Day 84-86: Leaving Phonsavan and Arriving in Hanoi

Go figure that the day when we needed the sun to be out so we could dry our shoes that it ended up raining most of the day. Thankfully both of our shoes are designed to be 'quick dry.' 36 hours later, after being perched on top of a television in order to get some of the wall-mounted, non-adjusted fan wind, we had dry shoes and we set off for Vietnam at 6:00 a.m.

Our crossing to Vietnam wasn't nearly as smooth as our crossing into Laos despite having a super comfortable 'sleeper bus.' Do you wonder what it was like? Obviously you do! Never fear. I'll answer all of the questions I'm sure you have on our mind:

• Was it a smooth journey?
• No! The road was really mountainous and at least 2 of the passengers grabbed the bus company-provided puke bags to empty out the contents of their stomachs. 
• Did we stop for breakfast while we were in Laos? 
• Nope. Okay, we'll power through until we get Vietnamese dong and get some food at the border or something. 
• When we finally arrived at the border crossing, did we see an orderly line to go through the Laos or Vietnam immigration? 
• No! It was mad chaos. Everybody just cut in front of each other and put their passport in a pile for somebody to look at at some point. 
• Was there an orderly bus ride from the Laos immigration border to the Vietnam arrival border (as we've had in all of our other border crossings)? 
• Nope! Just a nice little 700 meter walk between the two. 
• Was there an ATM at the border for us to withdraw Vietnamese dong? 
• Nope! Okay, no money for us and no food for us at the border. That's alright. We'll make it to the next lunch stop and use the ATM there. 
• Was there an ATM at the next lunch stop for us to withdraw Vietnamese dong? 
• Nope! Okay, now I'm starving. This is a serious problem. By this point, I'm contemplating eating the Ramen noodles we've been carrying around even though Pallavi says it'll give me an upset tummy. 
• Did we end up trading Laos kip for Vietnamese dong with the only Vietnamese guy on the bus who spoke English? 
• Yes! The sweet guy came up to us and asked why we weren't eating lunch. When we said 'no money,' he sweetly said he'd buy us lunch. However, he wasn't going to our destination so we wouldn't be able to pay him back. So, we traded him kip for dong and happily grabbed some packets of cookie to take with us until we reach the city of Vinh. 
• Was there an ATM when we finally arrived in Vinh, where we stopped to change to a bus to Hanoi? 
• Yes!!!! Thankfully, the ATM wasn't too far away. Finally, money!!!!! 
• Was there an English menu or a menu with pictures next to the name when we finally got to sit down and eat a proper non-cookie meal? 
• No!!!! We had to guess and gesture to select chicken and rice to eat. First experience with Vietnamese food = not bad, but not great either. 
• Was it easy to get a bus to Hanoi without haggling? 
• Not easy, but not hard. We knew the bus should cost about 150,000 dong. The guys at the ticket counter, who are supposed to be more reputable and honest, quoted us 250,000 dong! When we went to the bus drivers, they quoted us 200,000, which, in fairness, was the listed price on the bus. After some sweet talking, we got the bus tickets for 180,000.
• Did we get dropped off in Hanoi at 4:30 a.m. at a proper bus station? 
• We did.... however, it did seem a bit questionable. I figured we'd pull into the bus station, get off, and then wait 30 minutes for the public bus to where we needed to go. Standard bus station process. Did that happen? Well, we got dropped off at the side of the road and had to walk to said bus station. Thankfully we found some other foreigners to sit with. For some reason, I feel safer sitting with other foreigners. If we are going to get lost, then we are going to get lost together!
• Did we make it to the Hanoi Old Quarter, where we wanted to find accommodation, via the public bus! 
• Yes! 
• Did we find accommodation in our budget that would let us check in before 10 a.m.? 
• We must have walked at least three kilometers to find accommodation. One hotel we liked, but was too expensive. Many of the other hotels were full. When we finally made it to the other side of this particular area to a more affordable nice-looking hotel, the guy at reception told us that even though Booking.com showed availability at a certain price, that Booking.com was wrong and we'd need to book through him at a higher price. Umm.. no! <Insert pending negative Trip Advisor review here> 
• Did we end up back at the original hotel that we had liked but was a bit on the expensive side? 
• Yup.
• Did we sleep for 7 hours after we finally checked in to our room? 
• Obviously.

What we noticed in our first chaotic Vietnamese day is that Hanoi is an interesting spectacle for sure! It's filled with colorful character, carrying all sorts of interesting things. Tons of motorcycles and scooters everywhere. The Old Quarter's streets are narrow and winding, making it slightly confusing to walk around. There are people sitting outside and smoking out of what appear to be a Vietnamese bong everywhere. Not sure what they are smoking! 

When we made it out at night, we went to the infamous Beer Corner where Vietnamese beer is the cheapest in the world at less than 25 cents per beer. As we sat at Beer Corner, where people are spilled out on milk cartons into the street, suddenly, all of the people and milk cartons were pulled inside. What happened? Police check! No sooner had the police left than the hundreds of people who had been sitting on the milk cartons on the street before were back on the street. 

And the food here is SO GOOD. I think it's also potentially among the best cups of coffee I've ever had. I'm a little wary of that whole 'weasel coffee.' According to wiki: this refers to the seeds of coffee berries once they have been eaten and defecated by the Asia palm civet. They also have 'egg coffee' here, which I am curious about. 

It is hot as here, but hopefully won't be too exhausted by the time we venture out to explore the city tomorrow.