We squish back into the bus, drive for a while, hit the border, go through the checks upon checks, visa, passport, form, passport, bags, bags, passport, passport, load the bus, get off the bus… it was very involved.
There were three old French people and they eventually gave up when we stopped for food and charted a mini-bus privately from some guy who was eating in the restaurant. We drove through what seemed like an endless city just on and on and on. I would fall asleep for a couple minutes, only to wake up as large parts of my body were senseless and numb. Amy and I ended up in some ridiculous positions trying to keep each other comfortable.
To make the title make sense, parts of the trip I recognized from out of the Amazing Race. It was kind of a double take for me. Anyways, to make a long ride short, we got to the bus station in Hanoi… eventually got a semi-legit cab, were followed to the hostel by a creepy guide that liked lonesome sally (to much to write but I will remember to tell you later.) The place is called The Drift, and it was suggested to us by a guy at the bus station in Laos. We got a 2 nights for one deal, which no matter the quality made it worth while.
We checked it out, the rooms were amazing. There was another Canadian already in the room. We headed out for some food had Italian of all things (we couldn’t find the place we were originally looking for.) Amy and I went for a sauna massage without knowing what it really was and ended up confused and laughing afterwards. Then it was time for sleep!