Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos

We have a lot to catch up on! We have regrettably finished our journey through the intriguingly beautiful Vietnam and have arrived in Laos to continue northward on our voyage to the red giant, China.

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Due to the sheer number of days since the previous blog, I have combined days spent in the same location. Enjoy.

Mar 8^th

We had previously organised to reunite with two girls we had met whilst on Koh Samet, Sofie and Mari, and join them slowly staggering north to the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. Having jointly decided with the girls to leave Ho Chi Minh City the following day, this left us all with a full day to see as much as we possibly could of this Vietnamese metropolis. We used the morning to visit the war remnants museum, which had been cringingly described to us as an emotionally evoking experience similar to that faced at the S-21 museum in Phnom Penh. After walking in the heat and humidity that accompanies all large Asian cities, we arrived at a museum surrounded by varying types of grounded aircraft and decommissioned armored vehicles, all marked with the badge of US possession. As we entered the museum, we yet again were reminded of the atrocities of war and the continued struggle consecutive generations face due the effects of Agent Orange. Unbeknown to use both, the museum closed at 12 and would not reopen for an hour and a half, we felt we had satisfied the required visit and left the museum slightly relieved. However, the lack of complete objectivity in this museum did play on my mind, as there was clear bias towards the North Vietnamese. This contrasted heavily with my favourite museum, the Berlin history museum, which chronologically explores the checkered history of Germany in a purely objective manor. Regardless, the war remnants museum was a good introduction to the brutal war a mere 40 to 50 years earlier.

We had organised to travel with the girls to Nha Trang, primarily a beach town that was about 10 hours away by bus. It is at this point that I’ll mention that Sofie wasn’t feeling quite well at this point of our journey, which was a reoccurring theme over the next few days.

Mar 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12 & 13^th

We said goodbye to Ho Chi Minh City as we boarded the coast-bound bus, happy to be leisurely heading north along what we later found to be the tourist trail. The bus to Nha Trang took us passed some amazing scenic coastline and picturesque landscapes created by mountains that, without warning, disturbed the uniformly level terrain. As we stopped for lunch in another beach town called Mui Ne, we were introduced to our first taste of Russian tourist domination as English was superseded by Russian in all restaurants and shops. As we arrived in Nah Trang, we luckily arrived directly in front of a hotel that suited us perfectly for the duration of our stay. My only criticism is the fact that Casey and I were asked to change rooms twice starting with an amazing room that was for six people and finishing with a closet built for potentially one and a half. This was because a single girl wanted a balcony… The mind boggles.

As we arose the next morning, Mari told us that Sofie yet again was feverish and was an odd green colour, which strongly suggested a trip to the doctor. Waiting for both Sofie and Mari to return left Casey and I to endeavor to the beach where we were shocked to see rather large speedo wearing Russian men precariously scattered along the beach. As the girls returned we were again shocked to learn that Sofie had a mild case of Dengue fever and required three consecutive days of treatment each with a four-five hour session of intravenous fluid administration. Fortunately, this did not tarnish our time as Sofie started to feel fine after the first treatment, and could choose the time of sequential treatments over the following days. We then spent a few uneventful yet relaxing days visiting the beach and trying a plethora of restaurants in the area. We all also went to a massage parlor and enjoyed hour-long massages, something that was quite foreign to both Casey and myself. One night that stands out amongst the rest was the night we decided to visit a mall that had both a bowling alley and karaoke. After about an hour of karaoke in a private room that Casey informed us was not soundproof, I feel the staff were probably happy to farewell the Backstreet Boy singing Westerners.

We had decided to catch a night bus to the historic town of Hoi An. The night bus was an adventure in it’s self as we were given the seats at the back that, unlike all the other individualized seats, were five adjoining seats. This did not cause problems for our group of four, yet the lone Austrian girl that had been instructed to join us may have had a somewhat different experience.

