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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