Me and my friend Emma went out for food and I’d been banging on about trying the Khmer barbecue for ages. The have similar all over South East Asia but I’d only had them a couple of times. Essentially you have a big pan on a gas hob, or on top of hot coals, and a range of ingredients. Veg, eggs, noodles, hot water and a range of meats. You pour the water (or sometimes stock/broth) into the pan which has a kind of moat around the bottom. Then you lob in some veggies and noodles. The pan is raised in the middle and has holes in to let the heat through. You stick a lump of fat up there to lube it up. Then you barbie your meat on that top section, while the juices run into your soup in the moat. Once the meat is ready you move it to your own little bowl and add your soup. You also get some sauces and dips to further flavour it. It’s amazing!! We had beef, shrimp, snake, crocodile and frogs legs. Quick review: Beef 5/5, shrimp 4/5, snake 0/5 (unbelievably chewy), croc 3/5 (guess what – a bit like chicken!), frogs legs 4/5 (also like chicken but more tasty than the croc – must have been a big frog too – there was plenty of meat on this sucker!).

There was a slight incident where I managed to topple the pan and we lost some soup over the table, but nothing else thankfully. Oops. Then Emma spilled most of her beer over herself – and we were both still sober at this point!

After dinner we decided to visit a fish feet massage place. These have become quite popular over here now too but probably for a whacking great higher price than we paid. If you don’t know what I’m on about, it’s where you put your feet in a fish tank and they eat the dead skin away. It’s a lot nicer than it sounds! For less than 2 quid we got unlimited time with the fish and a beer to drink while we were at it. What a deal! It was ticklish at first but then quite relaxing. I was in one tank with quite small fish initially but there were much bigger buggers in the next tank – I switched to there. They definitely chewed harder but hopefully that means they were doing more good.

Later we went to Angkor What? which is a great music bar on the main drag, which is awesomely entitled ‘Pub Street’. In there the tunes were great and buying 2 buckets of booze each, got us free t-shirts. Two vats of rum and coke later I had my new shirt and was well on the way to installing a major hangover. Just what you want with a 6 hour bus journey looming.

Th bus journey to Phnom Penh the next morning with said hangover was just about bearable. Unfortunately I missed breakfast and thought I’d get lunch later. I thought wrong – our ‘lunch’ stop was only 10 minutes. Just enough time to buy some over priced Pringles. I then watched RocknRolla on the laptop for the rest of the journey. A rock n roll bus trip, right enough!

Got to Phnom Penh and the hostel I had booked had a driver waiting with my name on a board – I’ve always wanted picked up like that! A bit more rock n roll. Checked into the hostel and I was in a 7 bed dorm. Less rock n roll. It was a bit weird. Rather than the usual bunk beds it was all mattresses on the floor. Clean and cheap though so it did the job. Eventually went out for a mooch around at about 6pm. Found a night market and ate some local food. Very average and lukewarm. I was sold a vastly over priced coke. Had a day off the booze. Not at all rock n roll. A middle-aged Malaysian bloke joined me as I was eating alone. He was very friendly but I didn’t fully trust him and he seemed very interested in my travelling budget. Slightly weird.

Later I met a few others in the hostel and we made plans to visit the genocide museum at the S21 Prison and the Killing Fields the next day. It would be as tough a day as I had on my trip, but one that everyone visiting Cambodia should do.

Today’s tune of the day is an absolute classic and featured on the RockNRolla soundtrack. This is The Sonics and Have Love, Will Travel:

After a very late arrival caused by apparent unneeded waiting around, even more unneeded stoppages and a rip-off tuk-tuk ride, we made it to the accommodation Andy & Helen had booked. As normal I hadn’t arranged anything as it’s good to have a look round when you arrive. I didn’t expect we would be quite so late! Luckily their place had a room for me which was pretty nice and very reasonably priced. We all got our heads down and arranged to reconvene in the (late) morning.

