Well, here I am writing this edition of our blog whilst sitting outside our bamboo hut, overlooking a fishing lake surrounded by lush green mountains and a bright turquoise sky and seriously contemplating the merits of lying in our hammock. Such is the torture of staying in Pai! But first to Chiang Mai, the kingdom’s second biggest city, which has a completely different atmosphere to the chaotic, bustling Bangkok we just left. Firstly, the laid back lifestyle and pace of life in the north impacts not only on those who are lucky enough to visit but also the locals who are chilled out and friendly. Secondly, its layout lacks the high rise city feel and in the moated old quarter the buildings are limited to four storeys. This, combined with the small alleyways leading to traditional ... read more

On the bus in Laos, off the bus at the Laos border, back on the bus and over the Mekong River via the Friendship Bridge, off the bus at the Thailand border, back on the bus at Nong Khai and we were at our next destination for a few days – piece of cake. Because we loved Laos so much, and thought we might suffer withdrawal symptoms, we decided to book at the Mut Mee Guesthouse so we could sit on the riverside terrace and gaze across the Mekong at lovely Laos! Okay that was not the reason, but rather a really good recommendation from Rough Guide and almost everyone on Trip Advisor who raved about its relaxing atmosphere. As we were now well and truly into relaxing mode this seemed like the place for us. ... read more

Well that’s something we said we’d never do. Fly Lao Airways. Yep we had heard all the stories about planes dropping out of the air and the worst safety record in the world but that’s the wonder of the internet. As it’s turns out, due to a link up with Air France (the French theme will continue), the airline now has a very good safety and engineering record, a new fleet and European standards. We turned up at Pakxe’s tiny airport 90 minutes before our flight and they said “Oh good you’re here, you’re the last passengers”, well that hadn’t happened before. Turns out our plane was already there so we all boarded and took off an hour early. Wow, that doesn’t happen on BA. Most of the flight was fairly uneventful but coming in to ... read more

Firstly, sorry for not posting for ages, the main reason for this is that when you are paying £2.50 a night for a bungalow on an Island on the Mekong River, free (or any) internet is rather scarce, but more about that later. When we last posted we were off to Laos, and given some of the things we had read about the bus journey were a tadge nervous. However it does show that a little research can make the journey a lot easier. We managed to buy a ticket on a decent bus that goes all the way to Savannakhet from Hue rather than dumping you at the border. It was helped by the fact that there were only about 8 people on a 28 seater (and no chickens). Passing through the countryside in Laos ... read more

It’s quite amazing, we can’t read or speak Vietnamese but within minutes of stepping off of the train at 5am it feels like we have come home. Firstly the taxi driver understood where we wanted to go and we were able to negotiate a price. Hello Hanoi, we’re glad to be back. All trains seem to arrive in Hanoi at stupid o’clock, luckily the hotels are all used to this and we were two of many when we turned up at 5.30. They were really nice, asked us if we would wait until 7 when they’d serve us breakfast and then they would let us have a room as soon as today’s occupants cleared out and they could clean it. By 9am we were settled in, wouldn’t get that at a Premier Travel Inn. It was ... read more