We finished Vietnam with a trip to the famous Halong Bay. We decided to spend the extra money and stay on a boat on the bay in a classic tour. We were not the only foreigners seeing the bay that day; the place was crowded with people from all over the world all being led around by screaming guides and being distributed to different cruise boats. The place was crazy. The bay itself was beautiful once we were out on the water, but it was very crowded and we were not too fond of the scheduled activities we were supposed to partake in as part of our package tour. 3pm-4pm cave tour, 4:30-5:30 kayaking, 7:30-9:30 Karaoke. (The Vietnamese are crazy about Karaoke)
After Halong Bay we hopped on a bus to Lao. we had heard it was a hellish bus-ride, and it was terrible from the very start. We were waiting for the bus at our hotel when a man showed up on a motorcycle and told us to follow him to the bus. He jumped on his bike and we had to chase him through the crowded streets of Hanoi. After waiting there for some time, and following a few more false starts and misdirection, we finally found ourselves on a mini bus heading out of town to our final bus that would be taking us across the border to Lao, a trip that was expected to take 22 hours. The bus trip was made worse due to the fact that my seat was only half the length of a normal sea and both our seats were next to the overflowing toilet. Eww. We eventually made it to Lao safe and sound.
We are both very happy with how relaxed and beautiful Lao is. It is only a line on a map that separates it from Vietnam, but it is an entirely different place. We are now planning to spend some time exploring the country and have decided that we are never going to do do a 22 hour bus ride ever again.
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