Sin jow from vietnam

I know its not been that long since the last blog but i need to tell you about this journey!

So from vientiane we headed north, spent a night in the touristy but beautiful vian vieng where we had incredible food and the best room yet. 5 pounds got us a balcony view of the mountains, beautiful furniture and a western toilet (i almost dont know how to use them anymore im so used to a hole in the ground!)

From there we had an incredible drive through the mountains to Luang Prabang, northern laos is stunning, lime stone cliffs and jungle. The villages we past through were incredible - all the buildings made from bamboo and palm leaves - the people were amazing as well, in their tribal clothes doing their daily work.

We got talking to an aussie and a canadian on that drive and that night we went out for an amazing indian meal (canadian had been to india and taught us all she knew about indian food!) Then wandered round a night market full of beautiful hand made crafts (if only we had the money!)

This is where the journey got interesting!

We decided to go across land to Hanoi in Vietnam, a journey that should have taken 30 hours turned into 3 and a half days! We took the overnight bus from Luang Prabang to a remote mountain town called Sam neuo - the closest settlement to the border. That night included non stop kareoke and a local on board with a kalashnikov rifle (no joke, we have the photos!). We arrived in Sam Neuo only to find we had missed the only bus that day to the border. We were travelling with a beautiful hungarian girl who was also trying to get to hanoi so the three of us started trying to hitch a lift. We walked about 10km in the soaring heat, through school children and nosey locals! At this point we meet the crazy russian, Alexandre. More on him in a moment!

So the four of us eventually get a truck who is going 50km closer to the border, we jump in the back and watch the incredible countryside roll by. First truck drops us in a village called na meo where there was only one vehicle and the owner wanted 200us dollars to take us to the border. So we sat in the village waiting for a vehicle to drive through. There was a tropical thunderstorm and no food - happy days!

Eventually this little tuk tuk thing turns up with locals going to the border, we haggled and managed to get a ride for 4 pounds each. woo hoo! Through the little villages we were stopped many times to be shown off to the locals - good fun!

The border was incredible, huge fancy buildings in the middle of the jungle. We arrived in the evening and just made it through before we closed. It was here the crazy russian showed his true side. Alexandre is 21 and has been travelling for 2 years. He has no money and relys soley on hitchhiking and sleeping in temples or peoples homes. He only eats when someone offers him food and a lot of the time he sleeps in the forest. This is why he carries a lot of "survival" items. The most ridiculous being a samuri sword! The vietnamese border control searched all our bags (standard) and found the damn thing. K, the hungarian and i left and Alexandre remained arguing with them.

By now its 10 oclock and we havent slept in 2 days. The little village the other side of the border was proffessional in its tourist scams but we managed a delicous meal and a bed for little over 2 pounds each. The guesthouse was eerily posh compared to the rest of the village - im guessing weary travellers make there way here quite a lot.

The next morning refreshed we try and get a lift to Hanoi, no one in the village charged less than a hundred dollars (for a 100km journey - chancers) though im sure many tourists would pay it just to get out of that situation. We bought fruit and water and started walking to Hanoi, sure of a lift from a truck at some point.

What a stunning walk, mountains, waterfalls, lovely village people, just great fun. Oh - and alexandre had made it over the border a sword lighter and had slept in a locals house so had now rejoined the dream team!

Eventually an empty truck stopped for us and we were all crammed inside the cab for 50km. There we were invited into their friends house and again shown off to their friends. This time we were given tea so it wasnt so bad!

That truck dropped us in bac thouc, a rainy little town where we got lunch from a lovely motherly woman (it was a delicious rice and beef thing - no dog in sight!) then the task of another lift. A crazy truck driver approached us and told us he was going to Than hoa - a major town just south of Hanoi where we could catch a bus. We jumped in the back where 2 tons of cut bamboo were piled up. The bamboo was comfy and we all sat in the back watching the vietnamese countryside roll by - wonderful! The driver was a great character and kept stopping to come and talk and laugh with us.

Early evening we roll up in Than hoa, dropped at the drivers family home so his parents could oogle at us. Unfortunately we were a little out of town so we got to a main road, jumped on a bus and by the time we'd argued with the conductor that we werent paying as much as he wanted (overpriced for the foreigners as usual!) he chucked us off in the town centre. Perfect!

There we said goodbye to alexandre as we were going to pay for a bus and he wanted to hitch. He was an incredible character and im so glad we got a chance to meet him. In Than hoa the three of us paid 5 pounds each and got a luxury coach 100km to hanoi - the driver was lovely and the conductor dude spent the whole journey talking to us and teaching us vietnamese. We were the only ones on the coach - it was bliss!

So eventually in the middle of the night we arrive in Hanoi - overjoyed that the journey had finished but quite sad that the adventure was over! We managed to find a guesthouse still open in the centre of the city and we slept for 10 hours.

Yesterday, refreshed we wandered the old quarter with mery (the hungarian) and today kezz and i are relaxing, i think we deserve it after that!

Got to be one of the highlights of the trip so far!

Off east tommorow then heading south, hopefully arriving in saigon (ho chi min city) in around a week. Vietnam beautiful and cant wait to see the rest!

Chow for now

M and K x x x x