The bus journey from Vientiane was certainly an experience! This was no luxury coach, it was old and rickety and totally full. There were various boxes, crates and sacks being loaded onto the roof and into the aisles. Every bit of available space was put to use, filled with what looked to me like a load of old junk, but obviously its important enough to someone to transport it hundreds of miles to another country! I was not looking forward to spending 24 hours on it.
We pulled away from Vientiane at 7pm, straight out into the remote countryside, in the darkness with rain lashing down. It felt like the beginning of a bad horror movie. I spent the first couple of hours chatting to some of the people around me and reading my book. We pulled in at a little roadside rest stop for half an hour and then it was time to try and get some sleep. Thankfully Ally had given me a few of his valium tablets and they were an absolute life saver. I popped one of those and fell asleep on my big pillow against the window for a couple of hours until the next stop. We stayed at the next stop for 2/3 hours as there was no rush to get to the border because it doesn't open until 7am. After a little walk around and another valium I was out like a light pretty much until we reached the border.
Crossing the border was a bit of a hassle as there are quite a few forms to fill in and various processes to go through. There were no real problems though, except for when we returned to the bus we found the border guards had spilled a tin of green paint while they were searching it, covering the floor where the bags were being kept! A lot of rearrangement and a few green stripes on our feet, clothes and bags and we were ready to go again. I spent the rest of the day napping, talking and reading and it seemed to go relatively quickly and smoothly. Not everyone felt that way though, loads of people hadn't slept as well as me and thought the journey had been pretty hellish. Oh well, another lucky journey for me it seems. I think my threshold for putting up with discomfort and long boring journeys has really increased during my trip. It really doesn't bother me like it used to and I now just accept that we'll get there when we get there. I think this seems to be the Asian mentality towards journeys too so perhaps its rubbed off on me.
We arrived in Hanoi at around 7pm and I went off with a group of people I met on the bus to get a room. Three Irish lads, and an English guy and girl. After a much needed shower we headed out for an even more needed drink. We'd heard everything shuts at 12pm here, but soon discovered that its only the shutters that come down while the party continues behind them! A quiet beer turned into us returning to the guest house at 9.30 in the morning and the next day was a write off!
We pulled away from Vientiane at 7pm, straight out into the remote countryside, in the darkness with rain lashing down. It felt like the beginning of a bad horror movie. I spent the first couple of hours chatting to some of the people around me and reading my book. We pulled in at a little roadside rest stop for half an hour and then it was time to try and get some sleep. Thankfully Ally had given me a few of his valium tablets and they were an absolute life saver. I popped one of those and fell asleep on my big pillow against the window for a couple of hours until the next stop. We stayed at the next stop for 2/3 hours as there was no rush to get to the border because it doesn't open until 7am. After a little walk around and another valium I was out like a light pretty much until we reached the border.
Crossing the border was a bit of a hassle as there are quite a few forms to fill in and various processes to go through. There were no real problems though, except for when we returned to the bus we found the border guards had spilled a tin of green paint while they were searching it, covering the floor where the bags were being kept! A lot of rearrangement and a few green stripes on our feet, clothes and bags and we were ready to go again. I spent the rest of the day napping, talking and reading and it seemed to go relatively quickly and smoothly. Not everyone felt that way though, loads of people hadn't slept as well as me and thought the journey had been pretty hellish. Oh well, another lucky journey for me it seems. I think my threshold for putting up with discomfort and long boring journeys has really increased during my trip. It really doesn't bother me like it used to and I now just accept that we'll get there when we get there. I think this seems to be the Asian mentality towards journeys too so perhaps its rubbed off on me.
We arrived in Hanoi at around 7pm and I went off with a group of people I met on the bus to get a room. Three Irish lads, and an English guy and girl. After a much needed shower we headed out for an even more needed drink. We'd heard everything shuts at 12pm here, but soon discovered that its only the shutters that come down while the party continues behind them! A quiet beer turned into us returning to the guest house at 9.30 in the morning and the next day was a write off!
The following day I went for a stroll to the market and pick up a few things. I managed to get a t-shirt of the Vietnamese flag (yellow star on red background) and some fake Ray Ban's for $3. I also got an overdue haircut which seemed to take far too long, nothing like the 5 minute jobs I usually get at home. After that I took a wander round the lake and temple in the centre of town before meeting up with the others to go and watch the Champions League. This meant another late night as it didn't kick off til 2am here. I was pleased with the result as I didn't want to hear those scouse gits bragging for another year, and especially pleased as I had a fiver on Milan to win 2-1!
Today has been a lazy day. Most of the others are off on a train to go trekking to Sapa in the north tonight but I'm off to Cat Ba island to do nothing on the beach in the morning! It should be a pretty straightforward trip, just a couple of hours on the bus and then a ferry.
[UPDATE: The early night I had planned turned into a sesh til 5am in the Irish bar where one of the lads I was with has started working, but I'm now quite used to that sort of behaviour so the journey to Cat Ba was totally fine, if a little late starting at 12pm!]
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