Halong Bay, Hue

Halong Bay is stunning, ca. 2000 limestone islands situated in the middle of a huge bay, fishermen who live in floating houses and subside solely on fish and trading with others. Sprinkle some fine teak boats cruising around and some great sunsets and hey presto, instant tourist attraction. Still worth it though. Slept on the boat the first night and found myself playing drinking games with Aussies, Frenchies, Swiss, Canadians & a New Zealander. Ended up getting hugely pissed and diving off the boat with 2 other guys (a party trick of mine). The big surprise was though a) it was quite warm & b) with every stroke you took the water turned green - phosphoric plankton. Very trippy.

Vietnam is getting slightly weary - you have to bargain for frigging everything here, even a loaf of bread or a can of coke. Oh, and it's raining. Bugger. And there's no Beerlao here. Oh well...

So, finally, some pictures from Laos