The bulk of the afternoon was spent having a wander around and getting to know our surroundings. It was clear that with the temples on its doorstep, Siem Reap is fully geared up for the tourist market. We definitely felt liked we’d moved off the backpacker trail and fully into the world of mainstream tourists. Our main objective of the day was to find a driver to take us to the temples – which we managed by getting a deal from one of the guys from our hotel. The only other thing of note to happen that day was that Emma was on her way north – she had done everything she wanted to in one day in Phnom Penh. A very quick reunion was on the cards. We then tried to get a very early night.

Our day at Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples involved getting up at 4am, getting in a tuk-tuk driven by a Cambodian bloke proclaiming to be called ‘Rocky’, and setting off in the pitch black to the unofficial 8th wonder of the world. We stopped off to buy our passes and had to pose for a photo. This cheesy smiling shot then appears on said pass – oh dear. We then arrived at the Wat and had to bumble about in the dark (none of us thought to bring a torch), up some stairs and along a walk way. In the near pitch black we could just about make out a small lake and we settled onto the stone embankment. Gradually as we moved towards dawn, we could just about make out the outline of the famous building. Over the next hour or two its full splendour began to emerge from the darkness, until the sun finally crested behind it and bathed it in gold, yellow and orange light. The silhouette was reflected in the lake in front, giving perfect photo opportunities. I must have taken about 60 variations of this one! We felt very lucky to have such an amazing sunrise – we’d heard many stories from people who had cloudy mornings and clearly not as spectacular a sight.

The rest of the day was spent checking out Angkor Wat and about another 8 or 9 temples. Highlights included the Bayon which has 216 faces carved into it (an achievement of construction in any era, never mind 1000 years ago) and Ta Prohm which has trees growing through and over the ruins of the temple. It appeared in the Tomb Raider movie as any guide will be itching to tell you! Myself and Andy were in our element and happily clicked into the roles of photography geeks. Andy knows what he’s talking about a lot more than me, so I was happy to pick his brains and try a few different shots out. We also enjoyed clambering to the top of the highest structures we could find. Helen didn’t enjoy this quite so much. The very steep (not to mention uneven) stairs added to a fear of heights wasn’t a great mix for her.

It’s a long day at the temples and after being up for a mere 14 hours and having the dustiest, dirtiest feet you could possibly imagine, it was time to head back to Siem Reap. Our trusty driver Rocky sped us back to our lodgings and we met up with Emma. After a brief catch-up, showers and the like, we headed out for some dinner and beers. It was to be a very tame affair – the three of us were exhausted and Emma had it all to look forward to the next day.

Today’s tune of the day is Daybreak by The Stone Roses:

My next journey was to be another mammoth one – 20-odd hours, first retracing my steps to Vang Vieng, then on to the capital Vientiene (my second time passing through without stopping) and on down to Don Det in the 4000 Islands via the town of Pakse. This involved three buses and very small boat with a misguided skipper – but more on him later. The first 8 hours were relatively uneventful, before it was time to change to the night bus. I climbed aboard and on first glance my berth looked spacious and comfortable. It wasn’t quite double bed sized but certainly a generous single. Except it wasn’t. It was meant for two! Soon I would meet my bedfellow for the night, a Swedish lad by the name of Stef. On paper a tall Swede called Stef sounds great! In actual fact it could have been a lot worse. He was a friendly bloke (but not too friendly if you know what I mean!) and given the girth of some of our fellow passengers I think we felt like we could have done a lot worse.

After getting more sleep than I expected (I was getting good at the whole night bus malarkey by now), we arrived in Pakse around dawn. The usual craziness of touts abounded once again, but since we were booked all the way through it wasn’t too bad. We changed to a mini-bus before being rounded up to exchange one ticket for another – again. This was standard practice in Laos in particular, but all over the region. You have one ticket for an entire journey, but operators insist on making you queue up to swap it for another one countless times during a journey. They are on their way to being swamped in paper-based bureaucracy with the rest of us!

When we eventually got on our way again there was a sobering moment as we drove along a remote road. Lots of villagers were milling about and there had clearly been an accident between a scooter rider and a mini-van. The concern on the faces of most people told us that the rider might not make it. I’d heard stories about traffic related deaths in this part of the world but this was the closest I got to seeing it. Not pleasant.

