Sapa to Dien Bien Phu

We got on the Bus of Hell to Dien Bien Phu, the bus itself was very crowded and cramped, the legroom just about adequate for a small child with bars in the seats you could feel digging into your legs, it was about as comfortable as a kick in the bollocks! The 9 hour or so journey has to go down as the most uncomfortable journey I've ever endured, that said it's not as bad as other people on the internet make out and it makes alot of sense to use this border to enter Laos ,we met a nice French couple on the bus that were destined to become our saviours at a later date.

We arrived in Dien Bien Phu some hours later and we set on our journey to get some US Dollars for the border after rumours thats all the Laos border will accept is Dollars and Baht (They accept all currencies, they just give shit rates). We found a Gold/Jewellery shop beside Agri Bank that would exchange it for us for us (the Vietnamese Banks will not exchange Dong for Dollar for some reason) for an almost criminal rate. DON'T, I REPEAT DON'T USE THIS CUNT FOR EXCHANGING MONEY, HE IS AN ABSOLUTE SCUMBAG (You'll understand why I use such harsh words in my next entry).

We stayed in a guesthouse right across the street from the bus station which was handy and cheap, we went looking for somewhere to eat,but as we are in the heart of North Vietnam very few people speak English. we managed to order some fried spinach with garlic and a massive plate of rice, It hit the spot along with the 2 Hanoi Beers. It was now time for bed as we have to get up around 4:30am to catch a 5:30am bus.

Sapa trek....or was it meant to be????????

We got up and had our breakfast, all was good, we were psyched for our trek..we'd just finished breakfast and went across the road to try and get some US dollars for the Laos border, it was something that had started to prove difficult as no one would exchange the opposite way (including the banks as I later learned). As we left the shop I turned around and saw Tina doing a Jurgen Klinsmann on the steps of the exchange shop. My first reaction was 'Oh shit' , I tried to help her up and some other Asian guy came to help me, my first conclusion was the damage was small (thank God), no gashes on the face , no broken teeth, she had landed like a pro and used her hands to break her fall, so the damage limitation was a fairly grazed knee, a swollen ankle and an emotional Tina!

She sat on the step for a while to get her bearings, when a French Doctor/Tourist who saw there might be something up, had a look at Tina, the two of them conversed in the French tongue (I of course put the whole Henry cheating thing aside considering the circumstances :D * JOKE *) and check her ankle over, and then I took her back to the hotel, where I administered an alcohol wipe to her graze knee, which was met with as much haste as a child been met with a cotton bud full of Dettol!

I went out and sorted our bus to Laos, unfortunately it's not as straight forward and comfortable as one would imagine, we have a 11 hour bus journey tomorrow just to get us that bit closer to the border!

We had to get some more laundry done today and as most know Asia is cheap as chips for it ($1 = 1kg), We'd booked in 6 kilos this morning before the accident, but when I arrived to collect it, the family sat me down and poured me some drink from a water bottle, a drink so strong it would probably start a car!! They offered me some food but I refused as I was heading out with Tina later.

Next stop Dien Bien Phu...fingers crossed it won't be a highway to hell!

Hanoi to Sapa

We headed on the night sleeper to Sapa, the train itself was very comfortable, there was 4 people in our cabin and I slept very well..9 Hours later we arrived in Lao Cai at 6am, we had to make our way towards Sapa which was 30kms away, A guy approached us on the train from a bus company and offered us a lift for $5, Tina laughed at him and he settled for $3 for the 2 of us.

It was freezing when we arrived, proper Irish weather and lots of fog, the H'mong tribe women are all over the town selling souvenirs, but are really nice. We looked at a couple of hotels and settled on the lotus because it was the warmest we'd found and at $10 how can you say no.

We slept off our journey and got up around 12 and went hunting for a jacket for Tina, I off course kept my jacket just incase (the hoarder that lives within me) . Tina's like her mother and doesn't tolerate clutter in any form (you know it's true Anne!).

We found a brilliant northface gore-tex jacket that opens into both a jacket and a fleece for $35, a bargain considering the same jacket would be easily over 150euro in Ireland. We had a stalker during our haggling from shop to shop, a little H'mong mountain woman trying to flog us souvenirs, she was with us for half an hour and Tina gave her a dollar for a picture to try and get rid of her, but she wasn't finished yet, she stuck with us for another 20 minutes until I bought some musical instrument off her ($1), she followed me when she coped I was carrying the money, but she was really nice and all smiles, never aggressive or rude.

We went for lunch to eat in one of the many lovely restaurants on the main street, our restaurant had a fire which was the USP for us. I had 'happy chicken' here, no it's NOT chicken laced with marijuana, but there local speciality. I got the local beer Lao Cai, and Tina got the plum wine, we swapped not long after getting our drinks, Tina plum wine could have started a car, I asked the woman in the restaurant what ALC% it was and she told us it was around 35% but she wasn't sure!

We went around the village for a while but the fog was just so dense you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.

We went out for dinner this evening in another nice restaurant (candle lit tables), décor wise they were probably the nicest 2 restaurants we've eaten from in Vietnam.

Tomorrow some trekking in Cat Cat and checking out the tribal villages.

Back to Hanoi

We arrived back in Hanoi last night from Halong Bay, the traffic was awful, it took us an extra hour to get through it. We arrived at our hotel and the bags were still there, thank god! We haven't got our visa for Laos yet and told by the hotel that we couldn't get it at the border and they could organise it for us and get the passports sent to us, but travel agents over here need to be taken with an entire salt shaker. I checked it out and it's all good.

Today we were walking around Hanoi, lots of interesting streets, we are currently looking for a street that is filled solely with Christmas decorations but so far we haven't found it.

Night (s)train tonight to Sapa (14 hours) we are travelling in the first class cabin (it was $4 extra). Might need to dig out the valium!!

Halong Bay

We arrived yesterday at Halong Bay after a 4 hour Bus Journey, the other people on the ship are a diverse mix, 2 Pakistani Doctors, 2 Brits, 1 German, A few Thais and an American. The first day we headed to a cave which was really beautiful, after which we took a trip to a beach island and climbed to the top of the mountain.

Today we said our goodbyes to half the group, the Thai's and the American were the best craic, they stayed up for a few drinks and had the craic while the rest had an early night, unfortunately they weren't staying the second night, but nothing lost nothing gained! We had a bicycle trip on an island and then some kayaking in Halong Bay.

The afternoon we headed to Cat Ba Island and got a Motorbike and hit the island. The trip was A1 and all the food we had was excellent.

Lots of pictures taken off this natural beauty over the last 3 days, here's a few of the best: