PATravel: Goodbye, Vietnam. Hello, Laos!!

Sitting on the Mekong after meeting up once again with this mighty river further north in Luang Prabang,

Laos

. Flew from Hanoi into

Laos

the day before yesterday after narrowly escaping the Typhoon “Son-Tinh” which hit Halong Bay only hours after our departure. After all the hawking and spitting, interminably unfriendly people, some pretty aggressive monkeys and a few bed bugs, I can’t say that we are heartbroken to say goodbye to

Vietnam

, particularly the north.

The last time we wrote we were leaving the beautiful little town of Hoi An, about half way up the coast of

Vietnam

. From here we headed north for a night and a day in Hue which allowed us just enough time to see the Song Huong (Perfume River) and crumbling remains of the heavily bombed Citadel belonging to the last emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty.

And then our journey really began…

Have you ever been trapped in a place that you’re pretty sure God has designed to remind you why you don’t want to end up in hell? Well, that about covers our 17 hour haul up to Halong Bay. A train ride complete with demon cockroaches, hawking and spitting on the cabin floor, cabin crew smoking under the no-smoking sign and seats so comfortable they must have been designed by Satan’s carpenters themselves. And to complete the scene, a woman doing something on loudspeakers that can only be described as strangling a herd of cats. Our arrival on Cat Ba Island in the “Bay of the Descending Dragon” was heralded by the resounding “plonk” of us face-planting into the first bed we could find.

After this, Cat Ba turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. The next day we hired a motorbike and spent the day beach-hopping, swimming and drinking coffee. We also managed to get to Hospital Cave, another ingenious hideout for wounded Viet Cong soldiers during the war with

America

and a hang out place for Ho Chi Minh himself. The day after this finally saw us use the hiking boots we have lugged around with us for the past 5 weeks! A beautiful 15km walk up and down jagged, rainforest-covered limestone karsts in the hope of seeing a Cat Ba Langur, a mow-hawked little monkey endemic only to this island. Our 3^rd endangered primate of the trip!

Sadly no monkey, so the next day we hopped onto a junk boat for a 2 day, 1 night trip around Halong Bay. Kayaking into hidden lagoons carved out of the stone by the wind and the waves, swimming in the emerald waters and eating fried spring rolls, morning glory and fish for 2 meals a day will be our abiding memories of this place. We also had some unexpected visitors in our bed that night and woke up with more than a few bites that will hopefully fade together with the sound of midnight karaoke bouncing off the surrounding mountains.

A hop, skip and a jump later we were back in Hanoi having unknowingly evaded the tropical storm on our tail. A day in Hanoi was just enough time for us to catch an exquisite water puppet show and see the ancient Temple of Literature. Water puppetry is an ancient art developed by Vietnamese rice farmers who manipulated wooden puppets and used flooded rice-paddies as the stage. It wasn’t difficult to imagine this even though we were in a theatre.

Just before heading to the airport we indulged in some more Vietnamese coffee. This time made from coffee beans that had undergone a certain digestive process in the intestines of a local wild civet. Hmm, maybe a little too strong!! But it kept us going all the way to

Laos

and now here we are. Chugging up the Mekong in a slow boat for the next 2 days. Next stop: Huay Xai, the border town between

Thailand

and

Laos

and the site of our last big adventure, the Gibbon Experience. Can’t wait!