The last leg of the journey was by a small narrow boat. We loaded the bags aboard and hunkered down on the squat seats. On the journey I met Andy and Helen, an English couple that I ended up searching for accommodation with. Back to that wayward captain. Most of the boats come in at the south point of Don Det, where most of the accommodation and bars are. Basically the heart of the action, such as it is on Don Det. Despite this our man took us half way up the island to another drop off point. To add insult to injury, we were then pointed away from the busy end when we asked some people for where we should stay. After much traipsing around, we eventually got two cheap rooms. Shame they were about a 40 minute walk from where we wanted to be.

Later that evening we ventured down to the main end and I met up again with Babs, Emma and Gina. We’d had such a great time together in Vang Vieng but it was great to see them in the chilled out surroundings of Don Det. The next day myself, Andy & Helen moved down to the same area as everyone else and found some great accommodation with hammocks outside our rooms. A few hours got whiled away in them! Although there are only a few islands that are inhabited, this part of the world is known as 4000 Islands because in dry season the water level drops, revealing lots of small shrubs and out-crops of land. Which looks like masses of little ‘islands’. It is a stunning and tranquil part of the world. The pace of life is very slow. The locals are so laid back they rarely lift their heads out of their hammocks – and it’s easy to follow their lead! Other than that, we spent our days strolling round the island, eating or relaxing with a couple of beers.

The most energetic we got was when we hired bicycles and headed to the bigger island, Don Khong, which you can reach by bridge. There was yet another waterfall to visit, and while it was impressive enough, our day was more eventful because of the people we met there. Our friend Babs is mixed race – Ugandan/Irish – a wonderful mix! This part of the world gets a lot of Chinese tourists and apparently not many of them have seen black people before. Babs got a lot of attention – mostly intrusive and unwanted. They would stare and most would try to sneakily take photos or video clips. The rest would nod and wave a camera as a crude attempt at asking for permission. Seeing a white bloke in the company of a black girl was also apparently a big deal. At one point myself and Babs spent about 10 minutes grudgingly posing for photos with a large Chinese family – one by one! Very surreal.

The only other event of note while on the islands was a random local rave we were invited along to. It was off the beaten track and the only place to get a beer after the handful of bars closed. The music was appalling and we didn’t hang around too long! But it was another funny little episode of the weird variety that seems to happen when you go with the flow.

After a few blissful days it was time to hit the road again. Myself, Emma, Andy & Helen were heading on to Cambodia, while Babs and Gina were off even further afield. Babs was making her way to Vientiene to ultimately head down to New Zealand and Gina was off to Bangkok briefly, before heading to Brazil via a quick pit stop back in the UK. They are both fantastic girls and great company – will definitely be catching up with them whenever our paths next cross…

There could only be one song for the tune of the day. This is Stevie Wonder & Paul McCartney with Ebony & Ivory:

So after one day of drying out in Vang Vieng, four of us (Jorge, Jo, Lucy and myself) were ready to make our escape. Our destination was Luang Prabang in Northern Laos. Despite one day off the booze none of us were in tip-top shape yet. One of the worst journeys we’d encountered was about to test us all to our limits. Seven hours cooped up in a bus with no air-con, when the temperature is in the high 30s, along the twistiest roads known to man has to be seen to be believed. We were all sweating buckets but somehow we kept our spirits up. Well, actually I’ll tell you how. By indulging in hours of smutty banter which at least half the bus could hear. I was to find this out for a fact when I met some people a few days later that recalled a good chunk of our conversations about various people we knew and their sexual shenanigans – whoops! I also had some football related banter on this bus journey. We met Jim, a Canadian wearing a Rangers shirt. I happened to be wearing a Henrik Larsson t-shirt and so we got into the standard banter of one of the oldest rivalries in the game. It was all good-natured stuff and we actually posed for a couple of snaps together.

