Today's writer: ?
I thought we would play a fun little game and guess the writer since so many of you have told us that we both write so similarly...NOT!
Alright, time to get down to business...speaking of business I'll jump right into our crazy bus ride as there was a lot of sketchy business going on there. In order to continue on with our budget travel, we thought it would be a great idea to take a 25 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. I mean really, what could be more fun? We thought we were off to a good start when the bus had full on reclining seats and we only left 30 minutes late, but we had no idea what was ahead. Here are just a few of the amazing adventures along the way...
-Feeling nauseous from the curves and bumps of the road and then waking up to the smell of cigarette smoke. Rather than making a smoke stop, the bus driver just went ahead and lit his cigarette on the bus while everyone was asleep...umm thanks for saving time?
-Waking up at 2am to our bus being stopped in the middle of nowhere and our 5 busdrivers ("sketchballs") under the bus moving and banging stuff around and loading wood into every door possible while everyone was sleeping
-In what turned out to be a 27 hour bus ride, we stopped a total of 2 times for the bathroom and once for a lunch. This is aside from the toilet road stops for the men and the time they only mentioned to the locals they could get off for a snack...perfect, don't worry about our stomachs and bladders, we're fine!
-At one point, a bus going the opposite way on the 2 lane highway stopped in the road so that their driver could hand our driver a passport. Soon we figured out this was probably to be used for the people we were sneaking into the country! As we were stopped by the police these men would suddenly duck into the aisle or under the seats, that's normal right? Here they are on cop lookout...
-All in all I would say we were stopped around 3-4 times by the Vietnamese police within about 2 hours...safety first...oooor sketchy first!
The good thing is that after 27 hours we arrived in Hanoi safe and sound and with everything still in our bags :)
Even more exciting was...drum roll please...our first VISITOR!!! My sister, Andrea flew into Hanoi to become Spring Roll #3 for a couple weeks. The day after she arrived we headed to Halong Bay, which is in the running for the seven natural wonders of the world. We did a 2 day, 1 night tour on a big boat to check out the thousands of limestone rock formations. Our favorite part was kayaking through these small floating villages that people live in. You have to be pretty good at chillin to live here because there aren't many places to go...I think Shan and her "relaxing" skills would fit right in!
Next up we checked out Hanoi for a day with Andrea. We went to the Temple of Literature and ended up seeing a Vietnamese graduation which was pretty sweet. We also quickly learned that in crossing the street, to survive the motorbikes, you have to slowly walk out in front of them, not too fast, not to slow or BAM, you're a pancake. It's better just not to look to avoid the deer in headlights sensation. We're happy to say we mastered the skill and never got hit!
In Hanoi we were loving: the amount of stuff people managed to carry on their motorbikes, the crazy female street sellers that were so tiny but had the strength of a WWF wrestler for how much they carried, the adorable old ladies doing Tai Chi as we ran around Hoan Kiem Lake, the bars where seating was literally in the street so that being hit by a motorbike was always an option, and finally my personal favorite...the different approach to fresh meat sales. This is a little late as we wanted to post this way earlier, but HAPPY THANKSGIVING...
Next up we flew down to Hue, where Andrea got to experience her first motorbike ride on our way to explore the Citadel. Of course Shan also found time to work her magic with the old ladies while shopping, they seriously love her!
From Hue we headed next to Hoi An. This is the cheapest place in Vietnam to get tailor made clothes so that's exactly what we did! We were basically like celebrities getting to choose clothes we liked out of a catalouge and then selecting the fabrics, colors, length, EVERYTHING we wanted, sooo you can go ahead and call me Britney :) Honestly though, it got to be overwhelming and a lot of your time was spent going back for fittings and stuff, but overall it was a good experience.
While in Hoi An we also got to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was great having my sister there to celebrate with us, especially when the waitresses stared at us like we were beasts when they couldn't find room on the table for all the food we ordered! We kept trying to explain, "We swear we're celebrating a holiday, we really don't usually eat this much" Yeah okay, crazy Americans!
Finally, we headed to our last stop in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City...or Saigon as everyone still calls it there. We were quite surprised to find that it wasn't as crazy busy as we were thinking it would be from all the stories we had heard from other travelers. It was still a great time though drinking 50cent beers, seeing your average 5 person family squeeze onto a motorbike, watching Shan press against the cold elevator to take a "break" from the heat, and my personal favorite, walking by not a dog tied up to a pole, but a rooster!
We also checked out the War Remnants Museum which was a very sad history lesson on the Vietnam War, took a stroll by the Notre Dame Cathedral, and topped off our last night with a dinner turned drinks, crazy night with the locals!
Next up we were headed to Cambodia in hopes this border crossing would be a little less sketchy than our trip to Vietnam.
