First Entry in Asia.

So this marks the first post on my 'tour' of the East. I started writing a diary but thought it silly when I could write more in an e-version.

Currently I'm sat in reception of the Indochina Gold hotel which I booked while waiting at Hong Kong international airport. The beauty of wifi hey?

The hotel is nice, the people are incredibly friendly and the food is...edible. The bed however was very solid and not the most comfortable, but who cares? I didn't come here for comfort.

Today I'm flying to Laos. I originally planned to get a bus but having read some horrific reviews I decided to fly. As much as I love coaches, the timings would also have been too tight as I need to be back in Hanoi by Saturday. So now I can fly today (Wednesday), have 2 days in Laos and then fly back on Friday evening. I may also see if I can sneak into Thailand as I'll be right on the border...another stamp in the passport and another country to add to my list (up yours Dan!).

The flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong was a pleasant flight. Out of 11 hours, I pretty much slept for 8. I watched and cried my eyes out to 50/50 (fast becoming my favourite movie) and also watched some Big Bang Theory and New Girl.

The flight from Hong Kong to Ha Noi was a completely different story though. This flight was potentially the worst flight I've had, and I've flown quite a lot. While we sat on the plane at Hong Kong the rain lashed down. My first clue of a dodgy flight was probably when the pilot said "I think the airport are about to give a red lightening signal which forbids any activity on the runway, so I want to get away before they do that"...and we did...resulting in me SEEING the lightening outside my window while flying! The flight was silent. The turbulence was redick and I was actually very nervous. Having said all that, I don't feel so worried about flying "Laos Airlines" later!

So yeah, that pretty much sums up my movements the last 24 hours or so.

My first impressions of Vietnam is that it is beautiful. You can see that everyone tries very hard at everything they do. The country itself is very developing in the sense that there is building work everywhere, but you just feel that they are 40 years behind everyone else. There's motorbikes and pedestrians galore and the taxi drivers are probably the best (yet worst) drivers in the world!

I haven't really researched Laos very much as I wasn't planning on staying for more than an hour before I got here, but hopefully they'll have wifi and I'll blog from there.

I have my phone with me, but I took the sim card out and left it at home with the hope that I could just use my phone for its camera and music. Turns out wifi works with no Sim which I'm quite happy about to be honest. I think this first week will be quite lonely as I'm travelling on my own, but when I join my group on Sunday I don't think I'll feel quite as lonely.

So if you're reading this, please email me, Facebook me, send smoke signals- just to keep me company!

I'll try and upload a few photos along the way as well as I'm blogging from my phone. Not really had a chance to take many photos just yet but perhaps enjoy these for now...

Ciao for now,

Simon

Photos:
1) my first Vietnamese meal.
2) my bed- massive (8ft wide) but solid.
3) hong kong stamp!
4) my taxi driver...being so very safe; on his phone.