On arrival in Luang Prabang we realised that all the grief of the trip was completely worthwhile. It’s a beautiful town set in the mountains with great markets and right on the river. It reminded me as something of a cross between Pai in Northern Thailand and Hoi An in Vietnam. I loved it in both of those places so this made Luang Prabang a winner immediately. Once in town we set off on the obligatory search for a cheap room. The girls looked after the bags and myself and Jorge put our best hunter/gatherer faces on and went off to find a roof for the night. After an initial forlorn search we eventually secured a room for all four of us. Cosy but fun! We had a quiet night with some local barbecued food for dinner and just a couple of beers. It was the perfect antidote to the craziness of Vang Vieng. We had a big heart to heart session in the room later and it was great to get to know the others so much better.

The next day we hired a tuk-tuk driver who would take us to the major sight near the town – a beautiful waterfall. The water was a lovely blue-green colour and there were various pools which could be used for a quick dip. We were happy to do so after a hot and sweat climb to the top of the waterfall. The route up was pretty treacherous but well worth the views from the top. There was a makeshift barrier up there to stop people going over the edge but you could venture right out into the middle of the falls. So obviously we did. There was one big sturdy tree that sprawled out over the top of the fall. A sign said not to climb on it. We ignored that too. We took turns to tentatively edge out on it and get our photo taken under the sign we were directly contravening! That was fun and the scenery was amazing but my highlight was something far more childish. As we were heading up, some others were coming down. And coming down was even more dangerous – as one bloke nearly found out. A short, balding, podgy bloke in his 50s came careering towards us at a particularly steep section. In an attempt to slow himself he grabbed at some overhanging branches for support. These were, however, the flimsiest saplings you’re ever likely to see. His face was a picture as he realised they were doing next to nothing to support him. He pirouetted, stumbled and only just stayed upright. It was comedy gold but I was just about holding it together – until I saw Jo laughing right at him! I totally lost it at this point and the two of us were bent double giggling like a pair of kids. Jo hadn’t been too happy until that point but that seemed to cheer her right up!

It was actually Valentine’s Day and that night we met up with Tonje again and the 5 of us went out for dinner. We went to a place called the Lao Lao Garden and had a traditional Laos barbecue. The food was out of this world and the company was great too. Easily one of the best meals I had on the trip. If you ever find yourself in Luang Prabang definitely seek that place out. Towards the end of the meal we realised our friends Mark & Tania were also eating in the restaurant. They joined us for a couple of drinks and it was great to see them out of the madness of Vang Vieng. They looked pleased to have escaped too!

We had a great few days in Luang Prabang but it was time to say the farewells again. It definitely is the toughest bit of travelling. You meet so many great people but no sooner do you feel like you’ve got to know someone, than you all have to go your separate ways again. Jo, Mark & Tania headed west towards Thailand and an eventual destination of Chiang Mai, Jorge and Lucy were also heading to Thailand but they had chosen to go by slow boat rather than the bus. And I was heading south towards Don Det in the 4000 Islands – where I would meet up with a few familiar faces again…

Today’s tune of the day is one I’ve wanted to use for ages. This is Waterfall by James:

If you haven’t heard of Vang Vieng, firstly, where have you been? It has been a must do spot on the backpacker South East Asia circuit for a number of years. People principally come to party and go tubing. If you’ve not heard of tubing, imagine a gently flowing river surrounded by huge monolithic rock formations on all sides. Then imagine the bluest sky, not a cloud to be seen and the sun beating down. Then add a string of basic bars on both sides of the river bank. Then imagine hundreds of chilled out party people up for a good time. Put them in massive rubber tubes, float them down the river with a beer in hand and then have a local pull them in when a bar takes their fancy. Sounds good doesn’t it? Well multiply that idea by about ten and you’re probably not even coming close to imagining how good a time you can have tubing in Vang Vieng!

