Thailand - Koh Phi Phi

At last we found a place worthy of the lofty title 'paradise' - Koh Phi Phi Don. Although it was a really long way to travel from Laos, it was well worth the effort - especially as our trip is almost over now (eek!). Devastated by the Tsunami in 2004, it has quickly been cleaned up. Despite some over-development, it's still possible to find a quiet and unspoiled spot. We were away from the hoardes on Long Beach; it was incredible.

I did a one-day snorkel trip and swam with huge shoals of brightly coloured tropical fish, jellyfish, seasnakes and even sharks. Yup, I was a little wary of the sharks at first but eventually I was chasing a few of them (I had fins on which always helps!). They are amazing to watch and rather graceful too.

Loas - Luang Prabang + Vang Vieng

We went on an Elephant Trek near Luang Prabang and I got to sit and steer from the (very scratchy) head. It was good fun. Later on we did some shopping in the stunning night market. It's a truly wonderful town and one of Lizzy's favourites in the world.

Next up we hit Vang Vieng and went 'tubing'. This involves floating down the stunning river in a tracter inner tube, and stopping at bars along the way for (usually alcoholic) refreshment. After some Dutch courage you can then ride huge waterslides and rope swings into the river. Lizzy was the first of the day down the waterslide and made quite an impression on both herself and all watching. My attempt created an even bigger wave.

However, all the fun/bad food in this town left Lizzy rather sick and thus we had a few rather dismal days of being fed up, tired, ill and wanting to go home. Eventually we settled on heading to Koh Phi Phi, Thailand, for a few days before heading home.....

Laos

We had flights booked to Bangkok from Hanoi but of course all hell broke loose there and we were forced to divert to Laos instead....which was our original plan anyway !

And what a nice place it's been too.Very little traffic or hassle. Stunning mountains.So relaxed I've (almost)forgotten what stress is.Bliss.We arrived in sleepy capital Vientianne and chilled by the river, read some books and ate lots of nice French food.Next up, reality was biting, and we had a very trying 10.5 hour bus ride north through mountains (incredible scenery though) on awful roads to Luang Prabang only to be told on arrival that the hotel we had booked was full.Stress memory returned quickly! However we quickly relaxed after getting another room and the next day wandered this lovely UNESCO town in a relaxed haze of bliss.Its where the Mekong and another less memorably named river meet.We booked an Elephant trek,made some friends and wandered around.I got to watch Arsenal beat Chelsea scumbags away.Heaven !

Hanoi + Sapa - Northern Vietnam

High up in the mountains of Northern Vietnam,very close to China and with a totally different tribal culture, Sapa was incredibly beautiful. We spent a few very happy days trekking and biking,and meeting the wonderful H Mong and Azare Tribal people. We also had the best pasta I've ever eaten -hand rolled fettuccine with foraged Mountain Mushrooms.Yum! Needless to say the likes of which would be super expensive at home.

It was a relief to be in the cool mountain air and away from the very hectic Hanoi city where we had previously spent a whirlwind 4 days,most of which with my old mate Kate who now lives there.During our stay we saw the James Bond movie (which was good... but for me was lacking Eva Green),and went to an International Music Festival which actually had better food than music ....but was great fun anyway. The daily assault by literally millions of mopeds wore me down though, along with battling crooked taxi drivers.Still the amazing French restaurants were some compensation and we ate very well indeed.

Hoi An

Hoi An (in the middle of coastal Vietnam) was simply stunning. Relaxed,historic,great food and very romantic. Plus full of amazing + cheap taylors.Needless to say we got several pairs of trousers and a jacket made up. I could have stayed longer than the 4 days we did.
Only downer was watching Arsenal get beaten. Still we were in a beautiful old wooden bar with top tunes, dancing travellers and great company ....which of course is better than the usual lonely and sticky pubs I ve watched many an Arsenal defeat in at home.

Vietnam

We arrived in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon is what everyone actually still calls it though) after a harsh 13 hour bus ride from Cambodia. It was very clear straight away that Vietnam is much more developed and richer than Cambodia and the women have a very determined sense of chic... which includes a surgical style facemask. Yes indeed they all seem to want white skin so badly that the sun is kept off their faces by these fashionable and colourful masks - its very bizarre to see !
We went to the War Museum and I learnt how terrible Agent Orange was, and how brutal the after effects are, amongst lots of other grizzly facts about what they call, the American War. After that we needed a drink and of course Lizzy was just about able to remember where the best Cocktail Bar in town was - on top of a roof terrace of a posh hotel over looking the city called Saigon Saigon.Nice. I must also mention that the number of mopeds has to be seen to be believed - crazy and not a little scary when you're amongst it !

Next up was the picturesque hill station of Dalat.Up in the mountains and rather colder than we had been used to, this charming place is a bit like the Alps in Spring. We couldn't resist the Easy Rdiers Bike Tour of the area and spent a wonderful day learning about the countryside's ways and sights with Jean and Ting our lovely guides. We saw silk worms making silk and then the factory where the people finish the job. We visited flower farms , coffee plantations , a huge Pagaoda (a Buddist Temple) and learnt so much about Vietnam, its history and culture on our trip on the back of these mean machines with these incredibly gentle and warm hosts.

Kampot and Kep

We went to the South coast in Cambodia for several wonderful days and were lucky enough to sample the famous Kep Crab from the Crab Market as well as explore the very chilled Kampot.I think that Cambodia is one of the most incredible places we have been (which is not what I was expecting) - the people are SO much fun, the history is tragic and its so poor ....but nonetheless very inspiring. We also met some wonderful people and it was really nice being in a nice group of fellow travellers again - this part of the world has been much more sociable for us than most of Indonesia! Amongst these we met lovely couple - a Arsenal fan called Jeremy (!) from new Zealand via London and his girlfriend Helen.