After we crossed the boarder we were so releived to be in Vietnam and got back on our bus who drove us 5 minutes up the way to drop us in a minivan which will take us to Dong Ha- now we have already given them our ticket and they wont give it back so we just figured it was all sorted. There was Tom and I and 6 locals who all insisted we all squished in the front, we got to Dong Ha and had to for out another 15 dollars the bastards ( always always keep a reciept, which we have done upto this point, go figure the one time)
Where two men on motorbikes took us and our giant bags down the road where we had to pay another 15 dollars each to get a local bus ( you can pay 15 dollars and get a luxurious bus) but our options at the time were limited and jumped on a packed bus- Tom and I the only foreigners and we were celebrities. People always wanted to talk to us but our conversations were vague through our phrase books and we just smile and laugh when they do. They could be saying anything but it was a really good time. We got picked up at 11 am and the bus was to take 12 hours to Hanoi city. Well low and behold we wake up at 2am, the ONLY people on the bus except for a Vietnamese couple, all the lights turned out and in the middle of a deserted street, which turned out to be 40 km outside of Hanoi city. It was completely pitch black- our flashlight battery was running out so we had to turn it on every 30 seconds to point to words in our phrase book to figure out where the hell we were.
We were shitting ourselves. We were panicking and both very worried. We put our faith in this couple who somehow after 3 hours of pointing at words in the phrasebook she said 2 hours and a bus will come, so we waited and about 4am the OLDEST bus I have ever seen pulls up and all of a sudden there are a load of people, stuffing there motorbikes on the bus and coming on with very large baskets- After pondering what they were for a second, as they seemed to be jiggling very strangely the people with the baskets began to hang raw beef all around our heads and everywhere on the bus, soon the bus was packed with Tom and I squished between a motorbike, pounds of raw meat and people looking at us curiosly. A lady got on the bus and handed me a bag of her raw plucked headless chickens. This was a wonderful bus ride.
What was a scary experience was also the best of our lives.
We took a taxi to Hanoi backpackers hostel (thankgoodness for you Jack for giving us the card with the map) and checked in at 5am.
WE ARE IN HANOI!!
*It's a Mad, Mad World*
ReplyDelete> animal transport is common in "Salt of the Earth Class" in most Nations; however, raw meat hanging in the bus is bit odd< BOO
> dead headless chickens, I would expect in third class even in Europe, especially rural France, unless things have changed
> sounds awful Hectic; even if you plan your journey; it is full of surprises
*You will probably sleep for a week, when you get home,
>>>>BbuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzArt