So where to start... After two relationship breakups which scuppered two big holidays (Indochina and Peru) I discovered T&L and decided to see whether arranging a trip with someone through the site would work out. I'd seen the trip to Bath and looked at the attendees' profiles to see if their destination lists matched mine, read Elainemcnl's details, and it seemed she was looking for a similar trip to me - Indochina, independent travel with the help of Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor, so my first (and subsequently only) message was sent:

"Hi Elaine, I was thinking of going to Cambodia/Vietnam/Laos next year (probably mid-February for around 3 weeks but flexible on this). I thought I'd send you a message here before putting it "out there" on trip ideas as I notice that you are going to Bath in October (as am I) and Indochina is on your list of places to visit."

That's how easy it was - after a short meet-up in London to discuss itinerary and meeting again during the trip to Bath, so it was that on 3 February we ended up meeting at Heathrow for our trip with five destinations: Ho Chi Minh City (still called Saigon by many), Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (for the temples at Angkor), Luang Prabang in Laos, then Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Duc Vuong Hotel (adequate room, clean with aircon, good location)

Day 1/2 - On arrival, the staff in the hotel were very, very helpful to the point of thinking they'd drunk too much caffeine. We took it easy initially, walking around to get to know the place, booking trips, wandering around a food market (ponged a bit) and found our way to Ben Thanh market to get an idea of prices (though nothing bought as our last stop was Hanoi where we could buy to our hearts' content). We had lunch at "Pho 24" which is Vietnam's equivalent to McDonalds - only instead of burgers you get a bowl of Pho (pronounced "feu") which features heavily in Vietnamese diets - it's a bowl of soup containing noodles, onions and your choice of meat, and you're given a bowl of things you can add to season it to your taste (from coriander to lime, chilli sauce to chopped chillis).

It was our first experience of trying to cross the road in Vietnam and I defy anyone to cross for the first time without squeaking in fear in a city with 8 million residents and 4 million motorbikes (cars are excessively expensive – only for the super-rich). Eventually we got the hang of it, walk purposefully, looking at the oncoming riders who (theoretically) judge how you're moving and (hopefully) avoid hitting you. One tip - try to cross with a local, walking next to them, aping their every step forward - they might look at you curiously if you're too obvious about it but hey, better a curiosity than squashed by a moped.

In the evening we started with drinks by the river then ended up in a restaurant where Elaine got hit on ("Do you want a massage?") and we had our first taste of the Vietnamese hard-sell whilst eating - offered everything from fans to books to a dried meat (I saw somewhere the word "chien", French for dog so gave that a miss – also, on the way home, someone was selling some kind of squashed rodent - I didn't look too closely at that one). Ours was a lovely meal - noodley, meaty and vegetabley - very nice, with spring rolls to start - yum.
 

Day 3 - We took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels which were dug out by the Vietcong to fight the Americans during the Vietnam war. On the way during the 3 hour drive we stopped at a "Happy House" which turned out to be a toilet stop (because when you arrive you are anxious and when you leave you are happy) and there were handicapped locals there creating beautiful lacquer work for the tourists to buy on the way to/from that happy place. The tour guide (Hue - "like Hugh Grant!") proved himself a capable and amusing guide, telling us about his saving for a new bike, a Honda Shh - a real "chick-smagnet" (I didn't have the heart to tell him the word was "magnet", not "smagnet") and other little observations on the way. The tunnels themselves extend to 200km on 3 levels, and initially us hefty westerners couldn't navigate the tunnels as the Vietcong were very slight - weighing in at around 35kg - so after the war some Americans kindly paid for some tunnels to be made a little larger for the western figure (i.e. fat) to see what they were like. We saw one hidden entrance to a tunnel which I could possibly have fitted my left thigh into, then were shown to an enlarged tunnel (phew) where you had a choice of crawling between 20m-100m. I was up for the 100m but emerged for air after 20m as it was exhausting, cramped, hot, and I was sweating like I'd run a marathon - a very enlightening and fun day. When we got back to Saigon (apparently it's the South Vietnamese who still use this name whereas the Northern Vietnamese call it Ho Chi Minh City) we asked to be dropped off at the War Museum which proved to be photographically informative, interesting to see and hear the war told from a Vietnamese point of view rather than an American one, and devastating to see the atrocities carried out against civilians, including women and children, in the name of trying to win an unwinnable war. The museum's a must-see, but it's disturbing to see what the war did to the people of Vietnam, and sometimes I couldn't help turning away from the horrors that were documented.

We then went back to the same restaurant as the night before, still squeaking as we crossed the roads, but a little more quietly by now, and shared a delicious curry, with spring rolls to start (are you starting to sense a theme yet?).
 

