A new day a new country

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And we cross the border into the second country. 22 days in Hong Kong and China have come and gone. I have seen some of the most fantastic sites in the world, with many more to come.

This morning we walked over the bridge of friendship from Hekou, China into Lao Cai, Vietnam. It is the first time I have been over a land border since crossing from Spain into France. That time we barely even stopped the car, this time we signed exit papers and underwent a thorough dressing down on exiting China: walked 100m over the bridge, then repeated the entire process to enter Vietnam. Its lucky we gained an hour because that's how long it took!

Then we went on the wierdest bus ride ever: we got picked up outside the border control for a 20km ride into the hills and upto Sapa, but what ensued was a 2 1/2 hour jaunt around Lao Cai picking up various items including a refrigerator and a set of piping that had to go on the roof! I'm sure the scenery was breathtaking: shame we couldn't see it through the cargo.

Sapa is lovely. A small town in the hills that seems to be in the clouds. The locals are friendly and its nice to understand more of the surroundings. I think we are gonna relax for a few days then set off to Hanoi after the weekend.

Its going to take a while to get used to the currency. There are 32000 dong to the pound. I took out 50 quid this morning that is 1,500,000 dong!

(Arnt you glad I made no chilish references to the dong, or mentioned a certain Robin Williams film from the late 80's. That's restraint!)

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