Lao to Hanoi, Vietnam

ok, the rest of my time in Lao was more of the relaxing kind. In fact it was the chinese new year that caused the Vietnamese embassy to shut down for a couple days .. so if found myself on the streets of Vientiane with an piece of paper in my hands that told me that i can collect my passport with the vietnamese visa not before 10 days from now ... took the bus to Vang Vieng - cant remember much from the days there, just that my bed was pretty soft, the rooftop terrace quite sunny and milkshakes really cheap. Oh and not the forget the view when just after sunset thousands of bats come flying out the caves !

After vv i just went down to Vientiane, got my passport and put myself on the bus to hanoi in Vietnam a 24 hour busride ... really not to recommend. The ride include a 4hour stop just before the border (in the middle of the night), but lucky me somebody had lao-lao to share ... and the night went very quickly :-)
Yes, and now i am in Vietnam and in the (not really shanty) city of Hanoi. The traffic is mad ! Vietnam has 70-80 million people and 10mio scooters ! in Hanoi perhaps every second person has one ! Everywhere you look you see em, every second there is one passing you very close as you walk along the street, sidewalks are in general blocked with them, as are entrys of every building ... the noise is awefull and not even stopps when you lying in bed and did i even told you about the smog ? in short : coming from rual lao - hanoi shocked me.

At least there is "Bia hoi" the local drought beer and so every evening everybody comes together on the beer corner, sits on the street with a glass or two (10 glasses - 1 euro) and tells the very recent storys and misfortunes about traveling in vietnam. And im right when i say that every city has his nice spots - that one is my favourite here.
So well, see you