conical hat mania...

oh lord

where to begin

we are safe and sound in hanoi, vietnam
this city is the most overwhelming of all the cities to date.
and i don't think i could date this city long.

we arrived last night around 6 pm and it is never fun arriving in a chaotic city when it's dark. we met a canadian couple on our bus from vientiane to hanoi...thank goodness.

ok i will backtrack...

so vientiane was great, it was a holidsay weekend...the dragon boat races were taking place and the whole entire city was closed down and partying..so fun!

we left cara in vientiane and left laos around 7 pm.
the hostel we were staying at was so great...the owner was a blast...we shared a couple beers before we left and he biked my carry-on down the street for me.

he warned us...the bus to hanoi was in NO means a VIP bus.
nope it was pretty much a public bus.

us and the two other canadians were the only white faces for miles seeing as how most backpackers spend the extra buck for lush seats and a toilet and a dvd player on the bus. not these faces.

the bus driver and his assistant were not the nicest of people we have met so far. they would not allow us on the crap bus until 5 minutes before we left. all the locals had been getting the good seats and getting comfy for hours. they chucked our bags thru the back window behind the back seats of the bus....along with a 42" tv and a new fan. great.
we were finally allowed on the bus and we claimed the last seats that weren't in the back and i was quickly removed from that spot seeing as how i'm white. the bus driver came and grabbed my arm,pulling me out of my seat and pushing me towards the back. great. with the tv.

we got the only seats on the bus that did not recline. our vents were open and full blast and broken. the mean man was sitting behind us while waiting with all his tower of pillows for his turn to drive. he was the reason we couldn't recline.

did i mention that the bus ride was 24 hours thru the mountains? GREEEAT.

so we start going finally and after about 6 hours we stop. for good.

apparently the border only opens at about 7 am, so we waited from 1 am till 6 am in a parking lot in the middle of laos, and strangely half our bus got off and didnt come back till it was time to go....i think they must have found beds. shoot. you'd think the bus would leave later and go straight through, but apparently that would be too convenient for everybody.

we finally reached the border after about 1 hour of actual sleep (i'm trying to ween myself off of gravol so i had to sleep without help...not very successful...it was easy to cross but very confusing...i'm glad we've had some experience before with land borders...otherwise we would not have known what to do.

we got off our bus, got stamped out of laos, left our bags on the bus, walked for half a mile to the vietnam border, got stamped in, went and got our bags and then went thru "customs" and then got off the bus again and walked past a rope which was blocking off entrance to actual vietnam, thru security and back on, continually dropping dong for random health quarantine and other fees. so silly. dong is the currency here in vietnam. 16,896 d=$1...it's a good thing dad passed down the mental math gene to me...

we had ONE stop for food and bathrooms for the remainder of the trip...
i had to stop and pop a squat in some old ladies cornfield while half the bus watched.

everyone on our bus was wearing a windbreaker circa 1992...

we passed a truck full of logs and i thought of shope remple (spelling?) and his cutting down of trees business. i laughed for a solid minute. one time he lost his watch while cutting down all 50 of our evergreen trees.

vietnam traffic is unimaginable. honestly. i can't even describe the controlled chaos. our bus driver LOVEDDDDD his horn, but so did every other person on the road. all you hear is a constant hum of the horn and it's almost as if there is an invisible unspoken middle lane. right between the two regular lanes. so you have a single lane going in either direction and then a middle lane for people passing...but it works in BOTH directions. if i didn't start biting my nails on that bus ride, i never will.
i wish i could explain how absolutely retarded it is....and that was BEFORE we got into hanoi. oh man...retarded...

we got a taxi and headed straight for the old quarter and ended up wandering into many full hostels and ended up splurging $25 for a night in a super lush hotel. i took my first bath in 6.5 months this morning and it was the best thing ever.

i'm gonna go have a bowl of pho (noodle soup) and then wander around the old district taking pictures.
we have a date with the post office this afternoon...time to empty my bag and make some room...

so far i think vietnam is going to be my favorite country yet...
fritz.