Tag: border crossing

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Day 21: Good Morning Vietnam!

Started our day once again to the 6:00 am news being blared through the loudspeaker directly across the street from our hotel, and pointing into our room. Ugh. We are both sick with a nasty cold and this wasn’t how I had hoped to start the day.

Next up? The blood curdling squealing of a hog. I vaguely wondered if the squealing was because he was about to be slaughtered, or if he found the Lao pop song being pumped through the loudspeaker as annoying as I.

Breakfast at Sayfon Restaurant, which has a decent view of the river, then off to Vietnam! We knew that you could not cross into Lao from Vietnam at the Tay Trang International Border crossing with a motorcycle (unless the bike was registered in Dien Biên Phu and had the number 27 in the licence plate), but we could find little, recent information on whether you could cross back into Vietnam. It was a gamble on our part. Being turned away at the border meant retracing our ride back to Na Meo border crossing, which would cost us at least 5 days of straight riding.

We left at 8:50 am, determined to get to the border before the 2 hour lunch break. Although feeling sick and tired, the road quickly boosted our energy. Another beautiful road with fantastic panorama views, riding through small villages filled with waving children.

We arrived at the Lao border gate at 10:20 am – much faster than the 2 hr drive we had anticipated to cover the 64 km.

First border crossing was a breeze. No money exchanged hands, and we were out of Lao in less than 10 minutes. Easy part done.

After a 5 km drive we arrived at the Vietnam border. Would they allow us back in? If not, would we have to pay a sizeable “tax” for re-entry?

It only took 15 minutes to get our answer. After handing over our passports for a stamp and then our motorcycle customs form, and with no money exchanged, we were on our way by 10:50 am. Woohoo!

Vietnam welcomed us like only Vietnam could. Shitty roads and insane traffic. The quaint villages of the hill tribes in Lao was replaced with a beehive of activity. Modern shops, thousands of scooters beeping their horns, road grime plastering your face, the hustle and bustle of complete and utter chaos.

Good morning Vietnam!

Arrived in Dien Biên Phu at 11:45 am. Checked into the Hồng Ki Boutique Hotel and upgraded to a king bed with a view. Decent place on a fairly quiet street, walking distance to the museum and Hill A1.

Ate lunch at a hole in the wall, as everything else was closed. The food wasn’t bad, despite the mystery meat. Although cat, dog and rat are eaten in the North, we were pretty sure it was pork sausage of some type. The pale colour, soft texture and mild flavour was slightly reminiscent of pig brain (don’t tell Shawn), but fried up with chilli’s and enough garlic – anything can be tasty.

Spent the afternoon touring the war sites. Started at the Dien Biên Phu museum, which has some interesting artifacts, pictures and colour commentary, but like most Vietnamese museums very little substance. From here we checked out Hill A1, also lacking much information, but interesting to check out. From here, off to the Military Cemetery, which was quite nice. Next was the Bunker of Colonel de Castries. All in all a nice way to stretch our legs after three days on the bikes.

After the Bunker we walked across the Muong Thánh Bridge. This turned out to be the highlight of our day. On the opposite side of the bridge was a street market that offered our first real glimpse into Vietnam. We were the only tourists. The market offered a myriad of fruits and vegetables (I finally found mangoes), snake (live or filets), toad, fish, goat, pork, buffalo and dog. Yes, there was dog.

Since touring local markets is one of our favourite things to do when we explore a new country – this was awesome! People just pull right up to the vendor on their scooter, point at the goods they want, exchange money and scoot away. Without even leaving their seat. Now that is service!

Vegetarian for dinner at a lovely restaurant run by a wonderful family, Quan Chay Yen Ninh. I’m not sure they fully understand the meaning of vegan, given the vegan options largely came with pork or beef, but the soup was a nice change from Pho.

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Day 10 – 11 Off to Laos

Day 10

Drove from Tam Coc to Quản Son, a small town about 50 km from the Laos border, for a total distance of 186 km. We left at 10:00 am.

The ride along Cuc Phuong National Park was beautiful. The traffic thinned out considerably, and we were able to drive around 70-80 km/ hr through majestic mountains and rice paddies. 

We stopped for an oil change in Cam Thuy. We arrived in Cam Thuy at 12:30PM, and left at nearly 2:30 PM. It took only a few minutes for the oil change, and closer to 30 minutes to communicate what oil we wanted. Should be good for oil until we get back into Vietnam. We weren’t sure we would find the right oil in Laos, as apparently they don’t get many Honda Wins or manual transmission motorcycles that way. 

