Recently in Vietnam Category
I think at first we were a little uncomfortable with "just" being tourists, but here in Vietnam we've really started to enjoy it. And it's so easy and affordable to do it here too. We purchased an "Open Tour" bus ticket all the way from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City, with stops in Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne. These are air-conditioned buses that in contrast to our Laos-Vietnam bus, actually have aisles down the middle where no one is sitting, and store lugguage in underneath bins instead of just piled up around the back seats--what luxury!! But the great thing is they pick you up at your hotel and drop you off at their offices right in the center of town--no dealing with bus stations a few kilometers out of town. And all we have to do is confirm our seats the day before we want to travel.
We found a good, cheap place to stay in Hue (for $5) and after that bus ride, the shower felt SO good! That afternoon we walked around the citadel area and then had fun watching Vietnamese families flying kites in front of the main gate. The next day we joined all the other tourists to do a dragon boat ride down the Perfume river. The boat stopped at a few temples and three different tombs from the old emperors. At one stop, we skipped the tomb and ended up having coffee and talking with an 84 year old Vietnamese woman. She was full of stories to tell--she had experienced both Chinese and French rule, and had also worked for the Americans during the War.
On our way to Hoi An, a few hours south of Hue, the bus stopped at Marble Mountain and though we didn't know what to expect, we bought the ticket to check out the cave there. It turned out to be pretty impressive, but creepy too. It would make a great spot for a haunted house kind of attraction. On the way out we noticed the hand statues reaching up out of the ground--maybe plans for the haunted cave are already underway.
In Hoi An the bus stopped at a partner hotel first the way it always does. At first the $12 rate seemed out of our price range, but they convinced us to at least take a look at the room while the bus waited for us. The room was beautiful, much nicer than we were used to, with air con and even satellite TV. After seeing the pool, and being told we could have the room for $10 including breakfast, we were sold. Within 10 minutes we were out by the pool sipping banana shakes and waiting for our lunch to arrive...not bad!
I'll have to do the quick version for the rest of our time here, as we're just about ready to go: in Hoi An we enjoyed our luxury hotel, had a bunch of clothes made for us (it's the thing to do there--the town is full of tailors), went to the beach and ate really good seafood. Next was Nha Trang--more beach, more good seafood, and a touristy but fun boat ride to the surrounding islands that included some beautiful snorkeling, a Vietnamese boy band singing La Bamba, and a floating bar serving wine in little plastic cups. Then Mui Ne--
Enjoy your day, we're thinking of you!
Love, Megan and Michael
Megan's wish for our bus ride from Vientiane, Laos to Hue, Vietnam to be "a little bit different" certainly came true. Right from the start we had the feeling that something was a bit "off." We were picked up by a small shuttle bus outside the travel agency where we purchased our tickets to Hue. The driver took our bags, put them in the back of the bus and drove us through the city to another guesthouse where we picked up one more passenger. We then drove back to the same travel agent we had just left where a big bus was waiting for us. Megan and I looked at each other for a moment and then asked the driver "Isn't this where you just picked us up from? Didn't we just drive in a big circle for no reason?" He looked at us smiling and simply answered "Yes." and left it at that. We shrugged our shoulders and laughed a little. When you travel you get used to experiencing things that only make sense to the person in charge.
We got out of the shuttle and boarded the big tourist bus and found two seats towards the front. The bus was full of other western travelers who were also going to Vietnam but mostly to Hanoi or Hoi An. We guessed that we'd have to switch buses at some point during the trip since Hue was in a different direction but didn't worry too much about it then.
A few minutes into the ride our bus stopped to pick up more passengers. A big guy stepped on the bus - he was maybe 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds - with his Vietnamese girfriend in tow who was wearing super skimpy shorts and a tight fitting tank-top (our guidebook stresses how modest most people in Southeast Asia are and that their number one complaint about tourists is that we dress inappropriately). There were two empty seats at the back of the bus that weren't next to each other and 6 empty seats at the front of the bus. The big guy wanted to sit next to his girlfriend so he decided to sit in the available front seats. The conductor, who only came up to the big guy's armpit and weighed half his weight, stood in the aisle blocking him and indicated that he'd just have to sit at the back of the bus because they front seats were off limits. The big guy didn't want to hear this and started slapping the conductor on the back saying "No, no - front seats, not back seats. Let's go!" The conductor wouldn't move out of his way and didn't speak enough English to explain himself. You could see the anger growing in the big guy's eyes and Megan and I were wondering if we were about to witness a serious beating. Thankfully the big guy calmed down when he realized there was no way he was sitting up front so he and his girlfriend reluctantly took the seats at the back.