Day 4 - Up early for a one day Mekong Delta trip to Cai Be. It was a cheap trip and we ended up sitting over the wheel in the van so you needed to be about 4'7" to be comfortable - we barely understood what the guide was saying but it didn't matter, we just looked at the sights out of the window on the way. When we arrived it was a cacophony of noise, boats transporting fruit, building supplies, etc. We went by boat for lunch to see sweets being made - lots of things made from rice including puffed rice, wine, rice paper and the sweets, which of course I couldn't resist buying. As we set off on the boat again we got caught on a sandbank as the tide was so low - we saw another boat with the same problem where the occupants had obviously been asked to all sit on one end as there were about 20 people sitting on the quarterdeck and nobody in the body of the boat - we were asked to do the same and, after choking on fumes for about 10 minutes, finally managed to get back into deeper water. We then went down a smaller subsidiary, transferring onto smaller punts where we got to wear the traditional hat worn by field workers (very groovy). Now my sense of balance is pretty awful so this was a trial in itself, but all was well and everyone managed to get off the punts without incident for lunch. We had a chance to have our picture taken with an enormous (around 12ft) python but I kind of felt sorry for him, being passed around by people who had no idea how to handle him, so just gave him a little pat - that'll do. Back to our starting point for the boat trip and through a food market where I studiously kept my eyes to the floor when we went through the section with birds/animals, but it's another culture and you have to accept and move on. 3 hours back to Saigon and a lovely dinner of beef with noodles and, guess what? Spring rolls to start.

Phnom Penh - Eureka Villas (great place to stay, big room with aircon, clean, good location)
 

Day 5 - Goodbye Saigon! Took a bus (6 hours with Sapaco) to Phnom Penh and it was a fun ride – we set off bright and early in the morning and the driver immediately put on a grisly horror film for us passengers, with much crunching of skulls of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre genre.  We initially thought it was going to be a rough journey as there were boxes in all the footspaces which were restricting, but the time went by quickly enough.  The guy in charge on the bus took everyone's passports and was very efficient in getting us over the border into Cambodia where we were met by the lovely Mr Yut in his Tuk-Tuk to take us to our hotel which we were very happy with. We walked along Sisoworth Quay which was nice and calm after the chaos of Saigon and it had a completely different vibe - easygoing, even the people trying to sell stuff seemed more laid back. In the evening we tried the Cambodian dish of amok, which was very nice, and... did you say spring rolls? Oh go on then.

Day 6 - Out to meet Mr Yut in his tuk-tuk with whom we had arranged a trip to the Killing Fields. I'd seen the film but that was my only knowledge of what had happened in Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. We were given audio commentary earphones and could press a number on the cassette to coincide with numbers painted on boards as you walked around, and the commentary was heartbreaking. From seeing rags still emerging from the earth to the pile of clothes that are now in a glass cabinet, with a young child's purple shorts on the top, this place is like a punch in the stomach - proof of how power can corrupt and create insanity. 1 in 4 Cambodians were killed during this period, including intellectuals (Do you wear glasses? Have an opinion? Show anything other than submissiveness? Right, you're an intellectual), anyone who questioned the Khmer Rouge's rule, anyone who was even associated with intellectuals or subversives (to kill the blade of grass, you must kill the root - the excuse for killing grandparents, parents, mothers, fathers, siblings and children of the accused), in other words anybody who was, or it was thought they might, present any threat to Pol Pot's absolute rule were rounded up and killed. The Killing Fields themselves were all over Cambodia, but this is the spot where the dead are honoured; hundreds and thousands of bodies were exhumed, many of whom are now placed in a glass building at the centre of this place. However, despite the horrors, the vibe now is peaceful and it really is a beautiful and tranquil spot, with chickens scratching in the earth, butterflies floating around and a beautiful lake bordered by paddy fields. The audio commentary brought the horrors to life, which I won't repeat here, but it is now a peaceful place and monks come here yearly to pray and to remember those who perished. A truly moving place to visit.
 

After this, Mr Yut took us to S-21 which was an old school, converted by the Khmer Rouge into a place of torture to obtain confessions. When the Khmer Rouge fell, their records held here remained intact, with photographic records of every man, woman and child who was brought here. Of the 20,000 who entered, 6 survived. When the Khmer Rouge left S-21, 14 bodies were left behind in the building, including one of a woman, and those bodies were buried and now rest in front of the building. You walk from room to room confronted by row upon row of peoples' faces. The faces are mostly of those who know they will not live, and you get drawn to a particular face - in my case a young lad in a flat cap who presumably had just arrived, he saw the camera and gave a slight smile - such an ordinary thing you would do - but most of the faces showed hopelessness or pain. The torturers had vivid imaginations and the horrors they inflicted on the inmates were unendurable - the cost was not only your life but the lives of your family so it doesn't bear thinking about how long these people tried to hold out before confessing to whatever it was that had been alleged. One building had barbed wire over all the balconies to prevent inmates from jumping to commit suicide, thereby avoiding confessing to their "crimes". One room had photos of people in authority in the Khmer Rouge, their eyes had been scratched out by visitors who couldn't bear to even look at photos of them. Time has moved on for Cambodia but these atrocities are not far enough in the past to eliminate the pain. To visit S-21 is not for the faint-hearted, but if you want to learn about recent history in Cambodia, this place should not be missed.
 

