Christmas in 'nam

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So we have found ourselves randomly in Vietnam. We weren't going to visit any other countries other than Laos but our friends were coming here before they head home end of dec/mid january and we decided to tag along since we have a lot of time left. it is very expensive down south so we figured we would run out of money if we went there for 2 months. also the weather isn't very good where we wanted to go. monsoons and such. hopefully it gets better soon. we took a flight here yesterday from Vientiene, capital of Laos. it was a pretty awful city. not much to do there. we ate some really bad food and spent a whole day getting our visas for vietnam. our flight was only about a half hour which was weird. i wish all flights were that long! it was way worth it even though it was a bit expensive. the alternative was a 26-34 hour bus ride and we all know how well i fare on those.
the city we are in now is called Hanoi. it is in northern vietnam. it is quite big and a bit scary so we are trying to get out of here asap to get to the beach. probably going to catch a train later today or tomorrow to da nang. the place we are staying in is pretty nice but they are crazy about passports. they insisted that we give them ALL of our passports and when we refused they made us give them copies of our passports and then they gave them all back again after recording them. corey didn't give his to them because his copy was in the bottom of his backpack so he said he would bring it down later. they ended up calling craig and i's room to hassle us about it and couldn't understand that it wasn't us that hadn't given ours. they already had his girlfriends passport info anyway so i'm not sure why they were so insistent. very strange anyway. we have free internet here which is nice but the computers are circa 1990 and sloooow. we took a taxi here which was insane. they said it was a 7 person taxi but there were four of us crammed on one seat that should have sat 2 people and one each in the front and back. the man driving us was crazy and we are almost certain he was drunk. he kept saying 'ok' and honking his horn over and over at everyone. we almost crashed about ten times at least and there were bikes, motorbikes, huge trucks, cars and taxis everywhere and nobody paid attention to traffic lights or street lines. we passed this crazy dress store on our way here that i must go to. my sisters would go absolutely crazy. i tried to find it last night after dinner but it was closed. we found this cafe for dinner and everything we ordered they didn't have. finally we had to ask them what they DID have and ordered a few small things that were good but tiny and we weren't full at all. they forgot half of my meal too so i went to bed hungry but it was late at that point. our room has a bathtub, although it is four feet long, which was a nice treat last night. there is a hairdryer too (havene't seen one since i left home) but to my disappointment it was cracked in half and had wires sticking out so i wasn't about to plug it in.
we hear it is a winter wonderland at home. i am very jealous. i think i prefer cold and snow/rain over sunshine. strange, i know. i am enjoying it though while i am here. i am missing my family, especially sammy and my mama. also, the cafe crew. i actually miss work! weird. i guess that is what happens when you have a good job that you like. i can't wait to get home and see everyone. it's tough being away but the time is passing quite quickly. i guess i should go and figure out a train ride. i will write more later!

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