This update is a day late, because we experienced computer problems back
home that prevented us from sending this yesterday. Many thanks to Frank
for going over to our flat and fixing the problem. Frank, you’re our hero!
Remember that I said we’d be taking the VIP bus to Hanoi? Well, the VIP
bus turned out to be the VUP bus (Very Unimportant Person). Not only was
there no toilet on board, but the seats offered very little leg room and
didn’t recline at all.
Still, at least we had air-conditioning for the 22 hour trip. Oh, sorry,
did I say air-conditioning? Well, yes, there was air-conditioning, but
they turned it off after the first hour and refused to turn it back on
again.
It would take too long to describe all the things that were awful about
the bus journey, so I’ll just run through the lowlights.
Apart from the general lack of comfort on board, the discomfort was
compounded by the appalling state of the Lao road from Vientiane to the
border. We actually reached the border by 01:00 Sunday morning, but it’s
closed at that time and doesn’t reopen until 08:00, so the bus driver
parked the bus in a car park somewhere and we sat there for 5.5 hours,
packed in like sardines, with the temperature slowly rising and not so
much as a whisper of fresh air coming in through the window. I firmly
believe that Laos is a country without wind.
The discomfort was surpassed only by the abject boredom. Sitting in total
darkness, tired and uncomfortable, you start to imagine how a hostage
might feel. Eventually, unable to tolerate the confinement any longer, I
clambered into the aisle and lay down upon a collection of rucksacks,
using someone’s sweaty shoe as a pillow. Sarah then somehow managed to
fall asleep across the bus seat I had vacated.
Finally, we left the car park at 06:30 and arrived at the border crossing
at 06:45. Another adventure ensued, as we traipsed through the pouring
rain and mud in our thin shirts and sandals to make it to the dingy,
candlelit shack that served as the Lao immigration office.
This place was lit by literally a one centimeter high candle. Vietnamese
people scurried around on all sides, coughing up pleghm and spitting on
the floor. The Lao official insisted on 4000 Kip per person before he
would give us our passports back. Why? Who knows, but we’re quite attached
to our passports and had no desire to relocate to the Lao/Vietnamese
border for the rest of our days, so we paid up and reclaimed our
passports.
An hour later, we were back on the bus, but only for a couple of minutes,
since now we were at the Vietnamese port of entry and it was time to do
the whole song and dance again.
We schlepped through the mud and rain once again, this time to a concrete
building. What luxury! The man at the first desk directed us to go around
to the side of the building, where a second man pointed at a form and sent
us back to the first desk. There, we picked up immigration forms, filled
them in, and then went back to the second man.
He stamped our passports and then demanded his slice of the pie, this time
$1. Why? Who knows, but we’re quite attached to our passports, etc…
Some people didn’t have the money and thought this would cause the
Vietnamese official to give back their passport anyway, but no such luck.
Their passport simply went back to the bottom of the pile, as the official
shrewdly knew that when faced with the prospect of not getting your
passport back, one way or another you’re going to find a way to come up
with the necessary cash. Lent money was exchanged between the various
travellers, passports were handed back, and we continued on our way.
The mudslide that served as a road eventually turned into tarmac on the
Vietnamese side and the scenery slowly changed into one of rice paddies
and women wearing the familiar conical hat.
We were forced to change bus just before entering Vinh, and were now
herded onto an unspeakably uncomfortable minibus run by a diminutive
little man for whom the bus could simply never be considered full. As we
continued our journey, he continually had the driver stop the bus as he
tried to persuade locals waiting along the road to travel on board this
bus for an unspecified fee.
Eventually, we were packed in so tight that we had to mutiny and refuse to
take on more passengers.
Toilet stops were virtually non-existent. Occasionally, the bus would stop
so that either the driver or the little man could buy a snack, at which
point all the travellers poured out of the bus, ran to the nearest wall
(belonging to a house, petrol station or whomever — by this point, none
of us really cared), pulled down their pants and did whatever it was they
could no longer wait for the arrival of civilization to do.
To cut an already long story a little bit shorter, we eventually arrived
in Hanoi around 18:30, some 23.5 hours after beginning our journey. We
were filthy, smelly, tired, aching, starved (since there was no
opportunity to eat at any time along the way — Sarah and I had brought
along muesli bars for this contingency, so they came in very useful).
Unlike the scorching heat of Laos, it was cold on the outskirts of Hanoi
and pouring with rain. We jumped in a taxi with a Scottish couple and
headed downtown into the old quarter. After our first choice of hotel
turned out to be full, we marched through the rain to a couple more before
finally finding one to our taste.
Today, we spent the day walking around Hanoi in the rain. During our walk,
we bought ponchos to fend off the rain, and Sarah even bought a conical
hat to wear as a kind of personal umbrella. It’s actually very effective.
I also bought a $4 sweatshirt, as it’s pretty cold here and my T-shirts
don’t quite make the grade.
I saw some shocking sights on a food market today, that made Laos look
like a sanctuary for mother nature’s creatures. I’ll spare you the
details, in case you’re squeamish, but suffice it to say that I witnessed
the killing of animals right in front of my eyes. Sarah was unable to
watch, but in a macabre way it does offer insights into the mindset of
these people. Some of their values are so very different to ours in the
west, yet in many ways they hold the same things dear. I suppose that’s
what makes a trip like this so fascinating.
This evening, we went to a theatre presentation of Hanoi’s famous water
puppets, which was really, really enjoyable. The music was great and the
puppetry work was fascinating and quite unlike anything I’ve seen before.
We have another day looking around Hanoi tomorrow, before setting off for
a one-day trip up the river to the Perfumed Pagoda on Wednesday. On
Thursday, we embark on a three-day trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island,
which should prove absolutely fascinating if the rain lets up.
We’re ending up spending more time in this area than we’d originally
planned, so we’re going to have to cut out a large part of Vietnam and fly
directly to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on Saturday night, just a couple of
hours after we get back from Halong Bay.
Anyway, that’s it for now. We’ll write more again soon.