Time to move on to lighter things so we went for a drink, where I was bested by a little girl trying to sell bracelets ("you buy bracelet" [me] "no thank you" "Why?" [me] "I don't really want a bracelet" "Why? Look, we play game, you lose, you buy bracelet...") then on to the Russian Market to barter for a few t-shirts, then back to the hotel where we took a walk down Road No. 13 which, whilst running parallel with the promenade, is a world away from the touristy cafes, bars and restaurants located there - this is where you see the locals doing their "thing" buying, selling, monks walking by carrying orange umbrellas, motorbikes being fixed, bikes with 4 people squeezing on, a good place to have a drink and people-watch.

Day 7 - Best day so far; we went to the Royal Palace, saw the golden buddha encrusted with diamonds and the emerald buddha - all very impressive and well-kept. We were a bit weary afterwards so, whilst Elaine went into the National Museum, I mooched around the shops for half an hour. After, we went to a Wat (temple) which we thought contained an eyebrow lash of buddha (come on, now you've got to see that!!!) but no luck with the lash - however, we got talking to a monk called Mai who showed us a stairway to sit on a balcony and watch the world unfold below. He brought us a couple of chairs and we had a chat for about 20 minutes. His family lives in Siem Reap (where we go next) but he now lives in Phnom Penh. After studying for some years he is now a fully qualified monk! We asked if we could have photos and, after fussily adjusting his robes for 5 minutes we took the photos. He was a lovely man to chat with to learn more of the monks' way of life.
 

Afterwards we went to the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) - thanks to Lucyd1978 for the recommendation - where there are low balconies overlooking the river and promenade. One Angkor beer and one coconut later we walked to the Romdeng restaurant - highly recommended as they support local children's charities and try to help disadvantaged youth to learn to work in a restaurant to give them a way to earn a living. Now I'm totally blaming Elaine for this (I wouldn't have had the courage on my own) but we started with deep fried tarantula, and 3 spiders duly came up on a plate with a nice sauce for dipping. Elaine pressed her fork on the first one and, when it kind of sprung up, I was ready to run, however after starting on a leg (rather nice actually, crispy) Elaine took the first bit of a body and I duly followed. Overall rather nice, but not necessarily something to repeat as you brain is screaming NOOOOOOOOOOO all the time you're munching on a leg. Elaine went one step further and ordered the beef with red ants (I bailed out here and had my beef with lemongrass) but my banana and peanut milkshake was rather fabulous. After this, the waiter came out with a live tarantula and I must admit I felt a bit guilty at munching on his relatives, but offered my bare arm to let him have a rest - a bit like having a suede glove placed on your arm, with a slight scratch as he's pulled off as the hairs on his legs try to grip your arm. Ahhhh. Poor thing (tasty though).
 

Siem Reap - Wooden Angkor Hotel (adequate place to stay, aircon, reasonably clean)
 

Day 8 - Goodbye Phnom Penh! Bus to Siem Reap (this time on the Mekong Express - more comfortable but preferred the experience of the Sapaco bus). We got a flat tyre on the way but the coach just pulled into a shack and a very capable lad turned up to put more air in the tyres - we didn't even need to get out! I amused myself watching a toddler in a walker whose wheel had been attached to a rope so he just wandered round in circles, trying to run over the (frankly daft) chickens that kept running into his path. 6 hours later we arrived in Siem Reap and it was clear that this place is more affluent than Phnom Penh - some of the hotels are enormous and extremely posh. We arrived at the Wooden Angkor (not posh but adequate) and were immediately met by a barrage of hard-sell - from the tuk-tuk driver (Mr Yang), to trying to sell us tours (way too expensive), to telling us where to eat (some expensive, touristy place with Cambodian dancers). We both recoiled from this kind of selling and had to be quite firm in declining - especially to Mr Yang who seemed especially grumpy. We dropped off our suitcases and went for a relaxing drink on the roof, but then were rushed out in order to see sunset at Angkor. We bought our 3-day tickets (you can buy after 5pm and have that evening free) then headed off to Phnom Bakheng where the sunset was supposed to be impressive; this involved walking up quite a steep hill then getting into an enormous queue at the top. They stopped people going up at 5.30pm and we were 6 people from the front of the queue when it closed - grrr - if it wasn't for those people pushing in earlier.... Never mind, the recommendation here is that, if you get in after 5pm for the free evening, go sit by Angkor Wat for the sunset, much more laid back. Back to hotel for a drink on the balcony whilst watching the world go by, then walked to another hotel where we found the tour we wanted for half the price showing at our hotel, so booked for another day.