I thought we would play a fun little game and guess the writer since so many of you have told us that we both write so similarly...NOT!
Alright, time to get down to business...speaking of business I'll jump right into our crazy bus ride as there was a lot of sketchy business going on there. In order to continue on with our budget travel, we thought it would be a great idea to take a 25 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. I mean really, what could be more fun? We thought we were off to a good start when the bus had full on reclining seats and we only left 30 minutes late, but we had no idea what was ahead. Here are just a few of the amazing adventures along the way...
-Feeling nauseous from the curves and bumps of the road and then waking up to the smell of cigarette smoke. Rather than making a smoke stop, the bus driver just went ahead and lit his cigarette on the bus while everyone was asleep...umm thanks for saving time?
-Waking up at 2am to our bus being stopped in the middle of nowhere and our 5 busdrivers ("sketchballs") under the bus moving and banging stuff around and loading wood into every door possible while everyone was sleeping
-In what turned out to be a 27 hour bus ride, we stopped a total of 2 times for the bathroom and once for a lunch. This is aside from the toilet road stops for the men and the time they only mentioned to the locals they could get off for a snack...perfect, don't worry about our stomachs and bladders, we're fine!
-At one point, a bus going the opposite way on the 2 lane highway stopped in the road so that their driver could hand our driver a passport. Soon we figured out this was probably to be used for the people we were sneaking into the country! As we were stopped by the police these men would suddenly duck into the aisle or under the seats, that's normal right? Here they are on cop lookout...
-All in all I would say we were stopped around 3-4 times by the Vietnamese police within about 2 hours...safety first...oooor sketchy first!
The good thing is that after 27 hours we arrived in Hanoi safe and sound and with everything still in our bags :)
Even more exciting was...drum roll please...our first VISITOR!!! My sister, Andrea flew into Hanoi to become Spring Roll #3 for a couple weeks. The day after she arrived we headed to Halong Bay, which is in the running for the seven natural wonders of the world. We did a 2 day, 1 night tour on a big boat to check out the thousands of limestone rock formations. Our favorite part was kayaking through these small floating villages that people live in. You have to be pretty good at chillin to live here because there aren't many places to go...I think Shan and her "relaxing" skills would fit right in!
Next up we checked out Hanoi for a day with Andrea. We went to the Temple of Literature and ended up seeing a Vietnamese graduation which was pretty sweet. We also quickly learned that in crossing the street, to survive the motorbikes, you have to slowly walk out in front of them, not too fast, not to slow or BAM, you're a pancake. It's better just not to look to avoid the deer in headlights sensation. We're happy to say we mastered the skill and never got hit!
In Hanoi we were loving: the amount of stuff people managed to carry on their motorbikes, the crazy female street sellers that were so tiny but had the strength of a WWF wrestler for how much they carried, the adorable old ladies doing Tai Chi as we ran around Hoan Kiem Lake, the bars where seating was literally in the street so that being hit by a motorbike was always an option, and finally my personal favorite...the different approach to fresh meat sales. This is a little late as we wanted to post this way earlier, but HAPPY THANKSGIVING...
Next up we flew down to Hue, where Andrea got to experience her first motorbike ride on our way to explore the Citadel. Of course Shan also found time to work her magic with the old ladies while shopping, they seriously love her!
From Hue we headed next to Hoi An. This is the cheapest place in Vietnam to get tailor made clothes so that's exactly what we did! We were basically like celebrities getting to choose clothes we liked out of a catalouge and then selecting the fabrics, colors, length, EVERYTHING we wanted, sooo you can go ahead and call me Britney :) Honestly though, it got to be overwhelming and a lot of your time was spent going back for fittings and stuff, but overall it was a good experience.
While in Hoi An we also got to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was great having my sister there to celebrate with us, especially when the waitresses stared at us like we were beasts when they couldn't find room on the table for all the food we ordered! We kept trying to explain, "We swear we're celebrating a holiday, we really don't usually eat this much" Yeah okay, crazy Americans!
Finally, we headed to our last stop in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City...or Saigon as everyone still calls it there. We were quite surprised to find that it wasn't as crazy busy as we were thinking it would be from all the stories we had heard from other travelers. It was still a great time though drinking 50cent beers, seeing your average 5 person family squeeze onto a motorbike, watching Shan press against the cold elevator to take a "break" from the heat, and my personal favorite, walking by not a dog tied up to a pole, but a rooster!
We also checked out the War Remnants Museum which was a very sad history lesson on the Vietnam War, took a stroll by the Notre Dame Cathedral, and topped off our last night with a dinner turned drinks, crazy night with the locals!
Next up we were headed to Cambodia in hopes this border crossing would be a little less sketchy than our trip to Vietnam.
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