Originally our plan was to spend a couple of nights in Hanoi, whilst organising a trekking tour to Sapa in the north of Vietnam. So far, we have just been booking things a couple of days in advance and it has been fine. However, in this case, we hadn’t accounted for a country about to celebrate ‘Uncle Ho’s’ birthday. The whole of Vietnam takes a holiday in order to celebrate the birthday of Ho Chi Minh, meaning there were no seats or beds available on any trains for the next four days.

This brought to a close our amazing time in Vietnam, as we decided to head to Luang Prabang in Laos the following day. After a little bit of internet research, we found out that the bus journey from Hanoi to Luang Prabang is affectionately known as the Bus Journey From Hell….so we decided to blow the budget and book a flight. We saved ourselves at least 23 hours of travelling time, and I’m pretty sure this is one of the best decisions made so far!

Hnaoi itself is a nice place to spend a couple of days, and has an amazing selection of street food. On our final night there we sat outside on the street, sampling the local beer and watching a lady barbecue about 100 flattened frogs, one after another. They were amazingly popular, and people would stop outside on their scooter to collect a box of frogs for dinner. Yum…..

Soaking up the rainy street life of Hanoi

Bia Hoi, or ‘fresh’ beer. Bit yeasty for my liking. But cheap as chips!

One of the less appealing trips being offered by the hostel…