23 Hour Bus Drive to Hanoi
Vientiane (Laos) -> Hanoi (Vietnam), 8th & 9th May 2002 (Part 2)
Once we were all sorted, we had to walk about 200m through no-man's
land to the Vietnamese entry building. This process was a little
more...um...inefficient. We had to walk between various buildings
getting custom forms before returning to the main room to get out
passports stamped. The border officials then took an age sorting out
our passports. They seemed to check each passport very slowly, they
kept stopping to chat with each other, or taking passports from
locals, who pushed through the queue to get a 'priority service'.
Sometimes there was no apparent reason why there were being so slow,
maybe they could only read & write at very slow rates! Anyhow, after
we'd all passed over the (unofficial) fee of 30,000Dong (US$2), to
contribute to the BODF (border officials drinking fund), we
eventually got our passports sorted. We also noticed that the locals
only pay the officials 10,000Dong, the first sign of the well-known
two-tier pricing system I Vietnam. Tourists here pay considerably
more than locals in many places in Vietnam. Luckily, the higher
rates we pay really aren’t that high when you think about it. As we
do earn much more than the locals, I don't think the two-tiers is
that unfair.
We then waited for about an hour while the Lao guards searched the
bus. The bus then proceeded to drive 200m, before being searched
again by the Vietnamese guards. When they were done, we all hurried
back onto the bus, eager to get moving. However, when we got on, we
found the bags all over the place. The guards had searched through
the bags and not bothered to put them back. There then followed a
desperate hunting session while everyone tried to relocate their
things. One guy insisted that half his pot of Pringles had been
swiped by the guards!
We were soon back on the road, winding through some stunning
terrain. Huge hills, covered in unbroken, lush, green forests,
surrounded us. The road twisted and turned through this uninhabited
section of land, almost as good as the beautiful scenery in Lao.
After another long drive, we stopped for lunch at a small roadside
cafe. Our first chance to sample some Vietnamese cuisine! However,
picking a meal took some effort...The menu was only in Vietnamese,
and none of the falangs understood Vietnamese well enough to make
sense of the menu. So out came the phrasebooks in an attempt to
translate. Luckily, unlike Lao & Thai, Vietnamese uses an alphabet
that is very similar to the Latin one. (In the 1600s, a French guy
constructed the language that the Vietnamese use today). This means
when you look at it, its easier to pronounce and the symbols are
easier to read than the completely foreign characters in Lao. After
a while, with a little success, we managed to order some simple
food, omelettes & rice.
Once we'd had our fill, we were back on the road again. The driver,
again, didn't notice when he drove off without 3 Vietnamese guys.
Again we stopped him by all shouting loudly. I reckon he was
thinking 'stupid foreigners' until he worked out that it was some
Vietnamese guys we left behind. The driver poked his head out,
looked around, then decided to drive off anyway. Oh well!
For the last few hours, we drove up the main highway between Vinh
and Hanoi. By this stage, everyone was totally shattered, and people
dozed intermittently. Well, they tried to doze, but the driver's
intense passion for the horn prevented most of us from getting any
shut-eye. Almost constantly the driver thumped the (very loud) horn.
Some of the time, there was no apparent reason to sound the horn,
the driver sometimes seemed to want to say "Everyone look at me, I'm
big & clever cos I can drive a bus with a loud horn!". By sounding
his horn, everyone could know we were there. However, watching the
traffic, it was easy to see why most of the honking was necessary.
The drivers here are terrible! Most people seem to prefer driving in
the centre of the road instead of sticking to the right hand lane.
When two drivers approach each other, in the middle of the road,
they both honk loudly, until one (presumably the one who honked less
well) swerves to the right at the last minute. Drivers also seem to
love overtaking on blind corners and when it clearly isn't safe!
Overtaking, and undertaking, happened almost constantly. Quite
often, there are 3 cars side-by-side in a two lane road! It makes
for quite a scary experience!
At about 6pm, we eventually stopped in the middle of an apparently
unimportant street, and the driver shouted "Hanoi!".
In the rain, and the darkness, the bus was slowly unloaded. I'd
intended to find a dorm bed, but as I'd teamed up with 2 others, a
room was now and affordable option. We were offered a room for US$8
between the 3 of us. A cheap enough price!
We all jumped into a taxi, along with the hotel tout. A Japanese
guy, an Israeli guy and me. We soon reached a quiet back street and
entered a very unimpressive looking corridor. However, the lobby
looked quite nice, and when I saw the room I was very happy. The
rooms were large, very clean, en-suite, and had a TV & fridge. For
less than US$3 each, quite good value! A few steps up from my
bed-bug-infested dorm!
By now, with almost 30 hours without sleep, I felt like just
collapsing onto the bed. However, they insisted we had a bite to
eat. So after each having a shower (23 hours on a bus does tend to
make you a bit sweaty & stinky) we went out for some dinner. After a
quite good & very cheap meal, we went straight back to the room and
fell into bed. Time for sleep me thinks!
Next Diary Entry >>
|