Day 9 - Declining all offers of a tuk-tuk ("Hello lady, tuk-tuk?" is forever burned in my brain) we walked into the centre of town, and on the way saw monks chanting for alms and went down a street with shacks which showed a sharp contrast against the opulence of the hotels which can cost up to US$1,000 per night (butler included). After booking a tuk-tuk with the tourist information office we set off for the Wat of Banteay Srei which was one of the furthest away. It was very hot but the place was very pretty with pink rocks and impressive carvings. We then went for a drink and something to eat at one of the stalls (risky from a hygiene point of view, but thankfully no harm done) before heading off to another Wat called East Mebon which had elephant sculptures and enormous steps - it's at this point that your knees start to protest - then on to a brief visit to Ta Prohm which was my favourite place to visit. This place is a mass of ruined buildings with trees, which must have been felled in their hundreds, now starting to claim back the land that was once theirs. The trees are enormous and their roots have gradually worked their way through or over the ruins to become part of the buildings. Then it was back to Phnom Bakeng to, this time successfully, climb the steps to see the sunset. This place for me was overrated as it was quite pretty, but also packed with people fighting for space. On the way back, our tuk-tuk ran out of petrol, so the driver just walked up to someone's home, gave them some money and an empty bottle of water and, next minute, a motorbike was being wheeled out of the front room and five minutes later he's back with a bottle of petrol and our driver's change - it all works so beautifully here it's quite something to see. Later we popped out for the small but enjoyable nightmarket and found a decent restaurant with good service which just so happened to have spring rolls on the menu, before crashing for the night.
 

Day 10 - Many people who visit Siem Reap only visit for Angkor and don't look outside of this for alternative trips. However we both needed a timeout from all the Watting(!) and this trip was to a village called Kompong Phhluk which has houses built 20 feet up in the air on stilts to avoid the rising tides of the Mekong river. Our tour guide (Toeur) turned up and told us we were the only ones on the tour today so we were bundled into an old Mercedes - Elaine, Me, Toeur and the driver, and set off with Toeur rabbiting away in the front seat. Initially I thought this tour might be hard work with only the two of us but my apprehension was unnecessary as it was a great, probably my favourite, day in Siem Reap. We stopped at a food market in Rolous where Toeur explained all the foods, from rice to fish to meat and how it was all prepared, tried a couple of things but he was aware of us "Farang" (foreigners) and our sensitive stomachs! The market was all very rustic and very fresh - so fresh that the fish being sold were flopping about in their bowls trying to escape. I bought some incense sticks then we headed up a dirt road where things were pointed out from a pig farm to coconut trees and we ended up at a monastery which was in the process of being built - the monks help out with the building when they can.

On to Kompong Phhlukk where we transferred to a boat, with fishermen all along the banks of the river throwing their nets into the water, then we saw the houses on stilts - now I was expecting maybe 20 houses but there were hundreds - they house 600 families way up in the air. We went on to a floating station and transferred again onto a punt where an elderly gentleman paddled us through mangroves for 15 minutes - magical. We got caught on some fishing nets but our gentleman was up to the task of freeing us and we were soon on our way. We then stopped at a house on stilts for lunch which seemed very precarious - big gaps between the very narrow floorboards - but we must have looked very cumbersome walking about like we were on eggshells whilst the locals clambered around like it was nothing. P.S. The worst toilet of the whole trip - and there were some bad ones! Lovely to see a village in full working order, including one house on stilts that was a police station, another a school, or a barbers - it's all there, just not how you would expect! Time to head home, then we booked a tuk-tuk with a lovely chap called Nita (despite glares from Mr Yang) to take us to Wat Thmei which is like a mini-Killing Fields similar to the one in Phnom Penh. They had a much smaller building for placing the remains of those killed in the fields but this time the monks were living around the Wat so we sat and watched the monks at work for a while before heading on to Angkor Wat for sunset. Many people went inside for the sunset but we were content to sit on a wall by the side of the river overlooking Angkor Wat and lovely it was as well. Back to the night market and the same restaurant as before (plus the obligatory spring rolls) before calling it a night.

