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Published: October 13th 2007
Colourful Umbrellas
((c) http://www.sxc.hu/)That colourful umbrella really is wrong for this day!
We all meet 8.30am in Joma to help Lynne celebrate her birthday... Still feeling pretty rough but order 'Egger Bagel' (egg, cheese and something in a toasted bagel!), and get a cinnamon bun for lunch (had my eye on that for a while). We grab our 'usual' table upstairs (really, this is getting like Friends), cheer Lynne as she enters and Ricky is a while ordering Lynne her surprise - which was going to be a cake to share, but limited supplies meant an individual cupcake with a candle and a message iced onto the plate - nice!
Little bit of time before we set off (10am), so managed to get first set of pictures backed up on DVD so at some point will post those. We then all load up onto the bus and set off on the first half of our journey to Hanoi, Vietnam. At some points the
Toilet Stop... mmm nice
(we weren't to know there was worse to come!) driver seemed to be going too fast, sometimes too slow but... We get past our first toilet stop (eventually - the driver thinks that as Kym is asleep he doesn't need to stop!), and stop for lunch at a roadside shack which Kym is very impressed with. Had eaten my pizza/Joma bun for lunch so just a drink thanks! Pretty uneventful journey through increasingly mountainous scenery - the bridges seem familiar - probably from war films! Halfway through the afternoon we stop at Phouhinpoun NBCA Viewpoint for some photos. Later, we stop at a bridge where rides are offered in boats made from the shell casings of B52 bombers. Interesting to see them, but after the elephant ride the other day not too bothered about going in them - and they can't find the drivers anyway, so then keep going to our desination for the night - the town of (Hux-i) - about 38km from the Vietnamese border.
We arrive just as it's getting dark and the hotel looks nice... From the outside. Inside it's not great - mould, leaks, dodgy doors, etc but we keep saying it's only for one night. Ours is not too bad, just the
mould really, but others have worse. After doing a circuit of the village twice - for such a poor place there's lots of motorcycle and mobile phone shops! About 7ish we head off for dinner at 'the only one' restaurant. We're not convinced by the menu but several of us order chicken stir-fry which when it appears tastes rather like detergent, and we're not sure if this is lemongrass or poor washing up... Don't eat much of that! $3 lighter we head down to the 'department store' (well it sells clothes, bedding and food!) for some journey snacks and back to the hotel - where I decide I'm going to put my mosquito net up as the electric buzzer doesn't want to stay in the socket - which I'm unconvinced by anyway! So, bit of my Tracy Chevalier book, and asleep!
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