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Banter All Over The World
Greetings from Hanoi.
We got here after another eventfull bus journey from nanning last thursday 14th. We were only in nanning one night as there is not much to do however after arriving in nanning at 5 in the morning after a 12 hour train journey from hell to find that our hotel room was not booked it looked bleak.
The train journey from guangzhou to nanning was quite bad. We were on a sleeper which meant we had bunks dsws was on the top by the roof and jake had middle. Now these were pretty small anyway not made for big strapping hunks like jake and dsw, this was made worse by the fact that we had nowhere to store our bags which meant that we had to sleep with them which meant about enough room for the size of a small child (or acres of space if your an oompah loompah like dale). They also played for most of the 12 hours relaxing, soothing, glorious chinese music which was neither relaxing, soothing or glorious. (Made us think which would be worse - 12 hours of that Chinese music or 12 hours of the 'Black Water c*** '. Turns out we prefer Chinese music!) Still we made it to nanning and eventually found a hotel which was actually really nice and they sorted us out with bus tickets to vietnam and all sorts. Now dsw and jake by this time were having a slight bit of trouble with our bottoms possibly due to the diet (def not the bottles of lager consumed previously), this meant we did not fancy any local food but something to sort us out, then when wondering round the town it appeared on the horizon like a beacon of light, the golden arches. Several cheeseburgers later we were fully refreshed and back to full fitness again.
We got the bus the next morning to vietnam as we drove through the scenary was stunning, even better than south hill park in bracknell. After an intresting border crossing we got on another bus to take us to hanoi. Again the scenery was stunning and we spent the next 4 hours staring out the window. This however was mainly because we feared for our lives, the bus driver was an absolute nutter. He overtook on bends went on hard shoulders all sorts of mischief but we arrived safe and sound.
So here the worlds leading banter tag team partnership are in hanoi, its a quality place, v.cheap beer is about 50 p food is stunning, there is loads of bars and restaurants that even show the footie. But it is the place with the most mopeds in one place ever. Its incredible and a stroll down the street is death defying. They do not stop for lights or people and the constantly beep their horns from am to pm. There is quite a few beggars and people after you cash in exchange for crap but us hardened travellers are very wary to all this and only have been done on average of twice a day, result (The pictures in the album showing us carrying fruit cost us a few thousand Vietnamese Dong each!). We are staying in the old quarter part of town which seems to be geared towards travellers and everyone is really helpfull. We have chilled out for the last few days in an attempt to save a bit of money and chill before our tour starts tommorrow. But we have seen loads of cool stuff, the hanoi hilton prison which was incredible, temples, cathederals and explored the old quarters as well. Tomorrow the wanderers are off to see the ho chi minh mausoleum which will be weird seeing a dead guy but thats how we roll. The travellers have managed a few nights out one of which was a massive session involving happy hour, loads of local hanoian beer and a taxi ride to a dodgy bar that was in the middle of knowwhere. You then had to go through a couple of heavily reinforced doors, seriously this place looked like a former military building or something. However once inside it was full of travellers overlooking a lake, Brilliant. So we forced ourselves through more hours of drinking and had a quality night. Hanoi - bossed. NEXT.
So we are off on the tour for 18 days now which looks superb so there should be plenty of banter there.
ta ta
P.S - Comments on my (Jake) facial hair are welcome - Rumour has it that George Clooney is going to grow a Neville tash in tribute!
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