Everyone who had been there said we had to go to Halong Bay. It is a three and a half hour bumpy drive from Hanoi and I get sea sick and don’t like boats. All those people can’t be wrong though. Can they?

They were not wrong. Halong Bay is worth it and thankfully the water was as smooth as glass so seasickness wasn’t an issue. The bay is full of karst formations, big limestone rocks basically but much more picturesque than it sounds.

We had booked a private boat because I thought it would be easier with children than sharing a boat with either partying backpackers or an organised golden years trip. So we ended up with a crew of 7 looking after the six of us. Our boat is the white one in the bottom right photo.

We visited a floating village, watched the sunset, had a a cooking class, a children’s meal and then when they went to bed an adults meal. The next morning after watching the sunrise from my balcony we kayaked through some caves. Hard work and probably not very sensible with a three year old in my kayak but we all wore lift jackets. We rounded it off with a tai chi class on the sundeck and a brunch before returning to land and a long trip back to Hanoi.

On the journey there and back we saw lots of women in conical hats working in the paddy fields. No machinery all done by hand.

We also saw lots of extreme Vietnamese driving. 20,000 people a year die in road traffic accidents here. I am not surprised.

We left the heat and humidity of Cambodia for the 20 degrees and grey skies of Hanoi.

The first thing you notice in Hanoi is the insane traffic, I would never drive here. The second you notice is the houses. The houses that are not shacks are taller narrower versions of the painted ladies in San Francisco. The city is huge. It has about 10 million inhabitants and all of them travel by motor bike.

The first evening we didn’t even leave the hotel ordering room service even in an international hotel was enough to an adventure.

The next morning I woke at 6 am to the sound of loudspeakers and traffic. I later discovered there are loudspeakers on every street corner in Hanoi and the government broadcasts at 6am every morning.

In keeping with this one of the first things I spotted on our tour of Hanoi was a huge statue of Lenin. It must be one of the few left in the world. We looked at the hours long queue to file past the body of Ho Chi Minh but decided not to join it. His houses and cars seemed to attract equally huge queues.

We were to look at some old temples and pagodas but decided we had seen enough of them and instead we went to the ethnology museum and walked around the “36 streets”. The old quarter of Hanoi. We watched people cooking and eating lunches on the pavement and in doorways, this is Hanoi street food. There are also women walking around with a yolk across their shoulders carrying baskets on either end with food for sale.

At one stage our guide told us everyone was talking about us. At this stage I am used to people staring because they don’t see many fair children but the guide said the really shock this time was the number of children we have.

Four children is unheard of in Vietnam.

We did brave a walk in Hanoi to a restaurant that night. The trick to crossing the road apparently is to walk slowly and steadily and everyone will just avoid you. It works.

We skipped the swan and swallow on the menu in the restaurant though.
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When we were planning this trip I made the mistake of telling the girls that you can zip line in the jungle within the Angkor Temple area. They didn’t forget.

After two days of temples they were ready to zip line. I am afraid of height but have zip lined before on holidays with the girls. Nigel decided to stay at the hotel with John and relax and the girls and I headed off.

I had read that the zip lines were 45 metres up in the tree tops. This had never really registered with me until I was climbing up to the first platform. 45 metres is very high. It is three quarters the height of Liberty Hall in Dublin. I was secretly hoping the girls would be frightened and we would have to quit but no such luck.

So we braved zip lines and sky bridges in the treetops for 2 hours. At one stage Katie went too slowly and got stuck half across a zip line and had to be rescued by a guide who went out to her and pulled her in on a rope. I have to admit I have had nightmares since reliving my 11year old hanging from a cable 45 metres up in the Cambodian jungle.

The whole operation was very well run by a group from New Zealand to international standards and they had warned the girls that children do get stuck on some of the ziplines and that they are not to panic they will be rescued within minutes.

I have no photos of this because I broke my own iphone screen in Laos and no one wanted to risk theirs in my pocket while I swung through the trees.

