Back on the road again, and it was a 4h+ bus ride northeast of Hanoi to the border town of Dong Dang for my crossing into China. Funny how haphazardly planned and poorly demarcated some of these border areas are - when I entered the Vietnamese immigration building, I realized I had entered from the Chinese side! Huh?! How was that possible since I'd just gotten off the minivan from Hanoi, and walked just a couple of minutes? Turns out the No Man's Land between the two countries is quite faint, and apparently quite porous too. With no intentions of either exiting Vietnam or entering China illegally, I retraced my steps and lawfully obtained my exit and entry stamps. It was dark and late by the time I arrived on the Chinese side, taking my first
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