Leaving Vietnam!!!! Hello Laos!

Where did I leave off?? I just left Hoi An with my huge bag of new clothes. Our journey from Hoi An to Hanoi was absolutely horrible. We were traveling for 24 hours. We stopped in Hue for the afternoon and then took the night bus to Hanoi which was 13 hours. We weren't allowed on one bus because we weren't Vietnamese, but we were let on another bus with all Vietnamese, us four girls and a dutch man. Of course all foreigners are pushed to the back, but the first part of the journey I was sharing 5 seats with another Vietnamese man. We both had 2 1/2 seats to lay down. Then, after just falling asleep with the help of some over the counter pills, we picked up about 20 more people. I moved seats to sit next to Vickie and people just piled in the bus. It was shoulder to shoulder. I felt bad for the people sitting very uncomfortably in the aisle, but it was no more comfortable for me. They were laying on us and using our foot room for their feet. I let the man next to me take some of my space, we were keeping eachothers' legs up. It was bad and no one was nice to us. Anyways, finally got to Hanoi after a long night and ushered to some guesthouses the first which was crap and had to walk down to another one. It's not that bad, but 6am and no sleep can make you very crabby!

Hanoi is a very busy city. I think the population is 3 million peoplee and about 2.5 million motorbikes. It's again crazy to cross the street. We stayed in the Old Quarter and it's very cool to walk the streets. Shopping is very easy there since each street has one thing. There is sunglass street. Art street, metal street, jewelery street, etc. We didn't do much in Hanoi except walk around and explore.

We went on a two day boat trip in Halong Bay. Halong Bay has "emerald green" waters and limestone islands everywhere. There is supposed to be about 4,000 of these islands. It's very beautiful. We cruised around the first day and saw some caves and went kayaking for a bit. We tried going swimming, but we were too afraid of the massive jellyfish that we can see in the water from the top deck. We all stayed on the boat that night. There were about 16 people all together. We were all really quite bored as there was no entertainment besides beer on the boat. So, early to bed and early to rise. The next day we just cruised around again and went back to Hanoi by 4pm. We had a good night out exploring the party scene in Hanoi. It was pretty good. We found the Titanic Club. It's on a boat in the middle of the Red River. It was fun!

I have now also seen two leaders that have been preserved for the people's amusement. First Lenin in Moscow and now Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi. Lenin was much creepier, but Ho Chi Minh was equally as disgusting. Again, the guards were really strict and didn't let you talk or stop walking. Ho Chi Minh asked to be creamated but the government went against his wishes and displayed him for everyone to see. That's not cool. Don't ever do that to me if by some chance I get famous. Very doubtful, but just in case I don't want to be preserved!

This morning we left Vietnam...yay! Sorry, but couldn't wait to get out of there. We arrived in the capital city of Vientiene by airplane. We were going to take the 24 hour bus ride, but we heard horror stories about people getting stranded somewhere in the middle of Laos in the early AM. Also, after our last adventure to Hanoi we needed a break so we spent the extra money for comfort. I already love Laos. The people are all smiling and nice. No one is out for your money or to sell you something. The capital city is so little also. One main street is paved and the rest are still small dirt streets....This is the capital! I can't wait to explore the rest of the country! We are going to a forest spa today for some pampering massages and facials. $2 for massage and $1 for facial. I like those numbers! I'm really excited to be here, but I can't believe it's my last new country for awhile. This trip has flown by, but I do have to say I'm looking forward to normalness and no more packing!!!!!!!!!

PS...Sorry for the spelling mistakes if you find any. No spell check on this computer. I'm too lazy to proofread!