Day 11 - Up at 4.30am for sunrise at Angkor Wat. Again many people went inside but we found our spot on the wall to watch the light changing as day broke. We had breakfast from the hotel which consisted of stale bread and a banana - which eventually went to an itchy mutt which had been looking at us beseechingly from a few feet away. As the morning continued we started to make our way to the entrance of Angkor Wat taking loads of pictures and cursing anyone who walked into a shot. Angkor Wat is huge with grounds which extend much further than you expect. After going through the main entrance there's a rock causeway in the middle of the gardens which then lead to more impressive ruins. I joined a queue to go up to a high spot which was fine going up, but I was a bit squeaky coming down again, and not a motorbike in sight. We thought we'd finished looking round both Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom but asked a guide and found we had, in fact, only been around the former and the latter was much further on and enormous in itself. Back to the tuk-tuk and back to my favourite Wat, Ta Prohm with the trees growing in and through the ruins. We had a chance here to just relax and sit and watch the tour groups come and go - a lovely place to see. Lunch again and spring rolls were on offer - oh go on then.
 

On now to Angkor Thom which is a massive area (18km) so we didn't walk around it all. We started off with Bayon which has faces carved into the rocks, then on to Baphuon which is a pyramid of rocks with water leading up to it, then the Terrace of the Elephants with (you've guessed it) elephants carved into the rocks and elephant heads coming out of the rocks, then walked past the Terrace of the Leper King which is an alleyway where one side is carved with characters from top to bottom. This day was exhausting in the heat with all the climbing but well worth it for the sights on offer. Back to the hotel, then out to the Butterfly Restaurant where, surprisingly enough, you eat your meal whilst surrounded by butterflies flying around (no, we didn't eat any butterflies).
 

Luang Prabang - Villa Meuang Lao (lovely size, clean, aircon, good location, no shampoo/conditioner/tea and coffee making facilities/etc.)
 

Day 12 - Goodbye Siem Reap! Lazy morning then Nita took us by tuk-tuk to the airport for our onward flight to Luang Prabang in Laos. We took a taxi from the airport but be VERY careful here as there are many guest houses with similar sounding names. After first being dropped at Villa Muang Lao (see what I mean?) we told the driver this was wrong and got back in, only for him to try to drop us off somewhere completely random, before he talked to someone else who pointed him in the (thankfully) right direction. Straight out to take a wander along the market, which was much more laid back than Vietnam or Cambodia, all very nice stuff. In a restaurant we had our first taste of riverweed sprinkled with sesame seeds - delicious - will this take over from the spring rolls? We shall see. A wander down to the river for a drink then time to call it a night.
 

Day 13 - Nice easy morning, breakfast of a chocolate baguette (first chocolate of the trip!). We walked along the riverside and saw beautiful scenery - it really is a lovely, easy-going place. We then went down to the water's edge and saw kids jumping off rocks into the rapids, and found out later that these kids then put on their orange robes as they were young monks having fun. We then found a rickety old bamboo bridge and paid KIP10,000 (about 30p) to cross it to an idyllic spot where we could have a drink and watch the sun go down - absolutely beautiful. We walked a little further to a silk making village called Bao: Xieng Lek; which had chickens and dogs everywhere you looked. Back over the rickety bridge then I walked around the market again whilst Elaine went on the hunt for a supermarket selling Lao beer.
 

Day 14 - Up late-ish with the intention of renting bikes for the day. Unfortunately you have to leave your passport as security and neither of us were comfortable with this so we decided against it. We took a look through the produce market where I felt sorry for the tiny birds in baskets, but it turns out that these birds are sold in order to release them (it's supposed to bring you good karma). We took a walk down to the river where I tripped and did an impressive tumble into some grass, then a little battered and bruised later walked through another market before arriving at an old communist bridge. It was a bit nervy getting across with all the gaps in the planks and other planks that moved when you stepped on them, but we managed anyway and, after purchasing a can of drink each, sat on the other side on a step watching people travelling over. An old lady in a straw hat carrying two baskets on either end of a large pole balanced on her shoulder indicated she wanted our cans, to which we indicated that we were sorry but they were empty, to which she indicated that she wanted them anyway, so no need to look for a rubbish bin - I guess recycling is an extra income for some here. Back over the communist bridge to stop for a crepe (I said crepe) before stopping for a drink to watch the kids leaping off rocks into the rapids again - they are braver than me! Back to the bar on the hill for sunset before a spot of dinner (riverweed..... and spring rolls!) and ready for a trip tomorrow which involves biking/elephant riding/kayaking - should be fun!
 

