From: Bexxoliver@hotmail.com

Sent: 11 November 2004

Subject: Email 14, Laos & Vietnam

Hi everyone

Here is our latest travel email: -

Laos

After crossing the North Thailand border at Chiang Klong to Laos, we spent 2 days cruising down the Mekong river, a really scenic journey in a packed boat. After our 2-day boat journey we stayed in Luang Prabang and visited some Laos temples and the Royal Palace museum.

We spent another day traveling south to Vietienne, this time by bus, which turned out to be a very bumpy, twisty ride, up, down and around lots of beautiful mountains. We arived at Vietienne and spent a day browsing the shops, markets and viewing more temples. While visiting one of the temples we spoke to a monk, the monk asked us where we are from, we said "Reading". The monks reply was so comical as he said "Ahh yes football, division 1".

We left Laos as we boarded our flight, Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi in the early evening and our first impressions was experiencing the crazy roads and drivers in this over populated city!

We spent a day dodging hundreds of crazy motorbike drivers whilst trying to cross the hectic roads, you just walk and they drive around you, its crazy! We took a cyclo (cycle with 2 seats strapped to the front) to see some of the city.

To get away from the mayhem we took a 3-day tour to Halong Bay and cruised by boat around some of the surrounding 3000+ Islands and Islets. Our tour returned us to Hanoi where we got an 11-hour night bus to Hue. This turned out to be the most uncomfortable journey through the night so far!

We spent a couple of days in Hue. We took a motorbike tour of the countryside and town to see the sights. Our guide was a retired general in the Vietnam War; he taught us some history about the war while showing us Vongcanh Hill (American checkpoint) and took us to the military museum to see a collection of American tanks. We left Hue by a 5 hour bus journey, this time through the day and arrived in Vietnam's nicest town, Hoi An.

Hoi An is famous for its abundance of tailors, who can make anything at a very reasonable price. Andrew had 4 shirts made for only 3.50pounds each. Kathryn had a top and handbag made for less than 10pounds! We spent the following day at a world heritage site, the ancient ruins of 'My Son'. The Americans bombed 75% of these ancient ruins and it really was in pieces. We left Hoi An on another night bus, this time 12 hours and yet more uncomfort to our next destination Nha Trang.

Nha Trang is a seaside destination. We spent a day out on a boat trip so Andrew could complete 2 more scuba dives, while Kathryn went snorkeling. After our short stay in Nha Trang we made our journey south, another 6hour bus journey to another beach destination called Mui Ne where we spent our time just relaxing on the beach and soaking up the sun.

Our last journey in Vietnam was to Vietnams largest city, Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon). We spent our time here browsing more shops, another cyclo ride and a visit to the War Remnants Museum. The museum displays a one sided account of the American war, displaying pictures of deformed babies and injured Vietnamese from the effects of the bombing and chemical warfare conducted by the Americans. We also saw some more armery, such as US and Vietnamese tanks, US aircrafts and various bombshells.

Tomorrow (Sat 13th Nov) we are leaving Vietnam for our journey into Cambodia; our next email should be our last as we have just over 2 weeks left of our travels.

Love
Andrew & Kathryn
xx