Hanoi

Pfew.
Two weeks and no posts, I am so sorry.

From Kunming I took a night bus to Hekou, which is right on the Southern Chinese border. From there one must cross a bridge and enter Vietnam on the other side. From there, it was an 1-hour drive to the mountain village of Sapa, where I stayed a couple of days.

Besides being a bit touristy and overpriced, Sapa was still good fun, and I spent Christmas there. It is home to some minority people, and the scenery is beautiful.

A 10 hour train ride later, I found myself in Hanoi. It was 4:30 AM, and I could not exchange any money anywhere. I had 1000 Dong in my pocket, which equals about 5 Euro cents. An earthquake in Taiwan had damaged all Internet and telecommunication lines, so for a few days there was a lot of trouble finding Internet that worked. To pass the time, I sat down by the lake and watched the people do aerobics and Tai Chi (still in the dark) After a long search I managed to find a hotel and exchange some Euros.

For new year's eve I took advantage of this place having the cheapest draught beer in the world (9 Euro cents / glass) and had a great night. In Vietnam so far I have seen many more Westerners, and it seems that most places are a bit better prepared for tourism than in China. It also means that prices go up, and pushy street sellers askme every 2 minutes if I want to buy a Lonely planet, pineapple, if I need a motor bike, or a cooked egg. Speaking of food, baguettes with French cream cheese are available on every street corner, and the coffee here is superb (and very strong).

I don't have my camera with me at the moment, but some pictures will follow shortly. I hope that everyone is allright and had a good Christmas & new year's.

Tomorrow night, I'll move on South and slowly make my way down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I bought an open bus ticket for $20, which allows me to travel across the entire country within 30 days and stop along the way a couple of times .