After our (slightly nerve-wracking) flight from Vientiene, Laos, we arrived in Hanoi and met up with our friends James and Laura who had also arrived there that day. We settled in to a hotel and had a catch up with them over dinner and a few drinks.

The next day we reserved for sightseeing, visiting the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison, where they kept some American prisoners of war during the Vietnam (or as they call it, American) War. It was quite interesting, although, as to be expected, extremely biased. There was masses of information about how the Vietnamese were tortured and abused by the French during the colonial years, but when it came to the Americans they only had photos of them all looking happy having Christmas dinner!

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We crossed from Chiang Khong, Thailand, to Houei Xai, Laos, just the other side of the Mekong River on a small boat. We then boarded the slow boat to Luang Prabang, a 14 hour, two day journey down the river (but only about 250km!) It was quite an uncomfortable trip, but we’d been forewarned by various people to invest in a cushion before we left! Still, the seats were wooden benches that were not of the most ergonomic design, but we eventually arrived at the very small riverside town of Pak Beng, where we stayed for the night, after having dinner with some people we’d met on the boat.

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We headed from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi on a two day tour. The first day we went to see the historical bits around there - the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Death Railway. We first saw a World War II cemetery full of mostly British prisoners of war that died building the railway. We then spent a little while looking around a museum of random WW2 bits and bobs, then walked over the famous bridge (although, in reality its not the famous bridge, just one that happens to be in the exact same place - it was bombed by the allies towards the end of the war!). Following in Thai health and safety traditions the bridge was a bit of a death trap - it had massive gaps in it and trains still run over it and there’s not really many places to get out of the way!

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After just managing to get our plane to Krabi, we arrived there and were immediately surrounded by Thais trying to sell us accommodation, tours, and taxis. It was quite a surprise, it’s not much like that in Singapore or Malaysia. We made our way to Krabi town where we stayed in a guesthouse and looked around the town, getting a boat to Koh Phi Phi the next morning.

Koh Phi Phi was also a bit of a shock to the system. It’s a beautiful island, but has been totally ruined by tourism. The whole place is jam packed full of tourists and backpackers, shops, bars, massage places and touts trying to sell you stuff. Accommodation and food is also rather pricey, compared to Malaysia and Singapore. I imagine that if you paid more to spend time in a fancy resort elsewhere on the island it would be much nicer though.

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We arrived in Singapore after stopping over in Darwin for about 20 minutes to refuel. We made our way to our hostel by the MRT, their efficient underground system. Our hostel was located just north of Little India, which was a short train ride from the city centre.

Our first full day in Singapore we spent wandering around the city. We got off the metro at Raffles Place, as I assumed that the hotel would be nearby, but it wasn’t! We headed towards it, stopping for an ice cream en route and taking pictures of lots of cool architecture. The heat was really intense, it was quite a shock after Australia, which is comparatively chilly! The sun was out all day while we were walking around and we ended up walking through metro stations just to get a bit of a cool down from the air con!

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