Ok so where did we leave off last time - just about to get a mini bus to vang vieng! it seems like ages ago now!! The bus took around 7 hours through very high and windy roads through the mountains. LOTS of unscheduled stops at dirty roadside shops trying to make you buy something or pay to use the disgusting bathrooms although they dont even deserve that name!! the driver eats like a king and smokes like a chimney and there are obviously pre-set rules as to where he will bring tourists in return for his dinner. At one stop i did see the most beautiful monkey (think lion king) all chained up out the back of this house. it was such a beautiful creature and such a shame to see it looking so unhappy. it tried to communicate with us using amazing facial expressions and waving its arms around. i think he just wanted to be free. such a shame. would have been more humane if they had killed it and eaten it if they needed food, it was just cruel.
Arrived in vang vieng around 9pm and headed for a guesthouse. room was nice with a great view of the mountains but had many ant and other bug issues as most places seem to have!!! just crashed that night and went for a wander the next day - i was not too impressed with vang vieng town - it seems to be built just for people to be hungover in. no culture at all. just built for the tubing. we had some really average food and watched some friends (massive tvs up in the bars showing friends/family guy/simpsons 24/7!) Went for a long walk that night and to some bars, chatting to the people who ran them, who were all in their 20's and american/canadian or english. generally 'working' (getting drunk and playing loud music, serving the occaisional beer to someone else) its easy enough to get a work visa for laos apparently and people dont get paid but get free food and cheap accommodation so just do it for a year or so. but we met some great people who gave out a lot of free buckets so that was good! We then went to the one locally owned bar called JD's and played pool and chatted to the owner. they dont pay taxes over here but if the police show up and ask for money you just have to give it to them as its so corrupt. JD had a giant machette under the bar for protection. (sam had to a have a photo with it) Also loads of laos girls hang around and try and get the foreigners to chat them up and take them back to their hotel, but as sex is illegal in laos unless you are married the girl disappears as soon as she knows where their room is and the police turn up 5 mins later and fine them 500 USD. ouch.
went tubing the next day and oh what incredibly dangerous fun this is!!! you basically rent a giant rubber ring and get a tuk tuk to the starting point, but there are so many bars serving buckets of vodka red bull, whiskey etc and all the bars are in the first KM of the 3KM course. you float down the river and people pull you into their bar and you get out, dance, party and drink until you float 20 meters down to the next one! at each bar there are giant rope swings and slides that are so high and catapult you into the river. sam still has the bruises and i took a massive chunk out of my finger. we went out there at 2pm and came back at 6pm after only having down 1km. oh dear. next day was a total right off as we were both so hung over. but it was really fun at the time!!!
We left the next day for hanoi and for a very long journey. 4 hour bus south to vientienne, the Laos capital and we left at 10am. got dropped off at 2pm to a horrible, dingy expensive resturant and were ditched and told we would be picked up at 5pm to get to the bus station for our 7pm bus. so a not needed 5 hour pit stop already. sam and i refused to eat at the horrible place and managed to find the laos version of pizza hut and indulged in our first western food, air con and refillable drinks, so the wait wasn't too bad. Although when we arrived to catch our sleeper bus (we splashed out as the journey was so long) we were told they had overbooked the sleeper bus and there was no seats for us and nothing we could do as the next sleeper bus wasn't for 3 days. the guy tried fobbing us off and tried to give us a cheaper, upright, uncomfortable bus for the 14 hour overnight journey for the same price. errrm NO! you really have to fight your corner a lot over here or you get ripped off. whatever price you are offered for anything you normally pay less than half of it if you are willing to haggle long enough. we argued for and hour and half and he finally gave us half our money back and we still had to get the upright bus as we had no choice. but at least we didn't pay double what it was worth. the staff on the bus were so so so rude all the way. we left at 7ish and only drove 2 hours before we stopped for an hour for the drivers to have dinner. then we drove till 1am and parked outside a guesthouse where we were told we were not moving again till 6am and had to pay for a guesthouse or sleep on the bus. sooo not happy at this point. we refused to pay for the guesthouse so slept on the bus, luckily enough people stayed in the guesthouse that we could recline the seats a bit but it was pretty horrible and no bathroom. thank god for valium at this point!!! During the night there was the most almighty storm that kept me awake. it doesn't just rain here it just monsoons and it's so loud and the thunder was literally shaking the bus from side to side. thankfully we did leave dead on 6am and got the border about 9am. border crossing are just madness here. about 200 people fighting to get to 4 windows, (we had to pay 54 USD each in vang vieng for someone to do a visa run for us or we would have had to stay in vientienne for 2 nights to wait for it. sketchy handing your passport over but we met enough people who had done it to give it a shot and it was fine.)they snatch your passport and process it at the border and then it goes to another window where the teller doesn't speak and english and just flashes the picture page at you and u have to tell if its yours over 50 heads and if it is push to the front and give her some money or she wont give it back. wicked. it was not the best journey in the world but definitely an experience!
