221) Myths

Putting some myths to rest...

Myth one: budget guesthouses always have respectable pillows. Myth two: a twenty-four hour bus ride out of Laos is a nice experience. And finally (and more seriously) myth three: people in northern Vietnam are smug.


So, myth one… Ed, Andrew and I shared a three-person budget room our first night in Vientiane. After inspecting the flat out dirty room I began to wonder what lay under the pillowcase and sheets. To my awful surprise I found what is pictured above (the book is a reference of the color white). Needless to say we did not use the pillows or have a good night sleep.


Myth two is in regards to the bus ride from Vientiane to Hanoi. At least I was prepared for the hours and the fact that it was not a sleeper bus. When we all got on the bus someone said “This is about a 12 hour trip, right?” Poor bastard was 12 brutal hours off. A few other people were expecting to have boarded a sleeper bus, which would have been a real treat (a sleeper has actual beds instead of seats). Like I said, at least I was prepared for some of the initial circumstances, but I was not ready for the bus to be fully packed with people (and with bags of corn and tractor tires lining the aisles). And to top it off I am pretty sure the bus was a retired Korean city bus- not bad for a 4 or 5 hour trip, but not at all good for a 24 hour ride.



And myth three: I have heard a lot of negative things about the people in northern Vietnam from a lot of people. So far my experience has been very good overall. I had one very weird experience on my second day in Hanoi, but other than that the people have been average to great. The kids have especially been fantastic. On the train from Hanoi to Ninbinh (a great train with wooden seats that seem more fit for a park than a train and costing about $1.50) a little girl took an interest in me and sat with me for about an hour. Communication was minimal but I shared my ipod with her and she snuggled up next to me.