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Published: November 24th 2005
Hello everyone Mandy here its been a while since our last update we were last in Pakse when Chris last updated you, we are now in the north of Vietnam in Hanoi and we have been up to a lot since our last message.
After Pakse we headed up to Vientiane the capital of Laos, took a long time to get there 14 hours on the bus but as with most transport over here if they cut out a lot of the messing around and picking up all and sundry on the way we would get there a lot quicker, I will never complain about public transport in the UK again!
We spent about a week in Vientiane chilling out and seeing the sights including the Golden Pha Tha Luang which as the name suggests is gold and can be seen from miles away, and the Patuxai their answer to the Arc de Triomphe and commemorates the Lao who died in pre-revolutionary wars, great views of the city from the top.
We then headed up to Luang Prabang which I really liked had a great atmosphere and the people were so friendly, there was a night market along one big main street selling everything you could think of. Me and Chris could have spent a fortune there, we did buy one or two items I bought a lovely patch work quilt which I will use when I have my own house one day as its for a double bed!
We stayed at a guest house on the river front with a balcony which was nice to sit out on and chill and read a book! We visited the big waterfall there which was a fantastic sight and climbed to the top to see the great views of the mountains, you could also swim in the bottom of the waterfall as there was like a natural pool there, we both jumped in but once was enough for me as it was absolutly freezing and it was a cloudy day but Chris happily carried on swimming when it was raining!
The big thing we did there was go on a two day biking/rafting trip Chris's idea I was a bit unsure but I agreed to it. There was six of us in our group, Lil and Adam and Ad and Helma we had a great time from start to finish. The biking was very hard we biked about 45km in the day stopping of for lunch, I didn't manage it all I had to jump in the van as some points because it was so steep and the weather was scorching! I could go on and on about this trip but we will tell you about it when we get home there was just so much we did, the second day was easier on the kayaks and raft crusing along the river and having a few rapids to contend with! We met up with the other two couples on the friday night for a meal and drinks which was a nice way to round things off.
This brought us to saturday and our two day travels Vietnam it was very hard going at times and it is cold over here too, even more so when you are travelling on a bus where people keep the windows open!
So we are now in Hanoi its our fourth day here and its a lovely place, we are based in the old quarter at the moment which has a big lake in it with cafe's and restaurants surrounding it to sit and chill out, we visited a musuem yesterday which was all about the different tribes that live here and how they live, outside there was life size models of the houses people live in which you get to go in and explore which we enjoyed.
Anyway we will update you again soon, hope everyone is well and its not too cold at home!
Love Mandy and Chris x x
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David
non-member comment
In the desert
Hi Chris and Mandy. Glad you are enjoying the trip, very jealous of the biking trip - sounds like a great idea. I'm in the middle of the Sahara desert at the moment (as you do), incredibly it is raining. Typical.