Vietnam!!

Hi All,

We didn't make it through the border yesterday - our bus broke down two hours out of Kunming, and we had to wait for another one to arrive from Kunming to continue on. We finally made it to Hekkou at 10pm, and took lodging in the first hotel we came to. It was right by the bus station, and we suspect it was doubling as a brothel! The rooms were clean and modern, but we had to disconnect the phone after two calls from unknown parties.

We crossed the land border into Vietnam this morning. The customs process on the Vietnam side appeared to be wholly voluntary - it looked like we could walk right by the building! (Peter claims he saw guards watching the road...) We went through anyway. First we had to see the health quarantine person, then border control, then customs, then border control, and then customs again! They were all sitting at the same counter, but it seemed a bit silly.

We let a tout at the end of the line convince us to book bus tickets to Sa Pa through his friend the moneychanger, since he said the minibus would arrive within 10 minutes. That it did, but we proceeded to go on a "tour of the local sights" - ie, the local bus station - for over an hour trolling for more customers. Finally we set off with three other grownups, a baby, the driver, and the driver's tout. Sa Pa is much bigger than expected, and we think it has beautiful views - the whole area is shrouded in a think mist. After finding lodging, we went on a lovely walk to a local village, with a waterfall at the bottom. The mist quite added to the atmosphere, but hopefully tomorrow it will clear and let us see the views. We did catch one glimpse through the mist out of our top-story window, and it looked very nice.

More later - we're off to get some NON-chinese food!