Day 15 – Ready for our tour and... it's just us and a tour guide again! Straight onto the mountain bikes and they were easier than I'd feared, quite light and just as well because there were some mega-hills coming up. I only had to get off the bike on hills 3 times though so not too bad for these knees. First stop on the bikes was another Wat with 5 floors, we made it up to 4 and then just looked up the ladder to the 5th - that'll do. Second stop was at the burial place of Henri Mouhot who first discovered Angkor for westerners. We then arrived at the elephant sanctuary and, as we'd just missed one group, we walked down to the bottom of the hill to await their arrival at the water. Lots of squealing coming from those riding the elephants before they finally came into view and quite a sight it was with around 15 elephants in the procession. One elephant, bless her, had a branch in her trunk and seemed to be sweeping up after all those in front, but it turned out she was swatting flies away. My turn to ride an elephant and I ended up on Pik who seemed very sweet natured. We went up and down some very steep banks (Pik trumpeted several times which was a bit alarming but she seemed to cope fine) before coming down to the water where my feet managed to stay dry, but Pik had to raise her trunk over the water to get to the bank. I then got off the elephant and we purchased some bananas - Pik seemed reluctant to take any but the elephant next door seemed rather keen so we gave some to her, putting them in her trunk to put into her mouth. Someone then told us Pik preferred to have you place the bananas directly in her mouth so she managed to get some bananas too. Back down to the river, we crossed in a little boat to an island for lunch, then into kayaks for a couple of hours to paddle downriver and down some rapids. We had to be careful as the water was so shallow at this time of year and rocks were everywhere. At one point we got stuck on a rock and were typically British about it ("we seem to be stuck [wiggle, wiggle], no we're still stuck" awaiting rescue from our tour guide like a couple of numpties). Lovely afternoon and it's definitely put me in mind to do kayaking again - it was hard work and we were both knackered by the end as we hadn't had a break in the 2 hours we were paddling, but it was very rewarding and fun going down the rapids with the locals looking on to see if we made fools of ourselves and shouting out encouragement (I assume it was encouragement…).
 

Getting back to Luang Prabang by tuk-tuk, we felt we had earned a massage so went into the Makong Massage Spa which had been recommended on TripAdvisor. We both opted for the foot massage which included a 10 minute head and shoulder massage at the end. I had a chap start my foot massage and I knew within seconds that I was in trouble - OOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!! I don't know if my feet are super sensitive but I pulled a face in pain so he eased up, for about 30 seconds, then carried on with an extremely painful, firm foot and leg massage. By the end of it my calves felt bruised and it took 3 days for the soles of my feet to return to normal. The shoulder bit was nice though... but no more foot massages for me thanks very much. On to dinner then bought a couple of pairs of trousers from the night market - last full day tomorrow so will spend the last of the Lao currency (KIP) tomorrow night.
 

Day 16 - Elaine and I decided to do our own thing today - Elaine wanted to learn a bit of Spanish from the book she had brought with her over a Lao coffee whilst I wanted to take the local ferry to the other side to check out what it was like. First of all I walked up to the top of Mount Phousi which was quite a task first thing in the morning with a scary amount of steps but it was nice to sit at the top for a while to see everyone ambling about the temple. Onto the ferry and there was an obvious difference, in that on the other side it wasn't for the tourists and was accordingly less affluent - nice to wander though and there was a temple for meditation at the end of a path which was quite interesting to take a look at. At one point a mother was walking up a hill with her young daughter, when I smiled at them I obviously terrified the youngster who grabbed for her mother's leg which made both the mother and me laugh - not so many tourists on this side of the river then (or was it just my ugly mug?). Back on the ferry, I took a walk down the main street then wandered off down another road which led to a bridge and a riverside spot we had ventured to before for a drink so I thought "Why not?" and parked up for a diet coke. Two minutes later "Fancy seeing you here" and up rolled Elaine where we spent a comfortable couple of hours looking at what was going on in the river (kids everywhere) whilst sipping our cokes. One negative was two older men who went down to the river's edge snapping photos of the children who weren't wearing any clothes which wasn't nice to see, but they carried on their way and left the kids alone after a few minutes so, well would you have said anything? Elaine and I split up again and I wandered over another (less rickety) bamboo bridge and walked along a hot, dusty road via a rather nice Wat, and ended up back at the bar on the hill with the nice sunset. I had a good chat with a few French people (just about understanding it all) before Elaine turned up and we sat with a drink before heading back over the rickety bridge for a lovely meal at Luang Prabang Food on the riverside (riverweed and, well, you know...) and a bit of shopping at the night market.
 

