30.3.2012 We arrived in Hanoi quite late and decided to get a bus to our hotel. It was in the old quarter. We were stuffed into a mini bus with more people in seats and gave the adress to the driver. We had no idea where we would end up, but after an hour and a half we somehow ended up at our hotel. We checked in and Skyped Laura and Pete and got to speak to baby Erin Grace. 31.3.2012 We booked a trip to Halong Bay this morning. We went round a few places but decided on the boat that the guy in the hotel was offering, which turned out to be a big mistake! We walked around the Old Quarter of the city and it is very nice. There is a big lake ... read more

29.3.2012 We felt very hungover from a days tubing. We couldn't really remember much of the night so we tried to piece it all together over breakfast. We had a bus booked at 10 to go to Vientiane, so we had to pack and checkout which took some effort. Sophie was moving very slowly and I had to keep telling her to hurry or we'll miss the bus. The bus journey took 4 hours, which was a bumpy ride. Sophie spent the whole journey trying not to be sick. We found a guest house and had a walk around the city. 30.3.2012 Sophie was still unwell. She was blaming the anti-malarial drugs but I think it's a 2 day hangover. We were flying to Hanoi later on in the day so we checked out stored our ... read more

26.3.2012 Baby Erin Grace McAlister was born at 02:30 weighing 7lb 6oz. She is just perfect, we are so proud of Laura and Pete. All our prayers and wishes finally came true xx We went for a morning walk along the Mekong river which borders the town. We saw some monks sieving through stones on the river banks, maybe they were looking for jewels? We visited some temples on the way around, climbing loads of steps to get to one that was carved in the stone. There was also an imprint of Buddha's foot up there, he shore did get around. It was a great view up there looking over the town and the river. There was a young monk up there that we had a chat with and a photo of. He said he was ... read more

24.3.2012 We were given our lunch packs and we were off to the border crossing. We got the narrowest boat I have ever seen crammed with loads of people over the river into Laos. We arrived at the Laos border office and we were given our passports back from the group leader and told to queue up for our visa. We all gave our passports in and waited for about 45 minutes to find my name being called out and told that I had not been given a departure stamp out of Thailand! I then had to go back across the river into Thailand queue at the departure office for a stamp. Trying to explain that I hadn't received one was difficult but they stamped it, thank god. I then went back to Laos and my ... read more

23.3.2012 We travelled all day from Chaing Mai to Chaing Kong in a mini bus to the border of Thailand and Laos. The bus driver was a dick and attempted make us pay again when we had already paid! Another scam as usual. Once we got to the hotel it was all sorted. On the way we stopped off at a really beautiful temple. It was all white, diffferent from all the other temples we have seen. It had koi carp ponds surrounding it and really nice gardens. Mx... read more

19.3.2012 We arrived in Bangkok Airport and it was a lot nicer and modern than we expeected. After a wild gooose chase for about20 an hour trying to shine some light on a re-entry visa that we need, we gave up ad headed to our hotel on Koh San Road. We got a taxi from the train station that was closest to Koh San, trying not to get rippped off in the process. When checking into the hotel we bumped into Lizzy and Jess and the girls. Unfortunately they were just leaving to get the night bus to Laos. However, Emily and Amy had to stay as they were still sorting out visa's. We had a quick chat before they had to leave and we checked in. We met up with Amy and Emily and had ... read more

16.3.2012 Travel Day. Flight to Singapore, nothing exciting happened. Arrived in Singapore and got the MRT to Little India were our hostel was. We arrived to our hostel about 7ish, so was too late to do anything. Little India wasn't that nice, a bit in your face and smelt. We booked a boat trip at the hostel for the next day nd went to bed. Back to a dorm, oh how we have missed them! 17.3.2012 We made our way to Raffles Landing where the boat was separrting from. The trains (MRT) were very efficient, cheap and clean. The boat took us up and down the river which cuts Singapore in two. We had a running commentary which pointed out the main sights and buildings, with an explanation. It's very nice city, lots of modern skyscrapers ... read more

15.3.2012 Our fast boat back to Bali from Gili T, that we had already paid for, was cancelled due to bad sea conditions (big swells). We were then told we had to buy a slow boat ticket from Lombok to Bali. Which in the price a bus would take us to our hotel. When wwe arrived in Lombok, having taken a small public boat, we were told that the slow boat was cancelled as well! There was loads of people crowding us trying to get our money off us by saying they would take us the airport. We had already paid for transport to take us to the port in Lombok which was on the other side off the island, so we refused to give our money to the pestering annoying rude strangers that were surrounding ... read more