Vietnam, Laos

Vietnam is a really fascinating place, in HCMC (Saigon) the people are extremely friendly and the food is excellent. Most of the restaurants serve food that is both Vietnamese, as well as that with a french twist. The local stands are primarily for noodles and they in and of themselves are very tasty. I also noticed that sandwiches are a huge hit, especially on a 12 inch baguette.

Visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, it became very apparent some of the atrocities mentioned during the fighting their. Our tour guide, while speaking decent english, lacked a considerably when it comes to couth. Part of the tour of the tunnels was a display on the different tactics the VC used while fighting, including the many different traps used to maim, and or kill the US soldiers. Our guide actually made the comment when referring to one of the traps that it was his favorite.

After the tunnels we headed back to the hotel to make sure our bags were safe and see any of the parts of the city that the three of us wanted to prior to departing at 7. The bus at seven was a first for all of us, we were taking a sleeper bus to Na Trang, a beach community about 10 hours up the coast. The bus would arrive their at around 6AM. The bus was cool, it was laid out with three rows , Beds. Each person to themselves, their was a small shelf to store anything one might need through the journey, as well as space where your feet went to hide your travel bag out of site. When the bus arrived we decided to take a walk directly to the beach. James is a huge surfing fan, and had heard that their were decent waves in this part of Vietnam. The sea was really still, so we didn't have any surfing conditions, we decided to head back to the city to have breakfast, and then plan out the day, and figure out where we had to go to next to get me to the Border by the 15th, and Gustaf to Hanoi for his flight on the 16th.

Our travel agent in Saigon, Merina, a very attractive and educated Vietnamese American, had an office in Na Trang that we camped out it to store our bags and whatnot. We booked our travel to Hue, the next stop on our journey north before we seperated for James and I to head to the border and Gustaf to head to Hanoi. After sorting out our travel plans our next site to visit was the beach, we all were somewhat exhaused from the travel, and decided a relaxing afternoon at the ocean was just what we needed, we opted for some cabana's near a swanky hotel that cost us 25000 VND (1:16,652), and played in the ocean for several hours. Our bus to Hue wasn't leaving until 6 so we had time to spare and unwind. Hue is the gateway for one of two border towns, Vinh being the other, with Laos. Both borders do Visa on Arrival, I had my visa for Laos, James did not, therefore those two border crossings were our only options unless we were to fly. The Sleeper bus to Hue was for 14 hours, absolutely horrible, the beds however were confortable, so we didn't much complain, i just didn't sleep at all so that made for a horrible day in Hue. We arrivd in Hue without incident and decided to try to find travel arrangements as soon as possible. The hotel where the bus had dropped us off at had a travel agent, being that we all were cranky, tired, and just not in the mood to search out a deal to save us a dollar or two we opted to make the arrangements with the hotel we were standing in front of. The arrangements we made were for Gustaf to take a bus to Hanoi, and for James and I to take a bus to the Laos border via Vinh. We had to travel that route as that was the only way we were going to get a bus to Vientiene Laos. the bus would travel from 5 until just after midnight, when we would arrive in Vinh, change buses for the border and arrive at the border aroun 3AM. From the border we would travel to Vientiene and arrive their around 4 PM. This was to be the worst bus experience we would have. While in Hue we decided to see the sights, we hired three (one for each) pedi cabs to give us a tour of the city, this took approximately one hour and cost us 50K Dong a piece (less than 4 dollars). When the bus arrived we were presented with the awkward presence of our group splitting up. Gustaf was booked on a different bus, and we would not be seperating in Vinh, but at that moment.

The bus from Hue to Vinh was a sleeper. Upon arriving in Vinh, an italian gentlemen was woken and told rather abrubtly (pigeon english) that his stop was here and he was to get off. What wasn't communicated is that this stop was also for James and I to switch buses. We determined that the bus was not in Vinh but just south, so the Italian got back on the bus (which he should not have) and a lot of confusion ensued to the point of if James and I were to switch buses their. He and I had gotten off the bus simply to smoke a cigarette, if not we would have never gotten off the bus. It was finally determined that James and I should have switched buses, and that the bus we were to get on was not pulling out of the stop and beginning to head down the road. A couple of loud whistles from James and many people yelling got the bus to stop and back us so that we could get on it. This was a sitting bus, so it was quite uncomfortable as the back seat and several other seats were being occupied by the bus staff and not available to PAYING CUSTOMERS. This bus crew turned out to be the rudest and most disrespecting bunh we had come accross on all the buses we had taken on this leg of the journey.

The border crossing with Vietnm and Laos also proved to be an adventure, as with entering Vietnam, all the passports were collected and taken to the immigration officer, after they were stamped however the bribes came into play. Each person was reqiured to pay 20K Dong, or 1 USD to retrieve their passport, what a load of crap, and to top things off, as the passports were stamped and cleared mine had somehow been set aside as the the only American on the bus. That really pissed me off, after having not slept for a day, told I had to pay to get my passport back, not for the stamp, as all the passports were already stamped, and the rude bus drivers I was close to cracking. I Paid the money for my passport and they handed it over after me having to ask and point to my passport three times, not sure the game they were up to but it wasn't funny from my end. After walking about a 1/2 mile to the Laos border the fun began again. James did not have any photos left for his visa, and did i mention the border crossing is at the top of a mountain pass, the scenery was simply breathtaking. We arrive at the Laos immigration and James finds out he can simply pay a dollar for not having pictures or 2 dollars for the pictions, I'm sure the choice is obvious for what he did. After he cleared immigration i went through, the ass behind the immigration counter attempted to charge me for my visa again, then the daft cow takes my passport to the cashier window to confirm the giant red PAID stamp and leaves it there, when he comes back i asked where my passport was and pointed to the cashier, i about flipped, so i went and got my passport and finally he understood that my visa was procurred prior to arrival and that he needed to stamp my frickin passport, which he did and was able to walk from their to the bus where the driver felt the need to stand behind me shouting GO GO GO, at this point i had about had it, if I was someone else, i probably would have thrown the cocksucker through the winshield.

all right for now, next up tubing in Vien Viang!!!