Mar 14^th, 15^th, 16^th & 17^th

We arrived in Hoi An at an outrageously early eight o’clock before we, as was extremely common at the end of every bus journey, were hounded by people to stay at there hotel or employ their transport. We walked from the bus past rows of buildings and shops all coloured a rustic mustard, a reminder of the earlier French influence. We reached a hotel, which we later determined to be run by quite a shady group of people, who insisted we sign a handwritten agreement that if anything went missing from our room it was our responsibility. Unfortunately, Mari was stung by this policy as 500,000 dong (A$25) went ‘missing’ from her bag. After mentioning this missing money, our possessions luckily are still all accounted for. Hoi An was a beautiful town that had a spectacular old town that boasts a tantalizing mixture of Japanese, Chinese, French and Vietnamese influences. The sheer number of tailors made Hoi An the ideal place to go for specifically tailored items, a service we did not employ even though we were tempted by matching felt suits…

We spent a day with hired motorcycles and traveled to the UNESCO world cultural heritage site, the ancient Cham city of My Son. Unfortunately, the heritage site did not quite live up to the expectations of a UNESCO heritage site, but the highlight of the day was enjoying the formidable Vietnamese roads once more, with a passenger no less. Getting use to a slightly slower pace whilst traveling in a group suited us all and gave us a good opportunity to relax and reflect on our adventure thus far. It was very different traveling with another pair, but an extremely welcome and refreshing change. The next destination was chosen to be Hué and after being told by a hotel staff member that there were three types of seats on the bus and that the cheapest seat type was unavailable, we bought the tickets that were not near the bus toilet at a dearer price. When boarding the bus for the 4 hour journey we evidently had been conned by the hotel again as this approximately 20 seat bus did not have a toilet or seating allocation. This finalized our time in Hoi An, a place where the buildings are incredibly beautiful, yet tourism had obviously impacted this town, at least partially, for the worst.

The next town of Hué was equally as beautiful and our opinion of the people was in a much more positive light. Once again, when we got of the bus, we were dropped at a hotel, the Google Hotel, which was the nicest we have stayed in thus far. We had free Wi-Fi, free coffee all day, free beer after five o’clock, breakfast for US$1 and large rooms with proper showers that had been lacking from each and every room we had previously stayed.

Mar 18^th, 19^th & 20^th

Mari had innovatively suggested we all compete in a self-created scavenger hunt, which saw each member of the group contribute specific tasks to complete with the intention of being issued a corresponding number of points, the team successfully gaining the most points would be named victorious. Some of the more exciting tasks included: swimming in the river, fitting three choco-pies in your mouth, dancing in the street, wearing team uniforms, wearing a rice hat in all photos and finding a German. Every task was required to be completed with corresponding photographic evidence so each team could successfully claim the points associated with the task. Though it was an extremely close battle, I am happy to say that Sofie and I took out the title of Scavenger hunt 2013 victors, earning ourselves a dinner purchased by the opposing team. The scavenger hunt proved to be a great way to see the city, but traveling’s not all fun and games, our hotel staff made us drink a few beers while playing pool and were upset when we decided to stop drinking free beer… Stressful life.

With our Vietnamese visas ending on the 27^th, we were keen to head to Hanoi and travel on to the fabled Ha Long Bay. We boarded another night bus where, like all transport in Asia, we battled with seats obviously made for people of a smaller stature. We arrived in to Hanoi, again at an outrageously early time, at a bus stop on the outskirts of town. After finding a taxi to take us to the Old Quarter to find accommodation, we spent the day discussing potential ways to go to Ha Long Bay, enjoying the sites around Hoan Keim Lake, which Casey and Mari decided to run around. It is here that we also enjoyed crab spring rolls, potentially the best spring rolls I have ever tasted. We settled on a planned cruise of Ha Long Bay, which was three days and two nights aboard a junk (boat). This inevitably turned out to be a fantastic option.