You can tube from late morning until around 5.30pm, as you need to get your rental tube back to town by 6pm. While the afternoon is a party, it can be a pretty chilled out affair. Hammocks are available in some bars and you watch your fellow tubers float on by, while you gently rock in the sunshine. It can also be very messy as the local Tiger whiskey and ‘lao lao’ (rice wine) are handed out in free shots liberally. You don’t need a tube to enjoy yourself on the river and so on the first day, which was also our friend Emma’s 30th birthday, we didn’t bother with tubes. We had a big group that we had been growing over the previous few days. As well as the birthday girl we had Laura and Babs who travelled over from Hanoi with me. We also had the party fiends Mark & Tania, their ‘handler’ Jorge and his friend (soon to be all our friend!) Nic. Over the course of the next day we’d also add the English trio of Gina, Jo and Lucy and Tonje (who was looking a little lost one day we were hiring tubes and was immediately adopted by Jorge and given the new name of Daphne!). Collectively we christened the group the EBC (Emma’s Birthday Crew) and much body graffiti and general nonsense ensued. The following 2 days we did get tubes and it was definitely the icing on the cake. Two very happy days. Over all 3 days I had an absolute blast, met some amazing people and had a lot of laughs. I invented an alter ego – Pablo Massos, born in Buenos Aires to Scottish parents (hence my appalling grasp of Spanish) and unbelievably people seemed to go with it. I wore an Argentina football top so that must have made it more authentic. Weeks later I was bumping into people still referring to me as Pablo!

After 3 days of straight all day drinking in the sun funny things can happen to a bloke. On the 3rd night myself and Jorge (a Californian dude who is an absolute legend) decided staying in town longer was a must. We hatched a plan to find jobs and then stay for another week. It took us less than an hour to find some work for a bar. It wasn’t work in the traditional sense, but we would be given a roof over our head, food and all the booze we could drink. Which when you’re travelling is pretty much all you require. We shook hands on it and went back to partying. I awoke the next morning still drunk and ready to tube again. By the time I started to sober up I realised that probably wasn’t a very good idea for my health. I caught up with Jorge and he looked about as good as I felt. We both quickly made the decision that we wouldn’t be reporting for work. Instead we booked tickets to escape! We spent the rest of the day sweating it out, watching a lot of Friends and playing the worst match of pool in the world. Ever.

Beyond that it is probably best if the rest of what occurred stays under wraps. The old maxim ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour’ is very appropriate. Better for all concerned I reckon!

Today’s tune of the day is one that was played as we chilled out in hammocks on one of those blissful days. The first suggestion to come was this. And it is a classic. This is Mr Jones by Counting Crows:

After our couple of days in Halong Bay we all squeezed back in the minibus for the return to Hanoi Backpackers. And so began the 32 hour trek to the tubing capital of the world (and the messiest party town I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting trapped in) Vang Vieng in Northern Laos. We suffered the obligatory stop at a pottery place on the way back, but thankfully on our return to Hanoi it was happy hour. An hour pit stop with a couple of top up beers and a feed and it was time to jump on yet another minibus. Babs, Emma, Laura and myself were all making the journey to the Laos capital, Vientiene together. This particular minibus was overloaded to about twice official capacity, to the point where I was sitting on some bags and others were sitting on me! Thankfully it was only about a twenty-minute transfer – to the middle of nowhere. We were dropped by the side of the road near a flyover with no info as to when our connection would turn up. A couple of others were hanging around too, which we took to be a good sign. Despite that, no-one knew when the bus was due. So we waited. And my hangover started to kick in. Not good with a night bus with a fearsome reputation looming.

An hour or so later the bus turned up and we piled aboard. I had top bunk to myself which was a blessed relief. I stuck the iPod on and tried to get some sleep. Some time around dawn we rolled into the border checkpoint to leave Vietnam. As I awoke I found the aisles below full of locals asleep on the floor! Immediately below me was a man with his toddler daughter asleep on his chest. At this point I realised that various possessions had tumbled onto this slumbering pair through the night. My hoodie and iPod amongst them!! I sheepishly apologised and they were kind enough to pass them back up to me. We all roused ourselves and trudged towards the concrete monstrosity that housed passport control. We had to wait an age for someone to open the desk and when they eventually did a load of tour groups jumped the queue with huge piles of passports. Despite mine being passed to the official relatively early in proceedings I was to get it back dead last.