Our second day of temples was to include 4 more temples but John got his objections in early. When we arrived at Banteay Srei he refused to get out of the car. Banteay Srei is a lovely temple, different to the ones we had seen the day before because it is made from red stone and much smaller than some of the others. Some musicians who had been injured by land mines were playing traditional music and I was happy to donate as they distracted John long enough for us to admire the temple.

To appease John we cut out the next temple and went to a butterfly farm instead. Gorgeous and very relaxing.

Next temple on the tour was the hospital temple. It was probably the one I found most interesting. There were different areas that were used to treat different illnesses. John discovered the fascinating activity of drawing in the sand with a stick and temporarily withdrew his objections.

Our last temple Preah Khan is a large Buddhist temple. John acquired a red parasol from the guide to entertain himself. Katie provided the main entertainment though by fainting in the heat.

One of the “must dos” in this region is to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The sun was due to rise at 6.15 and we were being picked up for our sunrise cycle tour at 5.20am. With 4 children to get ready and covered in insect repellent that meant setting the alarm for 4.30.

With  loads of other people we sat on the causeway waiting for the sun to rise And hoping we would see it through the clouds. At 6.30 the sun put in an appearance to the delight of the crowds. An hour exploring was enough for the kids though who were ready for breakfast. We were whisked off to the jungle where a chef was waiting to cook breakfast in a wooden hut and then it was time to cycle.

The rules of the road seem to be if someone beeps at you move out of their way But we had a guide cycling at the front and the rear and they were very patient with endless requests to adjust helmets and seats. We also had a van drive behind us at a snails pace.

We cycled to Bayon, probably my favourite temple. 216 faces carved on to towers and then to the Terrace of the Elephants. At that stage John refused to get back on his bike seat so I abandoned my bike and went in the van with him to our next stop Ta Prohm, the Tomb Raider Temple.

After travelling through two very small airports in Laos that would make Bus Eireann stations seem luxurious we arrived in Cambodia tired and hungry. Airports in Laos don’t sell food, not even sweets or crisps. We went through all the paperwork and eventually made it to the man with the sign with our name on it. He had jasmine garlands for us and an air conditioned van to drive to our hotel.

I love being met at a hotel with cold towels and cold welcome drinks. We went to dinner in the hotel and watched their Cambodian dance show and had an early night to get ready for our 4.30 am wake up the next morning.

After seeing the monks on Tuesday morning we were due to visit a rural school with a local charity. Katie wasn’t feeling great and as she suffers from travel sickness she decided to skip the 90 minute drive on the local roads and stay at the hotel with Nigel.

Until recently there were very few books published in the Lao language and none for children. A not for profit started publishing children’s books with children. It also started distributing them to schools and directly to school children. People can donate and sponsor new books or a book party that sets up libraries in classrooms and provides each child in the school with a book. We wanted to contribute something so before we left Ireland we had sponsored a book party. Our “party” took place a few weeks before we went to Laos but the charity “Big Brother Mouse” invited us to attend one that was happening when we were there.

i went with Laura and Emma deep into the countryside to s small rural school with no electricity or running water. Laura and Emma were put into the equivalent of 4th class at home. The charity brought workbooks for the children to do first but Laura and Emma were given the junior class version as the 4 th class one had Laos words and the junior one was all pictures and numbers. The posters on the walls showed they were some things similar to the girls school like learning how to calculate area. 

I don’t know who was more fascinated the local kids or the girls. We were told most of them had never seen a fired haired child before. The girls handed out the drinks and books and the kids sang songs and played games.

We got up before dawn to watch the monks collect alms. Nigel was suffering from a very upset stomach so was not able for the 4.45am alarm call so we left him in bed minding a sleeping John.

The girls and I chose to watch rather than participate in the tradition as we didn’t want to intrude on a religious service.

On St Patricks Day we relaxed with a cruise on the Mekong River. A 2 hour trip through beautiful scenery to the Pak Ou caves filled with thousands of statues of Buddha. Then lunch on the boat on the way back.

The girls caught up on their travel journals for school and John got some Angry Birds in!