Finally leaving Laos

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Having made the most of my comfy bed I went down stairs for breakfast. I took my time as there wasn't enough time to do anything purposeful today as I was being picked up at 12.30pm. I packed my bag and checked out of the room to go and print my flight details. I had decided that an hour-and-a-half plane trip was preferable to another twenty-four hour bus journey any day. I whiled away the morning in the Swedish bakery drinking tar and eating cake while I caught up on my blog entries. I felt hugely relaxed as I walked back to the guesthouse.

After being taken the short distance to the airport for an extortionate amount of money I began the process of separating out enough weight from my main bag to avoid having to pay the extra baggage weight. It didn't take too long and I was soon checked in an ready for the off. I popped into the souvenir shop for a quick look and spotted a thick copy of the lonely planet guide to Australia. I had been told that in parts of Southeast Asia it was possible to pick up copies of lonely planet guides for as little as $2 (£1.20) rather than the usual £20. This was mainly due to the fact that they were photocopies and sure enough this one was. I asked how much and was told $20. I scoffed at the sales assistant and said 'It isn't same same, it's a copy', I was agreed with but told that was the price. I tried to haggle but they were having none of it so I walked away laughing. Laos had definitely not been my favourite country on my trip so far, mainly because all the Laotians that I'd met outside of the hostels weren't very friendly or helpful. Although tourism was a major contributor to Laos economy they had still to perfect the balance between desperately wanting to become westernised while remaining a communist state.

The plane was a welcome sight sat in the blistering heat of the runway. For some reason I stopped and took a photo, I suppose in my mind it was one of the most welcome sights I'd seen in Laos. I fell asleep almost immediately as the plane took off and slept comfortably as we cruised through the sky to Hanoi. Once we had landed and passed immigration we seemed to wait an age for our baggage to arrive on the carousel. I got chatting to two Austrians, Peter and Andy, who'd been on my flight. It sounded like, with the exception of Singapore and Malaysia, we had done pretty much the same route through Asia. We were all staying at the Hanoi Backpackers hostel and had received the same email detailing the $2 shuttle bus to the city centre. With safety in numbers in mind, we all headed to the bus. We arrived an hour later and with Peter's map in his lonely planet to guide us, we made the short walk to the hostel. It had begun to lightly drizzle as we walked and the cloud cover as we landed hadn't looked promising.

After checking in we headed out for a bite to eat as we were all ravenous. We found a small shack on the end of the road serving noodle soup and rice dishes. As my stomach had settled down, I was feeling brave and ordered the noodle soup. It was giant and looked like enough to feed two people but seeing as I was so hungry I wolfed it down. It was really quite spicy and filled with chilli, diced chicken, bok choi and a mountain of noodles swimming in the soup. Although the surroundings felt a bit dirty, this was the first time I'd really enjoyed eating local food since being in Penang.

After returning to the hostel I checked Facebook and sent Aruna a message about the cruise I had booked for the next day. Peter, Andy and I went to a bar just up the road for a couple of beers and within minutes Aruna appeared walking down towards the hostel. I grabbed her and dragged her in where we spent the next hour or so catching up on what we'd been up to on our separate trips. It was nice to see a familiar face and we managed to get her booked on to the same cruise as me for the next day. I spent the rest of the evening drinking with the guys before heading to the ridiculously comfy bed I had in the hostel.

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