By this point my hangover was back with a vengeance and I was not in good shape. I grabbed my passport and wandered dazed back outside. It turned out we had to walk down to the Laos side to be admitted into the country – our bus would meet us there. As I left Vietnam I had to show my passport to one more scary looking official in a military style uniform, before dragging myself the half kilometre down the hill to Laos. I caught the others up just as we entered the building. Despite an increasing nauseous feeling, I managed to hold it all together until I was safely stamped into Laos! We were over the border but still only about two-thirds through our ordeal.

The bulk of the rest of the day was spent winding our way from the border to the capital. There had been chat about pushing all the way on to Vang Vieng and just getting the whole journey out-of-the-way. I wasn’t a big of fan of this course of action but everyone else was up for it, so grudgingly I joined the bandwagon. At Vientiene we encountered our first rip off in Laos – we’d been in the country less than 12 hours. A taxi driver that took us less than 10km wanted about the same fare as a four-hour bus journey would cost. After lengthy discussions we sorted it out, but a few of our group (we’d picked up a couple of Irish lads from the bus) didn’t have enough cash to buy the connecting bus tickets. Even cobbling all our ‘team’ funds together we were struggling. An ATM run is negotiated and Laura, Emma and the Irish head off. While they are away Babs and myself work out we can get on an earlier bus than first advised. The rest arrive back just in time for us all to pile aboard. But not before an enterprising shop owner creates her own version of the dollar/kip exchange rate, meaning I pay about five times the going rate for a Coke and a water!! Two stitch ups inside the space of an hour – by this point I’m delighted to be heading out of Vientiene. It wasn’t the welcome I’d envisaged in Laos.

The fun and games weren’t over just yet. The bus aisle was loaded with boxes from the back seat to about half way down the vehicle. A few of our party had to clamber over these to find the last few spare seats. Luckily I found one just after the box mountain finished. Unluckily I was sharing a seat with a selfish monk! Despite being much smaller than me, he had decided that his bag needed a good share of the double seat, leaving me perched on my side! For hours later we rolled into town and there was time for one more small scam as the bus driver refused to take us along the main street of the town. Given it was pitch black we had no idea we were less than a two-minute walk from civilisation. Another enterprising individual was obviously on hand to liberate a few more dollars from our tired hands. But by this point we just craved a bed for the night…

Today’s tune of the day is self-explanatory. This is Kings Of Leon and Slow Night, So Long:

Before all that we had a three-hour bus journey to get to the port. We were all a little hungover so banter was at a premium. As soon as we got on the boat however, that all changed. It was around lunch time so we all grabbed a beer and got to know each other. We had a few Aussies, a couple of Canadians, a pair of Irishmen and our little group from the hostel. Our guide was an English bloke by the name of Simon who quickly introduced a couple of key rules. Left handed drinking only. And anyone caught disobeying rule one could be called ‘Buffalo’. Which meant you’d been caught red-handed and had to finish the rest of your beer. Buffalo was the regular call for the next day or so and it seemed to be the usual suspects caught again and again.

There was an opportunity to do some jumping off the side of the boat but given the water was freezing I gave that a wide berth. Later we did some kayaking in pairs and I was paired with Conor, one of the Irish. We made a decent little team and soon got competitive with the Aussie pair of Angus and Spandy. A bit of racing, splashing and general sledging ensued. All good clean fun. We moored up at some caves and on the advice of the guide, I kept my flip-flops on while attempting to climb the caves. Bad idea. A footwear malfunction lead to a loss of balance and a tumble backwards. But for the quick reactions of an American bloke behind me my skull would have come crashing down on some jagged rocks. As it was I survived with just some cuts and bruises. Another close call though!

After that narrow escape it was time to head back to the boat and myself and Conor had the bright idea of kayaking backwards all the way back – and attempting to be first back. We set off at a ferocious pace and were leading the pack, but then we lost our sense of timing and direction and quickly fell back through the group. The others seemed to take a long-winded route back and we found ourselves able to head them off by reverting to a more traditional paddling method. We made it back first after all!