Arrived in hanoi about 9pm. got lucky with a nice hotel in the old quarter and went out for dinner with ben, miranda and a new couple from cardiff, matt and jo. we all ate a street cafe which i didnt think was that tasty, crispy noodles and beef. and there was so much rubbish in the streets and i saw many a roach so was happy to head back the hotel, no bedbugs -woohoo! and also the foot is better! and bites are down to around 5 at a time! all feels a bit better with the world. Spent the next day wandering round hanoi. went to the prison museum and saw all the cells the american pow's were kept in etc. was really interesting. also walked around the massive lake in the centre of the city and people watched. booked a 3 day/2 night boat trip to Halong bay and cat ba island leaving at 8am the next morning. we went to a water puppet show which told old vietnamese legends and tales through the medium of music and water puppetry. sounds weird. but was really entertaining for an hour!
The boat trip around halong bay was awesome! on the way the guide told us a lot about hanoi. population was below 2 million in 1991 and is now over 5 million! and there are 2.5 million scooters + cars in the city! the traffic is mental. not many crossings. you literally have to walk out and let the bikes swerve around you. definitely a knack to it and not for the faint hearted!! Took a cruise round halong bay which has over 2000 grass covered islands in it. visited a really amazing cave, went back to our boat, anchored in the bay and swam off the side of it, then had a banquet with the 12 other people on our ship. got chatting to everyone and met a nice couple in their 50's called shirley and laurie who are from auckland, they gave us their card and we are going to have dinner with them when we get there. also a really nice young couple called gavin and haley who are from sydney so hooking up with them too when we get there. did a little mini squid fishing off the side of the boat and went to bed. had a nice en suite room, but a roach here and there. they are everywhere and there are so many different types!!! even flying ones!!
The next day we headed to cat ba island (right out of the jurassic park movies!) traveled around, went to another amazing cave, had another banquet lunch and headed out to monkey beach where, ironically, we saw no monkeys. this was a really touristy beach for the locals and they really don't take care of their own beaches and places. rubbish everywhere., even our guide said the foreign tourist beaches were much nicer. was really disappointed as this was our first beach, but had a great night out with gav and haley. headed back the long journey to hanoi the next day.
had a chilled couple of days in hanoi, ate at some cool cafes, had a great chicken and vegetable curry tonight, literally amazing! sam visited the embalmed mausoleum of ho chi minh and the museum next to it! we also went to see iron man this afternoon and wandered around a crazy mall! hanoi's is a great city, we are sad to leave it but we leave tonight at 11pm. (hence lots of time to write this while waiting for our train.) 10 hours. oh joy. in the uncomfy seats as thats all they had left and sam and i arnt even sat together. the only bad bits about traveling are the long journeys and the bugs!!!
Siging off now!
phia and sam xxxxx
vang vieng - vientienne - 4 hours
vientienne - hanoi - 27 hours
hanoi-halong bay & cat ba island - 5 hours each way
hanoi - hue - 12 hours
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