Mar 21^st, 22^nd & 23^rd

We were picked up from our hotel by a bus that took four hours to reach Ha Long City where we boarded a small boat that took us to our awaiting junk. It was a slightly weathered three-story boat that consisted of cabins on the lower level, a dining room, kitchen and wheelhouse on the middle level and a deck with shelter on the upper level. The cabins were extremely nice, and included a very nice bathroom with a proper shower. A short while after settling in our rooms, a very indulgent lunch was served before we were to board the smaller boat to travel to the ‘surprising’ caves, which contained three caverns of increasing size which had been formed through the weathering of the stone over countless millennia. We then had the opportunity to jump in two-person kayaks and go around a few of the smaller islands that make up the much larger complex of infamous Ha Long Bay islands. We were ferried back to the junk, enjoyed another sumptuous meal before being left to our own devices. This included sitting on the deck and admiring the incredible number of other ships that were anchored in the same area as their lights dance on the surrounding, almost undisturbed, water.

The following day, a smaller two-story boat picked us up and took us for a very scenic journey to a cove where we had the opportunity to swim, kayak or relax. Casey and I took the opportunity to unobtrusively float around the cove wearing provided life jackets. They cooked lunch for us as they had done the previous day, to the extremely high standard, and then returned us to the junk where we had gained another group of passengers as some people chose to only spend one night on board. The most recent additions decided they’d take up the offer to do karaoke until just after 11, which was amusing at best. We then woke and enjoyed breakfast and lunch aboard the junk while it leisurely sailed back to the original port at Ha Long City. It was amazing, and equality upsetting, how fast the two nights had gone. We again boarded the bus in the opposing direction towards Hanoi, returning to our hotel as if our expedition to Ha Long Bay was just a distant memory or a reminiscent dream.

Mar 24^th & 25^th

Deciding we would leave Vietnam and the girls on the night of the 25^th, pushing our visa departure date to the utmost limit, we had a full day to farewell two people that we had become exceptionally close to over the passing weeks whilst still being able to enjoy what we were yet to see in Hanoi. In pairs, we ventured out into the city with the intention of seeing all we could. We were lucky enough to see the presidential palace, the outside of Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum (we couldn’t go in because it was only open from 8.30-10.30 every day except Monday and Friday) and enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at one of the many highly recommended Gecko restaurants around Hanoi’s tourist area. Our final day in Vietnam was spent making sure we had everything we needed to leave and spending the fleeting time with our friends before they too left Hanoi that night. As we waited for our bus to collected us from the hotel we said a very somber goodbye knowing our paths would cross in the not too distant future.

Our hotel pick up was a man on a motorbike that drove in front of us as we followed him through the streets of Hanoi gradually gathering people. We boarded a small minibus that brought us to a hectic bus terminal. We then boarded the bus that was intended for our journey. I am fearful that Casey and I were accomplices to some kind of underground Oreo trade from Vietnam into Laos as a multitude of boxes filled the seats on the lower levels and under the bus. After being asked to sit in the two seats at the far back of the bus, the remainder of people’s luggage was sandwiched next to us. The bus was truly at capacity.

Mar 26^th & 27^th

No one knew how long the bus was suppose to take to get to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We were told 20 hours, yet judging by the copious number of unnecessary stops along the way, it could have taken us days. We woke on the morning of the 26^th parked at the front of the growing queue by the border awaiting the time it would open. We had a relatively smooth walk across the border where we walked about a kilometre on international soil before painlessly being issued our visa for entry into Laos. The bus ended up taking 25 hours to reach our destination; this was primarily due to the fact we stopped for a two-hour stop for an unknown reason and secondly, due a required tire change. We stepped off the bus relieved to have finally arrived and followed the people on the bus, all whom had bonded over the possibility of spending another night on the road, to a hostel. The hostel was quite nice, but lacked the privacy we were hoping to write the blog and podcast. The following day, we found a guesthouse to settle down in for the day providing an opportunity to write the more then overdue blog post. And that brings us to now!

I loved Vietnam; it was a beautiful country with an amazing culture and people. It has definitely been the highlight of the trip for me thus far. Our visa for China is valid for entry until the 8^th of April, leaving us just over a week before we want to cross the border. We really aren’t paying Laos the respect it deserves time wise, but we wont rush through the places we do chose to stay. We are hoping everyone is well back home. We are still loving traveling and going strong.

Keep posted.