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alex's most Excellent adventures!
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!!!!!!!
After my last journal entry, woodsy and i left Laos on a 24 hr bus journey and have crosed the border into Vietnam and the capital of \'Hanoi\'.
As expected the bus journey from Vientiane to Hanoi was a real travellers experience. In vientiane we were packed like cattle into a small coach, and after being told it was a backpackers only coach, we turned up to find we (backpackers) were out numbered 5 to 1 in favour of the locals (who it seemed had brought along their lifes belonging with them).
The only slight upside was we were sharing this experience with other travellers we had met serveral times through Laos (big shout out to Francesco, Derek and Jake). Sitting in a cramped seat you felt lucky, with a couple from canada (Zak and jasmin) having to sit in the middle isle on luggage and bags of rice for the entire journey!
The journey itself wasnt much better with our driver thinking he was schumi in disguise, he constantly drove on the wrong side of the road overtaking at will. A couple of times we had some near head on crashes. Ofcourse the locals were loving seeing us foreigners at the back of the coach in a mild state of panic at this crazy driving, for them it was nothing out of the ordinary. 24 (sleep deprived) hours later we surprisingly arrived in Hanoi in one piece!
First impressions of Hanoi were that it was more crazy than Bangkok. Its seems everyone around the age and 15 or so owns a scooter/motorbike. We are told there are around 4 million bikes on the road here and this makes for a mad sight that has to be seen to be believed. It makes what are normally simple tasks such as crossing the road a real mission.
Hanoi, however, is a really cool city. The city is becoming modernised but retains its tradition with an old quarter. We like many other backpackers are staying in the old quarter as its vibrant and bustling with vienamese going about there daily routines. To the vietnamese the streets here are much more than for transport, its an extension to their homes, where they eat, socialise, work and live. Everything is sold here and you are constantly pested to buy. From shoes to fruit (esp pineapple) hats and jewellery etc, you name it, in Hanoi they'll have a street specialising in selling it.
We plan to use Hanoi as our base for the next week as we hope to take one or two day trips into the north of vietnam while we're here. Tommorow are going on an organised trip to Halong bay where we shall spend a night on a boat crusing the bay and surrounding islands.
Hope all is well, keep me posted as always!
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