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!