Crossing the border from Laos to Vietnam went really smoothly. After getting our passports stamped out of Laos, our Lao van driver drove us across "No Man's Land" where we saw Vietnamese guys hoisting refridgerators on to their backs to carry through the jungle across the Vietnamese border...nothing can be done about it once they're in "No Man's Land" unless they get caught coming out of the jungle in Vietnam. Getting into Vietnam was pretty easy because we already had our visas (I got mine in Wellington). Our van was waiting for us just over the border (what I love about Intrepid is how well eveyrthing is organized in terms of accomodation and transportation). We then had a crazy ride through the mountains to Nimh Bin.
Note on driving in Vietnam: Lines = Loose suggestions, Lights = Suggestions, Horns = used at ALL times. So yeah, driving through the mountains in the van was pretty nerve racking looking out the front of the dashboard, so I looked out the side. This was much better because the scenery is stunning, and it was really funny to pass by the motorcycles and see what they could fit on the back. Quite frequently we passed baskets filled with pigs, or chickens, or even live fish floating in a bag...it's so interesting!!
So Nimh Bin was a gross orientation to Vietnam. Really, really dirty and the traffic was overwhelming. Thankfully, we were only there for a night and left early the next morning for Halong Bay, where we were boarding a boat for an overnight boat stay in one of the most beautiful places in SE Asia.
The drive to Halong Bay was about 5 hours, again very exciting drive because of the choatic way the drive, the beautiful scenery (green rice paddies EVERYWHERE), and again the really interesting motobikes transporting every type of good one can imagine.
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