Really been neglecting this blog so il try start updating it now! We arrived in Lao Cai at around 7am after the worst sleeper bus journey ever! I hate heights and most of the way was along high up bendy mountain roads that were full of potholes, so its safe to say even after trying to knock myself out on alcohol as sleep inducing tablets i didnt...

I normally start with travel, but there is nothing to say. I flew to Hanoi. It worked great. I also sometimes have something cultural or historical to say. I don't have much new really. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, a third-world, free market economy with the remnants of an authoritarian one-party Socialist political system. It is also even m...

Hello! As you can tell, we're back in 'Nam. First, let me apologise for the lack of photos. Sadly in HK we couldn't get to a decent, cheap internet cafe where we could hog a computer for a couple of hours (although we found a great cafe where internet was free for 15 minutes or so) and download them and now we're back in backpackerville, they ri...

Sorry am a little bit behind again! Ok so since I have last written this is what we have been up to.... Our flight to Hanoi was fine, although we had a 7 hour wait in Vientiane after our flight from Huay Xai, so we treated ourselves to a day in a posh hotel using their swimming pool! Was very nice... Arrived in Hanoi around 10.30pm so dumped our...

We managed to catch up with our friends for the overnight train from Hue to Hanoi and had a good night playing cards. For some reason there was a free dinner included which was very suspect but Catty thought she'd give it a try. I stuck to pringles. We arrived at 5.30am into a cold and rainy Hanoi. After catching up on some sleep (as the other l...

The night train to Hanoi was pretty comfortable, Ivo and I were sharing our carriage with three vietnamese nuns and a woman dressed all in yellow so making her look like a duck. Not able to make much conversation we went off to the seating area and settled down to play some cards. We probably should have gone to bed early as we got woken at abou...

The UN HIV Learning Fair was held today, each of the UN agencies providing info on how HIV can be better incorporated into their programs. I was on the ILO's LURVE BOOTH... Check the photos.

the city life is becoming more bearable, or maybe its just more expected. back to get some visas and make some decisions on what im doing. lyd is of to bangkok on wens so ill be on my own from now on

Hey All, Yes. We are in Vietnam. Two xanax, a scotch and 24 hours later we arrived in Hanoi via Tokyo. I wont say that the trip is for the faint of heart but all in all very pleasant. I have to admit that after my recent trouble with the TSA in Virginia, the Homeland Security crew patrolling the international terminal at JFK was courteous and pr...

Well, we decided to fly to Hanoi (1 hour) rather than take the 24-hour bus over the mountains, and boy, did we make the right decision! It was all very easy and quick. On the plane, I picked out a few hotels from the Lonely Planet, and settled on "Stars Hotel" in the Old Quarter. When we exited customs, a taxi driver approached us. I showed him ...