Eastward

Hanoi!!! In every email I've written, Hanoi is followed by exclamation marks.....not so much the city that deserves it (we'll find that out soon) but just the jubilation that we've made it. It's been a journey indeed, and looking at the map, it seems that our trip out here from western Laos will probably be one of the only times we'll be off the tourist trail. Perhaps "fun" isn't the right word to use, but I think we're all happy to have done it even if we're relieved it's over. So here's the story:
We head north from Vientiane 4 hours to Vang Vien where we had already been. One night there. Then straight east to the dirty center of Laos, Phonsovan. Oh man, dirt dirt dirt. You drive or walk down the street and you think the plants on the side are dead, looks like it's fall, but really they're just dusty. They don't rely on the rain so much for nutrients as they do for a good shower. Phonsovan itself is one long strip, a one-storied town that struck me as country western. Besides just a place to stay on the way, we were there to see the Plain of Jars... Jesse's material though.... Other than that, we spent the nights playing pool and video games at this one joint (man, i suck at pool...it's depressing). We stayed at this guesthouse with a thousand rooms, all of them vacant, algae green ceilings and dirty wallpaper floors....just asking to be haunted....
Then east again to a town called Xamneua. A winding journey out of the plains of Laos into the mountains. Up mountains, down valleys, run to the edge and back up, around and around mountains, through passes. Repeat and repeat and repeat. Jungles, forests, tiny villages....men staring, children playing, women carrying loads of jungle and earth, cows chomping and crossing, dogs sleeping, chickens looking stupid. 8 hours of this on bus benches trying to contort one's body into any sleeping position.
Xamneua: A college town without the college, at least that's how it felt to me as we rolled in from the mountains.... all tired french architecture with green, red, and blue roofs. At any one time, there was no more than 10 foreigners in town and on our last full day, I'm pretty sure we were the only ones until the next bus rolled in at nightfall. There's really not much there except for the old Communist caves in Vieng Xai (an hour out of town), which Jesse's talking about..... that and the market where we bought the most delicious mangos.... God's nectar....... we were eating 10 a day. We stayed in a nice little guesthouse for $3 a night, but there were only 2 single beds so Adam had to lay squished in the corner on the ground.... I have to give him credit for his cheapness..... we said he could sleep there and not pay anything for the room, and he did it for 3 nights.
Pretty much our time in Xamneua was spent reading and wondering/worrying about our trip over the border into Hanoi: it's the Tet New Year which is celebrated all over Southeast Asia and lasts for up to a week, it's most celebrated in Vietnam where everything shuts down, including buses. So, we figured we could make it to the border, but we had no idea if we could make it anywhere past there. We had heard rumors too that the closest town in Vietnam from the border was 53km away; we saw ourselves either huddled up in the Vietnamese jungle overnight or hitchiking in vain over hundreds of Km to Hanoi. Either way we were going for it because there was no way we were staying another night in Xamneua, plus we HAD to make it for the celebrations in Hanoi.
A 3 hour ride in a truck to the border over bumpy, dusty roads at 6 in the morning. Excited to be heading into the next country on our list. Passports stamped and we walk into Vietnam. Of course, we were right, no buses. Our only option is to hire a van for $15 each to a town halfway to Hanoi and hope for a bus there. I felt bad because we were taking this guy away from his family on his New Year, but his brother/friend said this job was bringing good luck to his family, so it was all right. 4 hours over one-lane windy roads through the greenest jungles I've ever seen.... villages every couple minutes and rice paddies forever. We get into a town called Mai Chau in the afternoon and discover quickly that there are no buses running. No one speaks English in this town. Guys are offering to take us the next 4 hours into Hanoi on the back of their motorbikes. Women are trying to sell us pig hoof. We're depressed. There are no restaurants open which absolutely devastates Jesse, and so we end up eating crackers and instant noodles, which the hotel crew was nice enough to heat up for us, and also these peanuts which all the locals refused to eat for some reason and just shook their heads when we bought them.....we have no idea why, but one guy motioned to us that they make your armpits smell really bad....but we survived. We resign ourselves to taking the first bus out of there in the morning at 6. A hot, sweaty sleep with mosquitoes measuring us up from the ceiling. In the morning, we wake up excited to get the hell out, pack up, and walk out to discover the gate is locked and us appropriately locked in. Adam scales the wall to begin the escape when a girl arrives with the keys. We make it out and on to the bus where we wait for the departure watching dead pigs get butchered up by shirtless men joking with each other in the early morning light. In minutes, we're snaking our way through the morning fog with internal smiles jubilant to finally, finally, finally get to Hanoi.
More to come about the destination.
Sorry about the length of this, but I love to hear myself talk.