We woke up to the usual feeling felt early in the morning aching back and the sound of hammering metal outside our window. Ty had a cold so he didn't sleep well which means I didn't sleep well either. I decided to fold our mattress in half to make it a bit soft if possible ( they may as well have just thrown a blanket on the wood bed frame thats what it felt like!) anyways we got out of bed and started packing. After our whole shebang getting to nanning we decided we needed to get rid of more stuff so we could manage our bags better.

Off to the bus for our 8 hour long bus ride out of china ( we were excited to change the scenery and hoping to hear no more loud hacking noises!)

En route we stopped for an unexpected free lunch - which we were thankful it was free because it was pretty gross so we just ate white rice lol

We finally make it to the border after more unnecessary stops and this was an interesting experience. I think they must have checked our passports at least 10x before we got to the Vietnam side. We also had to get off the bus we were on hop onto little shuttle cars to other checkpoints for customs and passport checks then finally onto another bus on the Vietnam side. Thank god there weren't many people so no waits.

As we drive into Hanoi we are still continually amazed at all of the dogs that just roam the streets on their own. As well as the picturesque landscapes with cows, buffalo , goats etc it's beautiful.

Were almost in Hanoi and were both happy to get off the bus soon as traffic is so nuts here. I mean when do you see people driving on the wrong side of the road on the highway ?? Lanes? What are those? Lights? Don't need any of these! Haha. We step off the bus and take a few breaths before we decide the best way to cross the street. It's best to just keep walking at a fairly slow but moderate pace and look straight ahead, cars and bikes will just go around you. Kind of like the game frogger here!! Lol

We manage to walk through the crazy motorcycle filled streets and find our hostel but as we step in we feel like its more comparable to a 4star hotel! We've got a room for $14 Canadian a night oh and free breakfast buffet all you can eat !! Yay.

We were starving when we got here so headed out for dinner. We can already tell we will enjoy the food here more.

For dinner we got 2 doner kabobs, spring rolls, 2 chicken entres with rice , 2 beers, bottle of water all for $12 Canadian! Not to shabby ! We roamed the streets a bit more listening to the crazy honking and dodging around traffic it's amazing how it even works here!

Next we have planned a 2 day trip to sapa along with a home stay at a village should we real neat! Of course to get to these beautiful abundant landscapes this means we're leaving Wednesday night on an overnight bus. We will explore beautiful sapa trekking, biking, and speaking to locals as this is not a bust touristy place but the views are suppose to be breathtaking.

Once we return from sapa on the 31st in the am. We will head on a beautiful boat cruise on ha long bay (south china sea) for new years celebrations.

We will continue to try and upload photos it's taking so long still so little by little.

Talk soon
T&M