I'm learning so many things not just about the other countries and the other people that I meet along the way, but I get to really know my real self in the process. It tells me just how far I can go, my weaknesses, my strengths and my determination to just live life to the fullest.
Duncan and I decided that it's time to move on... We checked out the net and see how we'd get to Hanoi. The best way really was for us to get a flight, but I really don't think that I could afford it so we took the cheapest way. The cheapest way is actually synonymous to the "bus ride from hell".
12 hours of semi rough road to go to the border of Laos, get my stamp out , go to the Vietnam border, get my stamp in and do another 12 hours to go to the capital up north in Hanoi. So we did it. And my God, it's one of the most exhilirating experiences ever.
The minibus picked us up from the hotel at around 6pm, picking up other passengers on the way, another hour passed and we're on the southern bus station. Then the red dodgy "60's looking" bus bombarded me right in front of my eyes. There's no way I'm riding that shit - I told myself, but the locals were pointing us to that direction so we really didn't have any choice but to go deposit our backpacks and ride the dodgy red bus.
Duncan and I were lucky cause we were there early so we got good seats, but by 8:30 pm the bus was already full. Bamboo mats were hanging in the compartment up in my head, some veggies were placed on the small space below my feet. Some Lao teens listening loudly to Thai pop in their mp3 players witht the speakers on. I was actually wondering why would people actually endure and take this 24 hour trip to go to Vietnam. I was asking myself even - and the reason, the price. For $16 that's definitely a bargain if you compare it to $150 plane ticket.
I went to a two-seater, Duncan did the same, and I know I was rude but I put my hand carry bag on the space beside me just so nobody can sit. I mean it's a 24 hour freaking trip and I don't want to wake up with all my stuff gone.
Ok, I'm a self confessed pill-popper. But I know I do it in moderation, and when the time really calls for it. So I got two V's, drank my last beer lao and 15 minutes after, I was a goner.
I woke up at around 5am, and it was so freaking called. I also noticed that the bus has stopped. We were in the border already, and we were two hours early. The immigration guys wouldn't be there till 7am, so we decided to get some hot noodles on the stalls beside the border. It was so freaking called becasue we where way up in the mountains, and I was just wearing shorts and a shirt, and I can't be bothered to get a jacket because it was in the big bag and it was already in the compartment.
When the immigration opened, we all ran to get our passport stamped out and since we didn't knew the process, we were really afraid that the bus will leave us and we'll end up in the border without our bags with us. It's almost like we're in Amazing Race, trying very hard to communicate with the litlle Lao language that we know so that we can get our passports as soon as possible.
It wasn't difficult in the Laos border to get out but to get into Vietnam was alittle bit tricky, they told us to get our bags from the bus, they did a thorough search on our bags and then we go to immigration. They were having a long time processing my passport, so I stepped in and asked what was the reason for the delay. The guy told me that I can't get in because I didn't have a Visa. Then it hit me - "Oh my freaking God, I didn't apply for a visa...".
I was so scared I thought I was fucked up. Then I told him, doing a reverse psychology. "I don't need a Visa because I have a Philippine passport." Honestly I didn't know if I could get away with it but I know that some Asean countries didn't need Visa. I didn't have Visa for Singapore, Thailand and Laos and I was able to get in.
Then the immigration guy, bless him, stamped my passport, and just like that I was permitted to stay in Vietnam for 15 days with no Visa. I was ecstatic.
We all then aboarded the bus to take the 12 hour journey to Hanoi. We got to Hanoi at around 7pm and it was just amazing.
I know everytime I go to a different place I always end up saying that it's the best place that I've been to, but Hanoi is really the cream of the crop. It's busy enough but just right to enjoy the local culture. I love the small streets, the French Quarters and the Old Quarters were a sight to behold.
Duncan and I decided to check out the Old Quarters. It's a chaotic square kilometer of ancient merchant quarters, dating back nearly five hundred years. As if mirroring Vietnam itself, the area's still intact maze of narrow streets and is a hive of industriousness and frenetic movement. We also got our hotel there for $6 a night. $3 dollars each, and it's just dirt cheap cause we have a fridge and a sattelite tv on our room.
After checking in, we decided to check the local night scene, and everything was just crazy. There must have been a million bikers circling the center of hanoi, and crossing the streets is already an experience worth writing about. We got ourselves BEER HOI, for 2000 Vietnamese Dong which is roughly around 6pesos. Man, Beer Hoi is lethal, I mean we ended up drinking a dozen bottles each I suppose.
Duncan met some other travels that he travelled with (I love this sense of community in which, you'd defenitely meet people that you've met a week or even a month ago while travelling). I met these two Danish guysthat I saw in Bangkok and we were exchanging stories of our travel. They went south of Thailand and I went up north and we met in Vietnam, what a coincidence, I mean.
I was talking to another guy who looked liked a mestizo pinoy, so I asked him wheter he's from Manila. He said he's living in England but his mother is Vietnamese and he has an Italian father. He's a deadringer for Dennis Trillo, if only I had a camera I'd take pictures of him. It was his last night in Hanoi and he's flying to London the next day so he wanted to get really drunk before he starts his school again.
He asked me if I wanted to check out one of the good clubs in town so I joined him together with the two Danish guys to check out FUNKEY MONKEY. It may sound like a seedy bar but I was surprised to see that it was such a cool club inside, it was their "house" night and the DJ was on fire. I kinda miss going to clubs and the night was such a great night out for me.
I woked up really late, at around 1pm I think. I didn't even know how I got back, navigating on the streets in Hanoi is just a nightmare, they all have this same sounding names so it's difficult to get to the right directions.
We missed the Ho Chin Minh museum which according to our land lady is open only till 11am. I so want to go to check out the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh (they usually embalm great communist leaders so that people can check them out, Lenin, Mao Zedong, etc.... Almost like checking out Marcos' body in the mauseleum in Ilocos). I really would want to see hUncle Ho and I know that this will really make my trip.
Oh well, I'll try to be sober and maybe I can catch him tomorrow.
I love f*cking Vietnam!
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