The rest of Vietnam and arrival in Cambodia

In Vietnam we also went to Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, Saigon, Cat Tien National Park and did a tour of the Mekong Delta.

In Nha Trang we went on an island tour, visited the mud baths and relaxed on the beach.

 

In Dalat we went canyoning - will upload some photos soon. The photo is of the Crazy House we visited, the architect was inspired by nature.

 

Mui Ne was small and quiet apart from the beach which had hundreds of kite surfers on it everyday (literally). We did a cheap jeep tour and visited the massive sand dunes.

In Saigon we visited Chi Chi Tunnels, the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace.  

We really wanted to visit a National Park and despite the high price we decided to do a private overnight tour of Cat Tien. We visited the Gibbon Rescue Centre and did a night safari on the first day. Overnight we stayed in an awesome hut that faced out towards the river. On the second day we trekked 5km's through the jungle to Crocodile Swamp - on the way we saw wild monkeys and a snake. Only a small snake though, we didn't run into the king cobra that sometimes 'greets' the tourists passing through ;). We were lucky enough to see wild crocodiles at the swamp when they came up for air.

    

   

We have just done our 3 day - 2 night Mekong Delta trip and arrived by boat in Phnom Penh.

 

 

     

 

Vietnam

Vietnam has been awesome so far. We arrived in Hanoi after a 27 hour bus trip and it was raining! Nevertheless the next few days we explored in the rain. The highlights of Hanoi were the old prison and the free walking tour. Luckily the weather cleared up for our two night cruise of Halong Bay. For the cruise we stayed one night on the boat and one night on an island in a bungalow at a quiet resort - one of the coolest things we have done yet. The pictures speak for themselves, the view was amazing! We then moved on to Hue where we stayed two days and explored the Imperial City. Hoi An was the next stop. It was so peaceful, colorful and  relaxing especially at night with all the lanterns floating along the river. The Marble Mountain and My Son tours were the highlights.

Exploring

Some other pics from exploring in Luang Prabang - Bamboo bridge, National Museum, Aims Giving Ceremony etc. Including our day trip in Vang Vieng - visiting the Blue Lagoon, caving and tubing! Tubing was definitely the highlight! We went to the Victory Monument in Vientiane but apart from that there wasn't really that much to do there.

Trekking

3Trekking Adventure in Luang Prabang!
On the first day we biked 48 km's (5-6 hours) to the first village. The road was okay to begin with but then we hit the gravel and hills which was rather difficult. The first night we stayed with our guides family at his house. It was awesome, we stayed in a house/hut where all ten of us slept in the same room. The second day we trekked 4-5 hours to our next home stay. On the way we saw snake tracks, went through two villages, tried not to fall into the rivers while crossing on the rocks and got charged by a cow ;) The next village we stayed at was a lot more rural. They only had one shower for the whole village and it was outdoors for everyone to see. There was no electricity and in the wet season you cant walk to it because the river gets to high for crossing (you can get to it by elephant though). On the last day we trekked for an hour then kayaked for three to Pak Ou cave. Our guide was amazing and we were so lucky to have him! Our bodies ached like crazy afterwards but it was so worth it. What an awesome experience and an adventure of a life time with lots of crazy stories to tell when we get back home!