Day 17 - We were woken up at 3.30am by a booming noise - we opened the door and heard the sound of the monks banging a huge drum to wake them up to get ready for prayer. Back to sleep for a while then up for good at 5.45am in order to walk to the main street to watch alms being given to the monks. It was great to see the monks, about 300 of them, in a procession, each collecting food in a big bowl, not so good to see how disrespectful the tourists were, using flash photography and getting right into the monks' faces to take a picture; we ended up wandering away from the main drag and it was much better to watch from a distance and prove that not all "Farang" are so inconsiderate. We then went for breakfast before heading off to Big Brother Mouse. Now Elaine had found Big Brother Mouse on TripAdvisor and it's a place where they ask you to spare a couple of hours to talk to locals to improve their English. Not being comfortable with socialising in large groups I was a bit apprehensive about this and we were both a bit nervous as we headed towards the building. As it turns out, it was fine, initially there were more volunteers than students but gradually more arrived, young students and monks, and it was brilliant to be able to talk to both local residents and monks about their lives in Luang Prabang. It was interesting that all those wanting to learn English were male, whereas all those who had volunteered were female, but that's just an observation, and initial nerves gradually faded and it was a lovely morning with warm and friendly people. Again it was excellent to talk to the monks to hear about their lives, and it delighted the students if you could manage a few words in Lao (we managed hello, thank you, thank you very much and, thanks to Big Brother Mouse, could add good luck, goodbye and please to our extensive vocabulary). After being so nervous, I would recommend this to anyone - an incredibly rewarding thing to do.
 

Hanoi - Holiday Gold/Charming Hotel (both reasonably clean with aircon - lots of street noise)
 

Following a final crepe and milkshake, then wasting time relaxing, sitting and watching the butterflies for a while, it was back onto a tuk-tuk to head to the airport. Time to head on to Hanoi!
 

After the easy way of life in Luang Prabang, we arrived in Hanoi after dark and it was a bit of a shock to both of us. I don't know what I expected from Hanoi but I hadn't expected it to be noisy and chaotic like Saigon, but it was, and it was colder! We got to the hotel where they were manically enthusiastic again and, when we got to the room, it was incredibly noisy from the traffic below - we were both knackered after such an early morning in Luang Prabang so a bit concerned about sleep, but we dropped off the suitcases and headed off for somewhere to eat - we went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel but as soon as we sat down we realised it wasn't for us - too touristy, too posh, too expensive, just too much. So we did something really mature and walked out without saying anything to anyone - I'll put it down to being tired but I'm still a little mortified that we didn't have the good manners to say that we were going to leave. Hey-ho we headed back to the hotel and a couple of doors down found a restaurant called Gecko's where we had a table by the window and the food was excellent - my favourite food of the trip. Back to the hotel, earplugs in and fingers crossed for a decent sleep.
 

Day 18 - Hoorah! Decent night's sleep, the honking of the traffic stops around 10pm and didn't start again until around 6am. Breakfast, then we started walking towards the lake. For the entire trip, I'd looked after the kitty and Elaine had looked after the maps; with four currencies to contend with and five city maps, we had our work cut out for us but, I must say, all hail the map girl as Elaine managed to get us around everywhere beautifully. Good shops near the lake and every time we stopped someone wanted to polish our shoes - with Elaine in flipflops and me in canvas shoes I guess we weren't their ideal customers, but it didn't stop them pointing at my shoes and wanting to stick glue on them - it's all done with a bit of banter though so it's all good. We crossed the bridge to the temple on the water which is very pretty, and an enormous stuffed turtle takes pride of place in a glass case. We then walked further around the lake to the French district which is posh, with posh shops, so we skedaddled away, past a square with about 20 different brides with their grooms - not sure if they were actually getting married or posing for a magazine, but it was kind of fun watching a line of brides and grooms in their wedding outfits with a puffa jacket around their shoulders eating noodles. We then walked to a temple built in the 11th century in praise of Confucius; there were five courtyards to walk through and it was good to see with beautiful architecture. We stopped for lunch (it's a bowl of Pho again - we're back in Vietnam!) before walking to the cathedral. It was closed but we stopped for a drink at "La Place" which overlooked the cathedral. Off to the night market but, after wandering along several roads, found out it was only on at the weekend so no good! Dinner in a different branch of Gecko's and we heard a noise we had heard the night before of banging on metal - this is the signal of someone collecting rubbish so in this case a lady banged on this bit of metal whilst pushing a dustcart, and people came from all directions with bags of rubbish for them to take - some people sure do have a hard life.
 

Day 19 - Up early to get ready for our trip to Halong Bay which is a fantastically scenic area, 3 hours' drive from Hanoi. There are over 3,000 limestone islands which emerge from the sea and, as you sail around, the sights are breathtaking.  Arriving by bus in Halong Bay, it looked like absolute chaos with boats everywhere jockeying for position. Our guide got us onto a small boat which then chugged out to our Galaxy boat and very impressive it looked too, a traditional "junk' boat but one of the newer boats available for tours. After a drink we were given the key to our cabin and it looked smashing – all in dark wood with a lovely shower and nice beds; the bed linen was a bit marked but I don't know if it was dirty or just old - mentally I'm going to say it was just old - though I did put a t-shirt over the pillow and ask for a new towel as I didn't like the look of the marks on that... Talking to others, two cabins apparently had cockroaches but either we didn't have them, or we were so tired that, with our earplugs in, the cockroaches could have been doing a conga over our duvets and we would've remained blissfully unaware.
 

