I Hate Planes but they are Quick

I only have several days left before my Chinese visa expires, and I'm still keen to visit Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa.

The bus ride from Luang Prabang to Hanoi takes around 36 hours and I'd have to make a visit to Sam Neua so in total it would take three days of travelling at a minimum. Although I'd made the decision to avoid flights, I had no choice but to shell out for the very expensive flight.

On the plus side, the plane left half an hour early and arrived fifteen minutes after it was supposed to depart.

Evil Plane

The taxi scams were running in full swing when we arrived, initial rates were 10USD from the airport to the city, however speaking with several travellers, I've heard of them stopping halfway and asking for more money or taking the guests to a different hotel for which they'd receive commission.

I didn't really know which bus was the bus to the city centre, however one of the guys touting a minibus was kind enough to inform me that I didn't want to take the number 17 bus since it takes so long.

While riding on the #17 bus, I start talking to the Vietnamese people around me and it so happens that one of them has a "friend" that works in a guesthouse for $7USD. I tell him I'm only looking for $5 and as luck would have it, they apparently have one of those also.

When the bus arrives, the guy calls his "friend" who picks me up with his motorbike and drives me to the guesthouse. The rooms are still $7 however the girl showing me the room is inexperienced and I get the room for $5, with air-con, TV, hot water and two beds.

I give my friend Bao (from Phu Quoc Island) a call and we grab some cheap beers (less than 25c AUD a schooner).

Wandering around in the evening, I stumble upon Hanoi's finest nightspot Minh's Jazz Club and spend the next two hours in a trance enjoying the fine Jazz.

In the morning, I enjoy my free breakfast and am informed that my room was booked for the day and that I'd need to leave. No dramas, I find another room (more of a box really, the door hits the bed) but I only need it for the night, I plan on going to Halong Bay in the morning.

During the day we take in the sights of Ho Chi Minh's museum (the Mausoleum is closed so I don't get to see his corpse), the cathedral and the museum of ethnology.

Rocking out with Uncle Ho.

Posing with a statue at the museum of ethnology. It's a lot of fun to watch all the Vietnamese trying to avoid looking at the statues here, those that do giggle like children.