With disaster averted, the bus rolled on but stopped again ten minutes later to pick up some Vietnamese travelers. They boarded the bus and sat in the front seats without a word from the conductor. It was obvious that the back of the bus was for foreigners and the front was reserved for Vietnamese. With the last of the seats being filled the bus lumbered through the outskirts of town and headed for the highway. Everyone settled in for the long ride and we took out our books - Any Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" (me) and John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" (Megan).
It was a pretty uneventful trip until it started pouring rain around 11PM and we pulled over at the side of the road. The conductor began walking up and down the aisle pointing at each person on the bus saying "Hue? Hue? Hue?". We figured he was asking if we were going to Hue and we said "Yes." But he didn't given any instructions beyond that. We looked at each othere confused as to what we were supposed to do. Then he got on a cell phone and started shouting something to the person on the other end. All the westerners were looking at each other wondering what we were supposed to do since none of the bus crew seemed able to speak English. Moments later another bus, about half the size of ours, pulled up next to us and the conductor looked at us giving the thumbs up sign. We guessed that meant we were supposed to get off the bus and get on the other one. Gathering our things together we boarded the smaller bus and were amazed to see it 95% full with Vietnamese passengers. Only the back row of seats was available but all the leg room was full of boxes, bags, big sacks of rice and bicycle. A British tourist also transfering from the other bus expressed the thoughts we were thinking when he said aloud, "What the hell is this?! How are we supposed to fit on this bus?" Everyone on the bus watched us as we clambered over the seats, dragging our bags with us, and sat at the back with our legs in various contorted positions on top of their luggage.
Compared to the other foreign passengers on the bus, those of us in the back row had it easy - one guy's seat in front of us was under the bus's emergency escape hatch that continuously leaked rainwater all over him. He attempted to hold an umbrella over his head but, realizing how impractical it was, resorted to wearing his plastic rain poncho instead. I felt sorry for him but didn't even entertain the thought of giving up my cramped, yet dry seat. Plus, my feet were wedged tightly in a bucket that someone had stowed at the back of the bus and there was a good chance I couldn't get them out even if I wanted to. I drifted off to sleep with the last thought on my mind being "I hope this crazy bus driver doesn't crash this bus in the middle of the night because there's no way we'd get out alive."
At 4:30AM we arrived at the Laos/Vietnam border and were told that we'd have to wait until 7AM when the border would open. We stepped off the bus and walked wearily up to a roadside cafe. We found a bench at the back and I put my head down in Megan's lap and slept for an hour. At 6AM we trudged through the mud and puddles of the unpaved road to the immigration and customs buildings to get our Laos visas stamped and to meet the bus on the other side of the border.
The experience was a bit hectic with "might makes right" being the rule of thumb when getting your passport stamped. At first I waited politely in line and saw stacks of Lao and Vietnamese passports being dropped in front of the immigration officers by people who cut in front of me. I cleared my throat to let them know that I was obviously before them but I got no reaction. I edged closer to the window, hoping that my relative distance to the officer would indicate to others that I was next in line. Again, people pushed and shoved themselves in front of me without so much as an "Excuse me." Megan asked me why I was still standing there with our passports in hand and I explained the situation. "Just force your way in there then." she told me. So I did and we promptly got our passports stamped and returned to us.
We met our bus on the Vietnam side of the border and thought we were all set to go when the driver and conductor started taking all our luggage out of the bus and stacking it on the ground. It appeared that we'd need to put our things through a baggage scanner before being able to officially enter the country. Megan and waited until our bags were handed to us and as I was walking away the driver pointed to a black duffel bag on the ground and said "Yo! Yo! Yo!" which meant that he wanted me to pick up the bag and carry it to the scanner. Megan looked at him and said "No. We're not going to touch that bag." and we walked away with him shouting "Yo! Yo!" after us. We'd read lots of travel warnings saying that you should not, under any condition whatsoever, take anything for anyone across a border (even one warning said that you shouldn't even take a postage stamp from a nun at a border crossing). We imagined what would have happened if the bag were full of drugs and we brought it up to the scanner. How likely would they have been to believe that the bag wasn't ours? The thought of spending the rest of our years in prison didn't exactly sound like a nice way to experience Vietnam. A drug-sniffing dog was brought out and no bags were singled so we all got back on the bus and arrived a few hours later in Hue.
The bus ride was supposed to be a 22 hour experience but thankfully only ended up taking 9 hours of actual driving time. Considering our cramped seating arrangements and the seemingly-reckless driving style of the driver we were anything but upset by the early arrival. Our luggage was tossed to us through the open window of the bus and we walked towards the center of town to find a budget hotel as the bus tore off in a cloud of dust.