After showers it was back to more beer, dinner and then a night of drinking games. These were good fun but people seemed to lose interest and gradually the group dwindled and in the end it was a pretty tame and early night for most. Disappointing really as the night held much promise! I should have probably taken my leave too but ended up staying to the death with one or two others and then getting only a couple of hours sleep. To ward off the hangover I resorted to hair of the dog which would turn out to be a terrible idea. Mainly because back on dry land I would soon be undertaking a 32-hour marathon journey. More on that to follow…

Today’s first tune of the day has a backwards theme. This is Frightened Rabbit and My Backwards Walk:

Six kilometres later we arrived at the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. Hanoi Backpackers on Ma May is a brand spanking new, all singing, all dancing hostel. Clean, big, comfortable with hot showers, free wifi, a bar, good food, movies, sofas, pool table and outdoor terrace – it’s everything you could want from a hostel. Which was probably just as well, since as it was Tet, not much else was going to be open in Hanoi during our visit. We spent the day catching up on sleep and having a little look round. We wanted to save ourselves for the new year’s eve festivities later. I met up with Luke & Elyse from Dalat again and we all ended up down by the river for the fireworks display at midnight. As far as these types of display go it was distinctly average – not that you’d have known that from the reactions of the locals. There were plenty of ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaaaaahs’ as the handful of rockets exploded overhead. It was still an entertaining spectacle as the streets were jam-packed with locals and quite a few visitors, taking in the night’s events. Despite the crowd being vast, there was still the odd extremely ambitious individual trying to snake through the mass of bodies on their scooters. Definitely a sight to behold.

Nicely oiled we turned in for the night and new year’s day followed. The girls were heading on a trekking trip later that day to Sapa, but I was staying put for another few days. Since everything was closed we ended up mostly hanging around the hostel and meeting up with a few others doing the same. We met Gina, Jo, Carl and Daniel and whiled away most of the afternoon playing cards and getting to know each other. Happy hour arrived and we had a few beers and it wasn’t long before we were drafted into the beer pong tournament. For those not aware, beer pong is played by 2 teams of 2 people each down a long table. You rack cups of beer in a triangle similar to a ten pin bowling rack. You then take it turns to try to throw ping-pong balls into the oppositions cups of beer. When one of your cups gets a ball in it, you must skull the beer. When all your beer has been drunk the opposition are the victors. As a further blow (or bonus, depending on your few point) the losers must skull the victors remaining beer cups too. It was my beer pong debut and I was playing with the Swede, Daniel. We got off to a shaky start before hitting our stride for a famous comeback. We were confident going into the second round but the long wait (over an hour) before our next match played havoc with our form, and we crashed out. Still, at least we didn’t fall at the first hurdle like Carl and Gina!

The next day those guys were all heading off to Halong Bay and I was sad to see them go. Luckily I would see most of them again. Just when I was starting to feel like Billy no mates, I bumped into Emma (who I’d also met in Dalat) who had just arrived. It was great to see her again and she’d hooked up with a few others who were now travelling together. In the space of a few hours I now had a full drinking crew again – happy days! We had a drunken evening involving cheap vodka and I met Babs, Laura, Mark and Tania. I would see plenty of these guys over the next week or two!

Hanoi was definitely a crossroads for this part of my travels. I’d travelled pretty much the length of Vietnam with Jayne and Lina and we had a blast. Even before we had gone our separate ways, I’d started to meet some of the people who would help make the next few weeks an amazing experience too – in no particular order Gina, Jo, Carl, Emma (again), Laura, Babs, Mark, Tania and Jorge. There would be others along the way too, but this lot made up the hard-core. I’ll definitely be keeping in touch with them. As such today’s tune of the day is We’re Going To Be Friends by The White Stripes:

