KL to Hanoi…

Second time writing this post as I wrote the whole thing out and it deleted on me! Not happy.

All aboard the plane to Kuala Lumpur a day ahead of schedule after hearing such rave reviews and getting recommendations. We wanted to experience and tick off another country on the list..

We rocked up to ‘Reggae Mansion’ and decided to wonder the city the first night just aimlessly, we made it to the sky tower but it began to ran (first time on our trip) and so we delayed this until the arrival of Aled Poulter the next day!

As we headed back, embracing the local cuisine, me and Matty decided that we should try and socialise further tonight as we were only a double act now and it was a Saturday night. What a night it turned out to be – we met some hilarious Dutch lads and it began from there, soon after we had a pool competition with the stakes raised to rounds of drinks and luckily me and Matty won every game and happily accepted the gifts coming our way – the rooftop bar on top of of our hostel overlooked the whole of KL and had an amazing view of the Sky Tower and also the Petronas Towers which light up as change colour at night and donate the cities skyline – it was a truly surreal view and one you could never get bored of! My socialising went down hill when I decided to decide myself and put myself through the pain of watch Chelsea lose to Everton!

The next day Poults arrived, we decided to do more touristy stuff, we went to a local Buddhist temple, walked around China town and around the local market and tested the food out and picked up a few items along the way however KL was not cheap at all in comparison to Thailand and so annoyingly it came as a shock.

That night we visited the Petronas towers and got the best pictures and selfies of all time. It’s such a huge building but amazing to be around. We even managed to come across the Malaysian Primeminister who was in the shopping centre and was happy to take pictures with people although his wife looked less pleased.

Heading back to the rooftop bar, we met back up with the duty lads, laughed about last nights antics and started again – I however being mr responsible from now on hit the cokes and hit the hay early-ish as we had a taxi at 3am.. Matty and poults did the opppsite, I woke up them doing tequila shots at 2:50.. It was not a pretty sight and I think they immediately regretted it when stood in the long queue at the airport haha!

Next up Hanoi, Vietnam. I really looked forward to this as Vietnam is not a massively well visited country and so it’s a new experience that I can tell and it definitely didn’t disappoint – upon arrival at our hotel we were told by the manager “you are kings now” and that’s how we were treated all for £10 a night! Huge buffet breakfast made to order every orning, free laptop in the room which has been my saviour when trying to watch the races and the TV even allowed us to watching the footy!

The Vietnamese people are by far the nicest we have come across on our travels. Some speak excellent english, children say hello and ask for photos – on 4 separate occasions now we were called handsome by shopkeepers, tour guides and locals haha! They are always helpful and welcoming and create some great food!

We decided to embrace the city and visit lots of war related attractions as it’s still very fresh in the country only ending in 1973. Communism is very much still around, propaganda posters and flags are around. We visited Ho Chi Minh meusoleum where the leader of the uprising lays to rest, we also went to a war museum and a prison which held captives during the war – all very much eye opening!

We then decided to take a day trip to the local surroundings and got a great deal – off we went. A proper Vietnamese experience. Cycling through rice paddies and mountains whilst people work in the fields – we had a great tour hide who was signed and giving us a rendition on his little microphone whilst cycling through.

We then took a small two man boat (rowed by a man with his feet) through caves and along the river for hours and got some incredible views, an amazing exoerience. Out in the towns and villages the children would be so friendly and say Hello and ask for photos like we were a commodity.

We visited the tomb of the last Emporor who was leader when the Vietnam war was going on and is considered a hero, pretty epic that we were able to get so close there and matty even sat on a Buffalo to complete the day.

We are off to Ho Chi Minh now in the southern, looking forward to the increase in temperature as OK scared I will go back white after the cold weather in Hanoi! Here for 3 nights then Mattys trip ends and me , marcus and Alex continue onto Cambodia!