Hanoi

Picture something similar to a boxing day sale at Harrod's. All of a sudden pandamonium breaks out when two girls start fighting over the last pair of designer cut-offs (um, and remember you can't actually wear those designer cut-offs IN the store.. they do have a dress code..right Catherine?) Anyway, that was kind of my morning but the girls were frenzied Vietnamese and the shorts were..our passports. Okay. So I've managed to make my mother and sister giggle but everyone else is lost?

It started 40ish hours ago..we left Vang Vieng (no we didn't tube..don't ask..but there were alot of FRIENDS reruns) via Vientiene with a final destination of Hanoi. Thirty bloody hours on a bus in total..yuck. We bought food, we brought our sleeping bags on board and we even managed to get two seats each. Looking good so far. The most bizarre part (besides the constant honking, swerving of the bus and slamming of the breaks to avoid dogs and children) was that we actually arrived at the border at 1am and the bus driver proceeded to shut the bus off and slept until 7am (at which point the border opened). WHY wouldn't we just leave 6 hours later? That is a very good question of which I have no answer.

Anyway, we sleepily walked into to get our Laos exit stamp and it was like mad chaos.. we (being the ten foreigners on the bus) had to literally form a human wall so that the locals didn't push through us and force there way to the window. There was no line, and they practically tried to get between your legs so they could get stamped without waiting, regardless of the fact that we were there first and waiting patiently as you normally would in that situation. And they just kept coming out of nowhere and pushing and yelling and ..it was really way to much for that early in them morning and no coffee ;)

So.. we did eventually arrive in Hanoi and it's absolutely mental here. I freakin' love it! The traffic is like nothing I have ever seen before (I thought Bangkok and Marakkesh were bad?) but this is just nuts. Crossing the road is terrifying.. kind of like an advanced level of Frogger. They don't follow the lights (ie. yes they still go through red lights and maybe just use more caution but even that I doubt). There are streets and streets of 'stuff'. Vendors selling knockoffs of everything you can imagine..knockoff candy..purses, belts.. anyway, it seems great.

Going to get up at 6:00am and do Tai Chi in the park? Hm. I should go to bed.