The night carried on in that vein and after our bar closed at elevenish, we were persuaded to venture out to a club just round the corner. Which led to one of our most drunken nights in a while. Silly dancing, too many shooter and more random people all added up to a great night. Not what any of us anticipated when we rolled into town a few hours earlier. The next day, nursing something of a hangover, we had breakfast (including a Siamese banana!) and met up with James, an Aussie guy from the night before. We then rented scooters (Lina definitely wasn’t allowed to drive!) and headed off to find the Tomb of Emperor Khải Định, a stunning piece of architecture a few kilometres outside the city of Hue. The roads were awful and the weather pretty poor (light drizzle again) so the journey wasn’t much fun. After a good look around, we headed back. We had just enough time to eat lunch before getting back to the hostel, picking up our bags and heading off for yet another night bus. Next stop would be Hanoi…

Today’s tune of the day is Wild Night by Van Morrison:

Nha Trang would be a lovely spot if the sun shone – sadly for us it didn’t. Aside from a few nights of partying with cheap rum, the highlight of our time here was a visit to Vinpearl Land. Vinpearl is a big water park, with lots of slides which are loads of fun. The site also has a huge amusement arcade area, a fun fair and an aquarium. Despite the fact it rained again we had a great day, generally acting like big kids. My highlight was when I managed to skim on my sliding mat all the way to the end of the splash pool which is supposed to slow you down. I emerged to a round of applause from all the locals stood at the end! We probably stayed in Nha Trang about two days too long and when we did eventually leave we got a night bus to Hoi An.

The bus journey was a bit of a nightmare for me as I was allocated a bunk at the back, sandwiched between four other people. I could only lie in the coffin position and therefore got very little sleep. The buses in Vietnam tend to drop you at their preferred hotel and more often than not you can get a better deal by looking else where. However, the morning we arrived in Hoi An we were all so exhausted that we were more than happy to just take the one we’d arrived at. All three of us shared a room and although it was nice, at first glance it seemed a little expensive. We did however have a free buffet breakfast included. If we filled our boots there, including making sandwiches for lunch, we were definitely getting value for money!

Hoi An is a pretty little town on a river and is principally known as being a centre for tailoring. The girls got some things made, but I opted out. The budget was a little tight and I didn’t fancy dragging a suit round with me for the rest of the trip. We succumbed to the weather here and had to don jeans and jumpers or jackets for the first time. We had heard of a place called Marble Mountain a few kilometres up the coast and decided to check it out. We hired two scooters from our hotel and headed off there. Jayne was confident enough to drive her own and I had Lina as pillion. She had never ridden a scooter before so I said I’d teach her – big mistake. We pulled into a remote car park that was empty. On her first attempt Lina managed to drive the scooter into a wall, despite both Jayne and me screaming “Brake!” at the top of our lungs. Apparently she was braking but also pulling on the accelerator at the same time! Luckily she was okay, but for some bruising and being a bit winded. The bike was still fine too, so we continued on with the trip. There would be no further lessons from me!

As we approached the Marble Mountain we were waved in by a woman on the street. I was a little distracted because I could barely believe my eyes. There was masses of construction going on around the mountain and a huge concrete monolith had been erected alongside it. From the top of it a walkway had been added, replete with glass panalling and stainless steel handrail. The workmen were putting the finishing touches to the ELEVATOR SHAFT to take tourists to the top!!! It’s not even very high. I’ve seen a lot of construction that damages the natural beauty of a place on this trip, but this absolutely takes the cake.

We ventured up the traditional route of the steps and although the mountain was quite nice, none of us could get past the eyesore being put up alongside us. We headed back to town at a decent pace – Jayne’s confidence was definitely up. That night we headed out to the only bar in Hoi An that stays open late. It’s memorable feature was the graffiti all over every surface. I was reading through some of the stuff up there which was the usual mix of smut, filth and patriotic nonsense. Then my eye was caught by one quote. But it wasn’t the sentiment I was interested in. The name below it was one I recognised – it was a guy who had been on my boat in the Whitsunday Islands some 8 months earlier! To wheel out a traveller’s favourite cliché – it really is a small world…

Today’s tune of the day is dedicated to Lina’s driving skills. This is Crashin’ In by The Charlatans: