10th July 2007 - Hanoi, Vietnam
sleep in and just wander around the old quarter of Hanoi. its full of tiny streets and alleyways, with people and motorbikes everywhere. they are poor, but i have become slightly immune to it all now. wander around looking for a tour agancy that will allow us to book a bus to Luang Prabang in Laos. they all say no to the border we want to cross. so in hte end we have to book a ticket to vientiane and go across a border much further south than we wanted. then just wander around the shoe market - yipee!! quite a few nice ones, but as a big footed westerenr, none of them come in my size!! they are made for asian feet! take a wander around the lake - its quite nice and has a beautiful red wooden bridge across to a small temple. the heat is unbearable and am just sweating like mad. head down to the municipal water puppet theatre to see a show. its really cool. the stage is quite big and very decorative. the puppeteers are behind a screen, in the water and teh puppets are all on poles under the water. its really cool and very different. well worth teh E1.50 to get in!! after teh show, just head back to the hotel. although, its so hot, our air con isnt powerful enough so need to get a fan as well in order to control the sweating!!
11th July 2007
sleep in and mostly spend the day indoors - its 39C and the humidity is extreme. spend the day on the internet and relaxing in the least sweaty environment as possible. walk through the food market in the old quarter - its quite impressive. the food looks great and the colours and smells are amazing.
12th july 2007
get a taxi across town to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum - its where Ho is on show!! so we have to go all over the place to get there - stupid taxi driver tries to rip me off saying that he doesnt have any change - well, i sit in the car until he goes and gets some, cos he owes me about 30,000 dong. I dont care if its only a pound, he is not getting it! to go and see Ho, we are not allowed to have our knees or shoulders on show, so in 39C of heat, we duely put on a long sleeved top and wrap a sarong around our legs and after handing over our phones and cameras we join a very long queue. finally get in to see himself, passing security with their enormous bayonettes, w go into a very cold room and walk in total silence (we are told to ssshh by one guard!!) and follow the crowd around his body. he looks like a waxwork to me!! but must behave with reverence and respect - -shuffle outside, where my glasses immediately fog up from the heat. peel off the additional layers and begin sweating immediately!! get a taxi back to the hotel and get ripped off. his metre goes from 6,000 to 20,000 in 2 seconds flat!! stay indoors until its time to go for the bus to Laos. so the guy arrives to collect us and says that he can only take one at a time - which means its a motorbike!! so Emer goes first and he come sback for me. so, with my 16kg rucksack in between his legs, in between him and the steering, I climb on behind him with my daypack on my back and cling on for dear life! dear god, I see teh back end of a mercedes in a rather alarmingly fast and close up way!! get the office after a very hair rainsing 5 minute bike ride!! now, we have been told that the bus is at 6pm and will take 16hrs - ok. then others start arriving saying that they were told the bus is at 7pm and will take 22hrs. welcome to asia - we are guestimating it will take about 24hrs to get to vientiane!! so then we all have to get into a taxi - so only 6 of us fit in with our luggage and 2 others have to go on a motorbike and a tuk tuk. get to the bus station and are shown to a relatively ok bus (now this is by vietnamese standards) and the guy says that the bus is at 8pm!! so we all hand around and no one else has turned up for the bus, so we are thinking we will all have enoungh room to spread out and potentially get some sleep. Suddenly, at 7.30pm a guy somes over and says "oh, we change buses - over here". Oh sweet jesus, an old banger appears and its already full of locals and boxes. the roof is piled high with all sorts of stuff and the back rows are piled to the ceiling with boxes. we are all standing there going you have got to be joking - no!! they suggest putting all the rucksacks on the roof, but we all object. so after some commotion and moving people and boxes (as there were only 4 seats and 8 of us!!) they pile our luggage up to the ceiling along the back. the bus is tiny and we are all squished in together. the bus takes off and due to the insane driving, the luggage falls on the people behind, so we have to move it all onto the floor!! its certainly a cost fit!! drive like a crazed lunatic for a few hours and hope the driver stops for the toilet. toilet stops are not scheduled - if the driver needs to go he will stop, otherwise dont drink anything!! so after 4.5hrs, he stops at the side of the road and in pitch dark go to the loo in a ditch!! back on ht ebus and take a sleeping tablet and hopefully will wake up at the laos border in a few hours!
