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19 July: Cho Ra
The alarm went off at 07h30, but we were only out of bed just after 08h00, we showered finished up with the bulk of our packing, before heading to the Happy Mart to stock up again on cereal, milk, toothpaste, deodorant and some things for the road. Our bus was supposed to leave for Bac Can, a 6 hour local bus trip. We finished packing relaxing in our room with its aircon before greeting the hotel staff and looking for a motorbike taxi to take us the 3 km to the bus station or at least we were told it was 3 km.
We found two moto taxi's willing to take us at a reasonable price and headed off to the station, it was more like 7km if not more, so glad we didn't try to walk it, we may have missed the bus. We headed for the ticket office and tried to communicate with the officers who would only send us to another cubical, at last we were shown the correct bus. We settled in, probably the worst looking bus we had been in, but the people were friendly and for the first time we paid what the locals paid or at least not double.
We waited a little longer and right on time the bus pulled away, perfectly on time at 12h00. Problem was it couldn't start so some people had to help push it till it started, no biggie, we were on our way and on the correct bus. I must say that today's bus drive although painstakingly long, were by far the most impressive when it comes to natural landscapes and scenery. The bus driver was also very professional not overtaking at inappropriate times nor honking away the whole time.
An hour into the journey we made a stop next to the road where all the locals bought bread from a local vendor carrying a huge reed basket full of them. The bread was coated in a syrup with seeds on top, still fresh from the oven, we ended up purchasing two also, under group pressure. 20 minutes later we stopped for a short break, the locals were either eating ice cream, smoking or drinking tea so we decided to join and indulged ourselves with two ice creams just to reduce the severe effects of the sun and humidity.
We were on our way again, the bus was fully loaded with people, but none of the luggage were packed under the bus, they were all stacked just behind the back row. Sitting in the back row with two others, every time the bus stopped abruptly some of the bags would come shooting over your head landing on your lap. Problem was my 20 kg plus bag was behind me and on one such stop it came falling down, luckily not on my head but between me and one of the passengers. When there weren't bags falling on me, the person sitting next to me would fall asleep and lean against me with all his weight. Leanne sitting in front of me was also experiencing an infringement of her personal space, a soldier who had boarded half way through the journey, sat next to her pushing his elbows into her shoulders while holding his hands interlocked behind his head and nodding off. Another interesting event was that one of the small girls in the bus couldn't hold her bladder any more and we needed to make a pit stop, right where we stopped she urinated on the side walk were everyone was walking. Somehow all these events actually made the journey more enjoyable and at no stage were one of us irritated.
We arrived at Bac Can at 16h00, setting our bags down we tried to find out when the bus to Ba Be lake would come, but had limited success. All of the locals told us there were no other buses coming and we needed to take a motorbike for the remaining 77 km at the ridiculous price of 500 000 per person. I walked around the bus station having copied "we want to take a bus to Ba be lake" in Vietnamese from the book and showing it to everyone. After being told by one of the bus drivers with reasonable English that the next bus would only arrive tomorrow at 07h00, I went back to where Leanne was watching the bags. We decided to stay there the night and take a local bus the next morning rather than using the moto taxi.
I went in search of a hotel while Leanne remained. I don't think many backpackers come through this small town, because while she waited, many locals wanted to touch the backpack, trying to lift the weight or wanting to put it on their backs. She also had to show them how to extend the walking sticks so they could try walking. Quite funny!
Walking around for 15 minutes with no luck at finding accommodation I returned, one of the locals ran to me grabbing me by the arm and pulling me back to the bus station. At first I thought he wanted me to use his motorbike and pulled myself from his grip, confirming that I didn't want a motorbike, but following him back. Leanne was standing there with the bags, a bus had come and was on its way to Ba Be Lake or at least that was what they told us. She got on, while I ran back the 20 or so meters to collect the other bags, before we were on our way.
Problem was this bus was full, Leanne was lucky to get a seat further back but I would have to settle for the 20 cm red stool on the floor. Not so bad, your view is a little less but you really do get used to it quickly. Only thing was around the turns the chair slides from side to side and you really have to steady yourself, the other problem was there were a lot of turns. Of all the bus trips we had gone on, this was the best, a good mix of "how its done by the locals, beautiful scenery and of course just to watch as the bus drives on a road winding like a meandering river, on a road meant for only one car, but used as a two way, is in itself amazing.
We arrived in Cho Ra, not Ba Be Lake, after a two hour bus trip, just after 19h00, we were dropped off at a hotel charging exorbitant rates and were told its the only hotel. We dropped our bags and while Leanne got some information from her, I wandered off further into the town to look for another hotel charging more reasonable rates. After about 30 minutes I found one, the room was nice, two double beds, very spacious room, refrigerator and wifi, for just over half the price of the other one. Haggling over the price of a day boat trip into Ba Be national park, we settle on a price also a little less than what the other guest house had charged. This was done without any english exchanges from his side just writing on a paper and me trying to recite Vietnamese from the lonely planet. I even got him to collect Leanne and our bags with his car at no additional charge, what a bargain! The lady where Leanne waited was still very friendly even after we said we were not going to stay there. In the time that Leanne waited for me, she sat with her, they drank tea, but could not talk very much due to her lack of english.
Having settled into the room, we headed out for dinner, we were parched and looking for some good food. Nowhere along the way I had walked had I seen any restaurants or food stalls, so we decided to walk the other way further down the street. About 500 meters further we found a large restaurant, where we chatted with the owner who could communicate quite effectively. We ordered rice, vegetables, pork and spring rolls and got soup and watermelon as a free bee. Only 90 000 for the whole meal and we struggled to finish it. It was so good that we decided to return the next day also.
There were two other vietnamese guys sitting at the table next to us, the one came to our table with 2 shot glasses and a 500ml plastic bottle filled with a light yellow fluid. He wanted us to drink a shot each with him - we did and afterward he shook both our hands. The stuff was very strong, tasted like a kind of whiskey. He pointed to a picture of a bear and imitated what looked to us to be birds....no idea what that meant! A couple of minutes later the other guy came over and the routine got repeated. Just before they left both of them came over with just enough left in the bottle for 4 shots! It was a very nice and friendly gesture and we couldn't say no thank you, but I was real glad when that bottle was empty :-) We chatted with the owner for 20 minutes longer before leaving and heading back to the accommodation for an early nights sleep, considering tomorrow we needed to be next door at 07h00.
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