Pulling into the bus station just after midday, I go and eat my final Chinese meal before saying my
goodbyes to the People's Republic Of China and entering the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Once on the other side, I am immediately pestered by someone who wants to change my money and another who wants to give me a lift on the back of a motorcycle to the train station. I politefully decline and so am obviously followed a short while by the money changer and then about 200m by the motorbike driver. Vietnam seems the same as China so far except that the signs are all in an alphabet that is based on Latin, which in theory should be easier to master and find my way.Getting to the train station and buying my tickets onwards to Hanoi is easy than buying them back home. The people at the counter speak English, the prices for each option (har
d seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper, etc.) are also posted on the window along with a timetable. It's over in a matter of seconds and far from the first stressful buying of tickets in China. I have 5 hours to kill, so find an internet cafe and whizz around on the net while guarding my bags and doing some research to prep for my Vietnam travels. The train leaves at 7.30pm and I am sharing with a Peruvian guy called Pedro Pablo and a Vietnamese man called Yen (pronounced with a falling tone) and a woman called Yen(pronounced with a rising tone). Chug, chug, chug and we are off to Hanoi...