Lunch, lovely and very plentiful. Loads of seafood but I opted out of this so kept getting my own personal dishes – by the end I was stuffed silly and all that reduced waistline from the last couple of weeks was in full reverse. We sat on the top deck for a while before getting ferried over to Surprise Cave. We climbed up a load of stone steps then walked down into the first cave, already impressive, with stalactites and stalagmites lit up in yellow and green. Then we went through a small pathway into a massive cave with rock configurations, like a little buddha, a pointing finger (cue lots of sniggering that it looked like another part of the anatomy) and so on. There were monkeys outside (how'd they get there?) so lots of people taking photos, before we were sent off to paddle around in a kayak which was good fun trying to avoid the gazillion boats bobbing about. Back to our boat and onto the top deck for a drink and a chat with our shipmates, a lovely day.
 

Day 20 - A good night's sleep on the boat, then up at 7.15 for breakfast and, again, loads of food. Up to top deck as we sailed through beautiful scenery, to a floating village (people live in these homes constructed on bamboo poles year-round) and saw lots of fishing boats. We then learned how to make Vietnamese spring rolls (I'm starting to look like a spring roll by now) which are dead easy so I'll make some.... eventually. There were a few complaints from our fellow shipmates about alcohol prices and the cleanliness of their cabins, but for the price we paid for the boat, we were very happy with our cabin and how it turned out. Time to head back to Hanoi and the guide was very efficient at getting us back to our respective hotels. We then transferred to our second hotel in Hanoi, the delightfully-monikered Charming hotel. After a bit of messing around ("you stay in double room tonight, then into twin room tomorrow" [us] "No"; "you pay for two doubles at reduced rate then" [us] "No" "Ahhhh, you Miss Lisa? No, everything ok, we have twin room for you" [us] "OK") we then got shown to a decent sized room but with no window, but due to that fact the room was blissfully quiet for our last night. Out to the lake to look at a few shops then back to our favourite restaurant Gecko's for a delicious meal. Last full day tomorrow!
 

Day 21 – We walked to the day market but it was more for locals than tourists and we didn't really want to buy material, or bleach, or a toilet plunger, and you get pushed around as there's so little room to stand. I tried a bit of bartering but my heart wasn't really into it so we decided to head off to find the bridge which was built by the same man who built the Eiffel Tower. It's a big, metal bridge with trains running through the middle with bikes and pedestrians on either side; it wobbles as traffic passes by! We then walked to get tickets for the water puppet show but they'd sold out so we were left with having a wee drink then - shopping!! We found a shop where the lady was utterly engrossed in a soap programme on her tv so we just pulled out the items we wanted at leisure – no hassle! and purchased them all in one go. We then resolutely went around spending the last of our Dong - chopsticks, soapstone dishes, sweets, bags, you name it, we bought it. Then it was back to La Place by the cathedral with a crepe for me and a Bun Bo Hue for Elaine (a meaty noodle soup with a kick). We finished off with coffee by the lake then a quick mooch around the night market until all the Dong was spent and we only had dollars left (so we spent some of those instead). Back to Gecko's for our last meal then back to the hotel to pack (it all went in - hoorah!) before the last sleep and the journey home.
 

Recommendations
 

1. Lavatory facilities can be very basic so always carry toilet roll with you and hand sanitizer.
 

2. We travelled light and fairly "rough" so ended up washing our favourite travel clothes repeatedly in the shower to wear again – travel wash and a travel washing line hooked up in the bathroom proved invaluable.
 

3. Although we left our shopping for Vietnam until Hanoi, both of us preferred many of the things sold in Saigon, so if you see something you like, buy it - don't assume you will find it later on.
 

4. Earplugs – absolute essentials as street noise can be pretty impressive.
 

5. Hotel receptions are fantastically eager to help you with every aspect of your stay with them – make use of this, or not, to your taste.
 

6. If you have time, venture away from the tourist sights – some of my best memories were of sitting with the locals in a food market sipping on a cold drink, or chatting with monks, or sharing banter with a shoe repairman or laughing with the kids at the village on stilts. Much better than being in a big tour group, or sitting in restaurants, shops and bars created solely for tourists.

7. Look up!  some of the buildings and their architecture are fascinating so look above where the shops are to the buildings themselves.

8. Be prepared for tears if you smile at a local toddler.
 

Conclusion
 

A brilliant trip full of memories. I wouldn't call it a holiday so much as an experience, or an adventure. I felt so many emotions on this trip, it was uplifting, devastating, hopeful, oppressive, warm, surprising and, best of all, enlightening. With all the niggles that you have when you are home, this trip gives you a swift kick up the backside to appreciate what you have, and I would, and hope, to do a similar trip again in the not too distant future. 
 

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