Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It maybe wasn't the best idea to go out the night before a 26 hour coach journey... We bumped into Will and Gavin; Canadians we'd met on Koah San road in Bangkok. They were out with a big group of travellers from all over so we started talking to some of them too and headed to the club. We stayed until the lights were up and then... went bowling of course! The after party was at Spicy Lao again- its just a guest house with a balcony but seems to be where people head afterwards. I think perhaps because its one of few places with dorms. I do not envy the lack of sleep that guesthouse owner gets!!
We were woken at 10 30 the next morning by our guesthouse owner trying to get rid of us even though check out was midday! She clearly had other people she wanted to get in. We were in no state to be arguing and just got ready in our own time reminding her that we'd paid for the room and check out was 12.
Kim felt ill after we'd had breakfast so we just chilled in a cafe so she could lie down, and I took the time to write some poetry before we got picked up for our coach at 5. 4 guys that we'd shared a tuk tuk with one night after bowling were also getting the coach so we re-introduced ourselves... they had no recollection of it and our memory was hazy at best.
After being herded to the back of the sleeper bus, our ticket seat numbers apparently meaningless, our first impressions- AWESOME. Each seat reclined to practically horizontal, there was a tv and sound system and we were given blankets. However our joy didnt last long. It quickly became apparent why we were forced to the back- the back 5 seats that the guys had been allocated didn't recline half as much as the other beds. That TV and sound system that we had been so impressed with played Vietnamese cartoons and soaps or the most awful techno music, both at full volume so you couldn't sleep even though the lights had been turned out so you couldn't see to do anything else. Dave, Mark and Shane tested out the mattresses on the floor under the beds and decided that although they felt like they were in a pizza oven, it was quite comfortable compared to the cramped back seats- leaving Kim and Andy alone on the back row... Teehee.
The bus didn't stop for hours at a time and when it did it was not with girls in mind- just pulled over at the side of the road. Our first proper stop was at 2am in a cafe where the guys braved some very dodgy looking 'chicken noodle rice'- we had to walk through the kitchen on our way to the toilet and wouldn't put any money on it being chicken. Chicken feet at best.
Hours of no sleep later we stopped at a cafe that smelt absolutely putrid and served what I am pretty sure was eyeballs and soup. Whatever it was we went for the wafers and biscuits in a shop across the road.
The bus stopped to pick up extra people here and there who stole seats or... sat on my feet. When we eventually arrived we were told there was a $1.50 mini bus to the old quarter but this was nowhere in sight. Tens of leery men were however, and we agreed $7 to our hostel after about 15 minutes of trying to figure things out. At this point the men were grabbing us and making comments and as it became obvious that we were getting a different cab to the guys they got worse. I sat in the passenger seat of ours and as our driver to stand talking to his friends, having a cigarette, he leaned in laughing, touching my face and tried to kiss me. We instantly tried to get out the car and as it happened they wanted us to switch cars with the guys anyway because it was smaller. They looked pretty concerned about us but we told them out hostel details etc do they could check later we were okay. This new driver tried to tell us it wasn't $7 but on the metre. We vehemently argued and when we got out we just handed him the money and walked away while he was laughing and saying things we didn't understand.
First impressions of Hanoi... Awful!
- comments