Day 36 Tuesday June 9, 2009

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Day 36 Tuesday June 9, 2009

Happy 21st Birthday to Kali!!!!
Began our 24 hour journey to Hoi An, Vietnam by taking a hydrofoil (130,000 VND) to Hai Phong and took a 3 hour bus trip to Ninh Binh for 25,000 VND ($1.43). I chatted with the local ladies at the bus station and even though they didn't speak hardly any English I managed to have a whole conversation with them regarding marriage and children=) The bus ride was hot and dusty but wasn't as bad as previous bus rides. We arrrived at the Ninh Binh bus station and noticed the drink and food vendors were more aggressive here than most places screaming hello at the top of their lungs and waving at us (that makes me want to buy something). So Cam and I put on the "We speak no engligh charade again" and they gave us funny looks and shut up. We ended up getting picked up by a guy near the exit (we normally don't let this happen) but he ended up working for the hotel that was listed in our guidebook (Xuan Hoa Hotel) so we went with him to the hotel and booked our overnight bus ticket on the sleeper bus for that was to leave at 9pm that night for ($35/per person). We waited at hotel for 5 hours for the sleeper bus. You haven't lived until you've riden on an overnight sleeper bus. We went to put our luggage underneath the bus only to find that everyone elses luggage was filling it up and someones motorbike was under there too! So we had to sqeeze our bags around the motorbike. The inside of the bus didnt look nearly as nice as the pictures by the way and there were only a few beds left to chose from. Cam and I both got top bunks although in different sections and the bed was just wide enough for me. Thank god I lost weight before this trip! The guy was driving way too fast down this highway and everytime the he slammed on the brakes everyone grabbed their stuff to keep it from flying to the front of the bus. Oh, and the bathroom, I had to squat over a hole (you could see the road) while the bus was moving....It was hilarious, the door didn't lock so I braced myself and hoped he didn't slam on the brakes b/c I would have flown out the door with my pants down, not cool. After an eventful night we woke up and someone had their ipod stolen. One guy said he got up in the middle of the night people were sleeping onthe floor, not enough beds....love it...

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