Think you might have sent the wrong vibes there guys..!

Our journey from Cat Ba to Hue turned out to be a total nightmare from the offset. We arrived at the hotel with which we’d booked the journey (bus-boat-bus-bus) to be told that we hadn’t been booked onto the preliminary bus, and that we’d have to wait until 3pm for the next one. At this point, thoughts of missed connections and losing money were circulating. We gave the man our sternest English looks and sarcastic exclamations but, ultimately, we knew we had no choice but to trust that he would get us to Hue. We set up a temporary camp in his restaurant, hoping that complimentary drinks would manifest (none did) and so Brad went off in search of a moral booster, and came back with 1kg of delicious lychees for 30p! – apparently, he stamped his foot, repeating ‘Vietnam price! Vietnam price!’, until he got the goods. At 3pm, we left for the jetty, and, following arrival on the mainland, were able to catch out next bus to Haiphong, after waiting at the side of a dirt road next to a vietnamese woman holding a piece of baguette over her face as a gasmask. That was, unfortunately, the smoothest part of our journey. At Haiphong bus station, we decided to leave all English notions of queuing tradition to one side, in order to secure the best and least smelly bunks. Sure enough, when the bus eventually arrived at 6:00pm, we were at the front of the queue (the boys were in charge of loading our backpacks into the hold, whilst Sophia and I secured beds inside). For some unknown reason, upon alighting the bus, we were instantly rejected and told to wait until the 7pm bus; much to the delight and amusement of the other passengers, who LITERALLY laughed in our faces. With our tails between our legs, we removed our bags from the hold and went back to our bench to wait for the next bus.

At 7pm, we decided to run with similar tactics, and were, once again, the first on the bus. We then found out that, in actual fact, our tickets had allocated seat numbers, which wasn’t such a big deal – we were all on top bunks, safely out of reach of cockroaches – except for the fact that Joe’s bunk was right above the bus’s toilet (did I mention that he was due to turn 20 at 12am!?). True to Joe’s character, he sucked it up (not literally) and we set off just after 7:30. At this point, we thought that nothing else could possibly go wrong…

5 minutes later, we were back at the bus station. It seemed that there was a problem with the engine (actual reason still remains unknown). A man hit some things with a hammer for about an hour, surrounded by some other men who seemed to just be watching his handiwork, and we set off again, only to find ourselves back at the same bus station 5 minutes later. This happened to us, in total, 4 times – with the engine and, consequently, air conditioning, switching off each time – forcing us to, at the third visit to the bus station, get off and sit at the side of the road singing and dancing (acapella) to various karaoke classics, including Stayin’ Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, and American Pie, in order to keep ourselves from committing GBH. After 4 or so hours, some genius had the brainwave to find another bus, and we did a hopeful switcharoo, leaving the bus station for the 5th and final time just after 12am (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!) This bus driver decided that what we really needed was stereo Vietnamese ballads (see video below), and we entertained his decision for about 20 minutes before Joe went to the front of the bus and asked politely if there was any way that the music could stop. This gave us a total travel time of 26 hours. We arrived in Hue at 5pm, and jumped straight in a taxi, without even the heart to barter. All in all, a pretty grim journey but, luckily, Hue was a nice town, and we were able to celebrate Joe’s birthday in style the following evening, with drinks in our room, followed by a night out at a top bar, with free drinks, snacks, and tshirts.

It’s the ups and downs that make each trip so memorable, and we will always be grateful for every experience… we think!

Lots of love to everyone back home

E, S, B and J