still drinking! This was Megans last night as she had to go back to Atlanta :( But it was a good fairwell night for her!

During the day, as the weather wasn't too good (class by Irelands standards, but not by Thailand standards..) we used chill out in whats called the Lazy House. They just play films all day, and episodes of Friends and Family Guy over and over. Ultimate relaxation! And when the evening arrives, time to order more of them buckets!

Yesterday we decided to get off our lazy asses and do something for the day. So myself, Gillian and Marie decided to do the boat trip around the island. We stayed in the night before as we knew we wouldn't get up otherwise. And we were proved right when the other 3 went out and couldn't get up the next day! So off we went. Our first stop was to a lovely waterfall. Nice and refreshing as it was a bit of a trek to the waterfall. Then we stopped at another beach for lunch, Bottle Beach. They say it's the nicest beach on the north of the island. And it was gorgeous. Just total calm and relaxation. Then it was off to the north tip of the island where we went snorkelling. The amount of fish and coral there was amazing. We couldn't find Nemo there at all though...

Finally the night of the full moon arrived. And it was a bit of let down to be honest compared to the other nights we had here, but still fun all the same. The beach is just totally black with people. There are boats arriving the whole time with more people from the other islands around. Just a crazy mad night all around! Actually we randomly met a girl myself and Emma went to school with, Stephania. So she came out with us for the night too, and is gonna spend the next few days with us :)

We're heading over to Koh Phi Phi off the West of Thailand tomorrow morning, so until next time........

Cathy x x