Vang Vieng - Vientiane - Hanoi (Vietnam)
We left Vang Vieng and started the mammoth trip toVietnam (Hanoi). The First bus was 4 hours to Vientiane where we stopped for 4 hours and had a little wander. We then had our first experience of a sleeper coach! The journey was meant to be 20 hours but ended up being 24 hours (that's a whole day man) first impressions when we walked onto the bus was... PANIC!!
There was a 30 centimetre gap that we had to climb into at the back of the bus (next to the loos) where Our 3 beds lay. We were hidden from the rest of the bus and felt quite secluded. There was also graffiti written all over the Walls. I.e "came on the bus a happy man, leaving a broken man." 'Journey from hell' etc after a few hours we settled & actually warmed to the cave and we actually slept ALOT of the journey. Crossing the border from Laos to Vietnam was an adventure with the bus dropping us off us in Laos and having to walk about 20 minutes to the Vietnam border to then find our bags in a pile on the road for us to put through customs. Luckily no one had tampered with our bags. It did go through our minds though.
After 24 hours we finally arrived in Hanoi. First impressions of Vitenam was not great as got completely ripped off by taxi. We have been Advised to stay polite at all times. But How are you expected to stay polite when we are getting completely ripped off? Shell and Sarah handled the situation brilliantly and got it down from 40 Dollors to about 20. If it was me on my own I probably would have held my hands up, given the money and thrown in a tip whilst there.
The best way to describe Hanoi is HECTIC. the traffic is absolutely mental. Lots and LOTS of beeping with cars and mopeds going in any direction. Crossing the road is quite a challenge but also a great achievement once you get to the other side with no harm. We didn't see many travellers whilst in Hanoi and felt it wasn't the safest of places for 3 young ladies to be so we decided that one night was enough here and to move further south. The following day was just as chaotic but we got a much nicer vibe from the place and wandered the city before catching the next sleeper bus to Danang to have a few well deserved beach days. It's a hard life. :)