Back to Back Bus ride to cross the border on foot

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It has been a long journey to cross the border into Vietnam and a memorable one at that. We left Lijiang as I was telling you to board a sleeper bus.... WOW.... Mark remember how you felt in the subway in Korea when we went to watch the soccer game? well this was that same feeling of "get me off NOW". To describe this bus...hmmm well 3 rows of tiny beds "made for asians" and the back of the bus was a top and bottom row that "fit" 5 people and would you look at that our ticket placed us at the very back of this bus. It was us and 3 Chinese of course (us being the only foreigners once again). I instantly had a bit of a mental breakdown and got a little angry (which is how i deal with things when I am uncomfortable) so I pouted and hopped up to the top bunk area with the smelly pillows and blankets and made due with what I had for space. The Chinese people didn't stop talking and even though I learned how to block out Korean... it is still taking some time to block out the Chinese so I was quite annoyed. Everyone knows what being at the back of the bus is like when driving well times that by 5 or so in China... sum it up with saying it wasn't the nicest 10 1/2 hours I have spent on a bus. Somehow I did manage to sleep a little and when I awoke in the morning we were at the bus station 7am. Booked our next bus ride for 9am and this one was not any better then the last. Again we wee the only foreigners on the bus but this time it was not a sleeper bus, just regular (and still 10 hours). Okay so the scenery was gorgeous but how can you enjoy it when the entire 10 hours the little boy behind you is vomitting in a plastic bag and ALL the men on the bus are making what I have classified as the most disgusting sound I have ever heard (horking) spelling... this isn't the same as what you 'sometimes' hear in Canada it is 4895608 times worse... make you want to be sick worse. This bus ride consisted of 10 hours circling mountain after mountain so you can only imagine how queezy we were feeling.... to the top and back down and round and round... like a bad experience on a rollercoaster. Hekou was the border town where the bus dropped us off to be greeted by the dirtiest chinese guy ever... he was very skeptical and I had an uneasy feeling about him the entire time... we got ripped off at where we stayed the night (with a little lizard in the room as company) and then he told us he would buy us drinks and dinner (don't worry we passed on both but had a coke and then we were out of there).
We woke up this morning early to go to the bank and change money when I realized I had lost my journal and the south east asia book so I was super bummed and we went searching the bus station trying to do hand gestures as to the fact we had lost things on the bus... starting to get frutrated with the language barrier (oh wait I think it has been with me the entire time). It was a lucky day because we saw the girl who was in charge of tickets on our bus and she gave us my journal and the travel book..woooohooo happy again! We then started our search for the bank and ran into 2 of the people we were traveling with our last few days in Tibet. The had just finished doing a money xchange with some random guy who found them on the bus so we figured if they were doing it we might as well (after checking with the banking and them not changing our money for us of course). So out on the corner of a street we were doing this with all the locals gathering around to see what was going on. Traveling couldn't be any more random then what it has been. So we walked with our packs to the border crossing and after 30 minutes or so and past 5 or so customs checks we were finally in Vietnam. Took a minivan from Lao Cai to Sapa (got ripped off again but this is nothing new and it isn't huge lump sums of money). I sat for 2 hours on the engine and if you ever remember your feet being extremely cold after skiing and then getting into a hot tup multiply that by 10x to know how my ass was feeling! I haven't been more uncomfortable! We found ourselves a guest house to stay in for the night ($5 for 2 people) not bad. We have a fantastic view outside our room! Had some lunch at a local restaurant and then went searching to find a trekking tour. So tomorrow we will be going on a 2 day 1 night trek which includes some incredible views, waterfalls, stops in the minority villiages and even a home stay in one of the huts so it should make for an interesting couple of days. Sunday we are planning to go to a market that the Lonely Planet says is a must see and then making our way by train (not another bus yet) to Han oi. Sapa is pretty small and the people here almost seem as though they stalk you. A girl has found me like 5 times... she knew when we arrived, where we were staying and what we had been doing... quite strange but nothing to be concerned about. Like China they want to sell you all their handmade crafts and clothing so they are constantly in your face and before you know it 10 of them are surrounding you. I guess I am starting to get used to it and have learned quickly to say no once and walk away. It is a little harder when it is a little girl about 5 years old trying to sell you the bracelets she has made.
Anyways, I am happy to be in a new country... China jumbled up some feelings for me and I was a little eager by the end to get out of there. A fresh start! I'll keep you posted when I can. Thanks for writing guys! Miss everyone and I will talk to you soon.
Mom- I am sorry I haven't called but I know Mark is doing a great job keeping you posted
Daddio- thank you for the email
Nick- I loved the story about Pintso!
Lianne - can you please pass this on to Amber and Chris (greg's brother)
Lynds- I am happy to hear the plans are going so well

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