We're finally out of here!

• Eddieroq's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Vientiane

Trip Start Nov 05, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 01, 2008 Next
Entry

  Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Myself and Dj jumped on a bus two days ago to go down the coast. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The bus was meant to be a sleeper, with little beds in it. It had beds alrite, but you wouldn't fit a midget into one. Funily enough,  DJ had acres of room.

The bus travelled 12hours overnight, only to discover that the road was completely flooded. I looked out the window in the morning and there was little boats all around the bus. It was like one of those tv images from the time of the tsumami. We were in the middle of nowhere so we had to turn back to Hanoi. Of course the bus driver charged us 11dollars each for the privelage. So in total, by the time we got back to Hanoi last night, we had spent 29hours on the bus, and were down about $40....Lovely.

If i can avoid it i'll never travel by bus again. The bus driver kept smoking filthy fags and chatting (or should i say screaming) in Vietnamese all night. Then he would put some shit vietnamese music on and the speaker was right next to my head for 29 hours. I'd reckon there's definately a ear infection on the way thanks to that funky music. Plus my bloody mouth is full of ulcers, about 7, and i have a cold sore. To add to our sorrows the bus driver just kept beeping his fecking horn all night. I'd guarantee that that horn was louder inside the bus than it was outside. It has to be seen to be believed, beeping the horn here is more important than any other part of driveing. If there is such a thing as a driving test here, it would only be how fast can you beep the horn. I've seen the bus driver beep the horn when there was nobody on the road.

We got back last night and the bus driver wouldn't let anyone off the bus until he got his yankee dollars, and a large sum it was too. There was nearly a riot to get off the bus. We crawled back to a bed at about midnight. So i'm sitting here in an internet cafe, downtown in Hanoi, half-asleep, while Charlie the Vietcong next to me is surfing some gay porn site. I'm just after booking a flight to Laos. It leaves in 3 hours. I can't wait. For anyone heading to Hanoi, here are a few tips:

(1) Don't go to Hanoi
(2) don't get a bus
(3) you can book flights from your hotel - reasonably cheap, but shop around for a better deal. Tell the hotel you got a better deal down the road and they'll drop their price quicker than...you know yourself
(4) If you have to bus it, check the 5 day forecast - freak floods happen here a fair bit.
(5) when getting a cab, get the price up front - or else demand the meter - it's cheaper - i learned the hard way.
(6) Don't stay in Hanoi - use the place to get to Halong bay, then head on

Print this entry Share Vientiane hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry