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I would like to say our trip into north Vietnam was great, that it was fantastically organized that the people were great and we loved it all.. i would like to say that... but im unfortunately it would be one huge fat lie !! we managed to get out visas in Vientiane probably the most chilled out capital city in the world and booked on to the (now nickednamed) hell bus.. which as it turned out was 27 hours of yep u guessed it.. hell. it started off ok but every so often we would stop and pick up more people untill to everyones dismay we realized it was overbooked and people had to sit in the isle, and as there was no air con it quickly became a sauna.. anyway after randomly sitting in a carpark for 5 hours so the driver could sleep we came to the Vietnam border were there was a huge deal of confusion as what we had to do as the driver didnt speak any english and neither did anyone in the border office.. now being english its hard for us to understand that people abroad dont nicely que up in these situations and
just jump into the fray and fight for the front, old ladies and all.. infact the old ladies were the most violent people there. well we eventually managed to get everything sorted after we realised you have to sweeten up the officials with a little cash in your passport, and jumped reluctantly back on the bus. which arrived in Hanoi a considerable number of hours later.. we were collected by a rather nice tout for a hostel which we ended up staying in for as it turned out only one night as they kicked us out of the room as they needed it for some other people ?? yeah we were confused aswell..
so having had enough if the nasty and rude people of Hanoi we booked on a trecking trip to a place called Sapa which turned out to be really nice.. its right up near the border of china in the hills which over the generations have been turned into steps for the rice paddies which is the main reason people go there as the view are amazing. we did a two day trip with one night in a homestay in one of the villages where we were
fed and watered with the special 'happy water' made by the villagers needless to say we all went to bed alittle happier. The treks here are great although at one point one of the guides managed to get us lost and had a panic attack walking down a hill..
from sapa we decided to go pretty much directly to halong bay a place of outstanding natural beauty.. but instead of going of going with a tour we thought we would save ourselves some cash and go on our own.. big mistake as no matter who we asked or where we wanted to go we got put with people on tours and had to pay for everything individually the boat there, then lunch on the boat and taxis.. which doesnt sound bad but we were scammed on every bit as they just made up the prices as we went along and as we were with the tours we had no choice but to go along with it.. having arrived on cat ba island we booked into a hotel which we were told was $8 a nite then $10 then $12.. by the time we got to the room we just wanted
out of the place (catba plaza btw) and i have to say after having been to krabi in thailand halong bay isnt that great.. so after the journey back to hanoi we found probably the best thing there in the form of a really cool hostel (hanoi backpackers hostel) which we only stayed for one night as we couldnt put up with Hanoi any longer than that and got on the (thankfully aircon) bus to Hoi an, Vietnams and maybe the worlds tailor shop capital.. and are we glad we went people are a hell of alot nicer, its also cooler here and alot more chilled out its the nicest place we have been in vietnam so far.. the main reason people come here as i have mentioned is the tailors, there are about 200 of them in the town, nearly every other shop is a tailors and you can get things made here for a fraction over the price of the cloth..
which we ended up doing i bought a really nice (if i say so myself) big winter coat, alittle strange wearing it in this weather but hey it was only 30 quid. eve also had some two
dresses made one from a magazine she saw and a slutty black one (her words) both look really good..
So we left Hoi an on the sleeper bus which was a great change as we got to stretch out, although it was somewhat spoiled by the kareoke machine in the front and the snoring / spitting guy next to me.. it wasnt too bad.
we move on to cambodia next as soon as we get our visas.. lets hope their a little friendlier over there........
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Sidric the Viking
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No wonder the Yanks left in a hurry!
I'm surprised to hear how unpleasant and unfriendly Vietnam is. Then again, they are suspicious of all foreigners, I hear. I wonder why? They say travel broadens the mind ................................................................. and empties the wallet!!! I've heard amazing things about Cambodia - mostly terrifying (only kidding!!!). Keep us posted about all that happens. When can we expect some diving photos? Nobody with an underwater cameras? Even shots of you guys in the full diving kit would be interesting...but I'd prefer to see the underwater creatures...It's ok, Eve, Faye will probably put some on her blog for me, anyway!