After our last article, from Yangshuo, we rushed out of China - stopping in Nanning for a visa and a street-food dog restaurant (see photos) - and into Northern Vietnam.

The view on the journey to Hanoi was a constant state of variation on a theme first set in Yangshuo: slipping limestone peaks finding new forms, before flattening over time into rounder limestone hills and a more familiar landscape overall. After six weeks in China, this was the first city in the next leg of our journey, South East Asia. If we were expecting a culture shock, none came; the swapping of millions of bicycles to mopeds was the only immediately obvious change. And legible signs.

But the differences were there, subtly revealing themselves as the hours passed. Most prominent was the strong French influence - particularly the old colonial buildings in the 'French Quarter' and the unique cuisine. An example of this was a back-street restaurant in the 'Old Quarter' - like the 'hutongs' of Beijing, a convergence of old and modern styles through a scribble of streets.

Its name, 'Bittet', was a corruption of the French 'biftek' and the restaurant served a Vietnamese variant of the dish, with thick fried potatoes and immaculate, well-dressed salad. The accompanying sauce was delicious, with huge amounts of garlic, plus regional variants chilli and (possibly) ginger. There was also a wonderful bouillabaisse-style fish soup, with extra chilli and lemon-grass. And whole roast pigeon with a dipping sauce, like tequila, of salt and lime.

All of these dishes and more were cooked in a kitchen about 2 feet by 4 feet in size, serving a constantly full restaurant of 80 seats, each of which is probably used four or five times a night. Of all the meals we ate in Hanoi, this was probably the one with the fewest other foreigners nearby, tucked down a dark alley way, in a single room.

In the Temple of Literature, a Confucian sanctuary and also the site of Vietnam's first University, we found a traditional music performance in one of the back rooms. While obviously tourist-focused, we found that the music and the musicians themselves were of an extremely high quality. We have short video and audio clips of the performance at the bottom of this article.

We spent a couple of glorious days at Ha Long Bay, sleeping on the top deck of a boat on the limestone scattered water, each outcrop being slowly hollowed out by the sea, some forming natural bridges or lying, propped up by the two ends of rock, with its belly curving inwards so you can see (or swim) beneath.

We have decided, for reasons that will become apparent in later articles, to zigzag across Vietnam and Laos next door, travelling from Northern Vietnam into Laos, before making our way down through the East Coast of Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City. At this point we have had to fall off the rails for a few weeks - there are no trains in Laos, so it will be buses and barges from now on. Although smaller and less developed than its South East Asian neighbours, Laos has a burgeoning tourism trade, with the numbers of tourists rising quickly since the borders were opened, over ten years ago.

We are now three hours north of the capital in a stunning valley, filled with the by-now-ubiquitous limestone crags fringed with jungle on the approach, called Vang Vieng. With a broad and steady river running through the middle of the valley, this is a wonderful place to explore the terrain, with treks leading through low-lying jungle then veering up, near vertical, to the limestone peak above. A less strenuous alternative is to float on a tractor's inner tube down the river, or spend the day exploring the many caves and turquoise lagoons nearby.

We haven't managed to find any music here yet, so we will be moving onwards soon, trying to reach some of the more remote places in the north of the country.

Music and Video Files

Here are some excerpts of the traditional Vietnamese performance we heard in Hanoi.

• Video of the performance
• Audio track of another song