If we are rock stars in Vietnam, I can’t imagine what we will be in Laos. Motorcycles are rare enough, but Honda adventure bikes are almost unheard of in Vietnam. People are in awe of our bikes everywhere we go – they want to sit on them, drive them, take pictures of them – and of us. After three days in Tam Coc, we had become well known by both locals and tourists. We are wearing backpacks that we ironed Canadian flag patches onto – and they stand out. Even at tourist sites our bags are recognizable, and we often here “it’s the Canadian’s on the motorcycles!”  

Following the oil change, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant across the street from the Honda dealer. It has a huge blue sign. We weren’t sure what we were getting besides chicken. There was horse meat on the menu (they had cartoon pictures of animals on each page so you at least knew the meat source of the dish you were ordering). We thought we ordered BBQ Chicken and Ginger Lemongrass Chicken based on Google translate.  

What we got was really good. The ginger chicken landed up being what we were pretty sure to be chicken neck. It was awesome! The lemongrass marinade was really delicious.  We both enjoyed it more than the 1/2  bbq Chicken. I would definitely call this restaurant a safe bet if you find yourself in Cam Thuy. 

After lunch we hit the bank, another adventure, and then off to Quản Son at 2:15 PM. Almost two hours for an oil change, lunch and the bank!

The drive from Cam Thuy to Quản Son was a wonderful surprise. We didn’t see a single tourist, and felt as though we were seeing the real Vietnam. Lush, green hills and small towns filled with smiling children playing in the streets. People waving at us from homes on stilts, and from dusty street side stores. And then quickly rising on a, twisty road through the mountains, before descending into the near forgotten town of Quan Son at 4:30 PM. 

Shawn’s highlight of the day was passing a scooter with a fully grown pig, hog tied on the back. It was still alive and had to weigh over 300 lbs. 

Hotels were limited so the Song Ma Hotel it was. It’s dirty and basic, but the sheets seemed clean, there is air conditioning and the water is hot! Unfortunately the price increased at check out. When we arrived at the hotel, the man at the front desk wrote down 150,000. At check out he demanded 250,000. Luckily for us he just had our passport copies, so I wasn’t worried. Also, he had already given us the copies back, so he really didn’t have much leverage. He yelled a bit and stuck his finger in my face, so we gave him another 50,000 and got out of there. 

Dinner was instant noodles and coconut juice from the local market. Pretty sure there is a Snickers bar in my bag, so that’s next on the menu. Hopefully the Kareoke bar at the end of the hotel hallway has a quiet night!

Day 11

Sitting at the Laos border, so might as well catch up on the days events.

We had hoped to get to the border well before the 11:30 am – 1:30 pm lunch break, but didn’t quite make it. When we tried to check out of our hotel, no one was there so we had to wait for grumpy to return. Upon his return he demanded an inflated price, all of this taking time. We finally hit the road at 9:40 am with a new lesson. Always take a picture of the price you are quoted and the hotel name (in their writing) as proof at checkout. 

The drive to the border was a twisty, pretty drive through several small towns. Today’s scooter fun was what I call the “peacocks”. Scooters loaded up with 4- inch diameter, 25 foot long pieces of bamboo trailing off the back. To me it looked like long tail feathers sticking out the back, like a peacock. They were challenging to pass on the winding roads, as the bamboo poles would sway across the entire road. 

Arrived at the border at 11:10 am. Leaving Vietnam was an easy 20 minute process, costing 200,000 dong each. We arrived at the Laos border right at lunch – 11:30. They were kind enough to process our visa ($47 USD each), but we are now waiting until 1:30 for customs to open. 

While waiting, a very kind soldier offered us some food. We gave him a Snickers bar in return. This must not have been deemed a fair trade, as he returned with yet more little parcels wrapped in banana leaf. The first is a sticky, sweet, tar-like black goo with sesame seeds, filled with what we assume to be a vegetable – potato or turnip. The second is a more transparent, orange goo filled with roasted coconut. Both were good, surprisingly not too sweet, and definitely hit the spot. Despite the one grumpy hotel manager, the people have been incredibly generous and kind. It is a genuine kindness that I can only imagine is part of their Buddhist culture.

Customs opened promptly at 1:30 pm. After completing a form and paying another $3 USD each, we were on our way by 1:45. 
We arrived in Sam Neua, 145 km from Quan Son, at 4:45 pm and checked into the Keochinda Hotel. The room is large and clean, and the front desk was friendly. 

After a shower, went out to get a SIM card. While walking to a restaurant for dinner, two young men stopped their scooter excitedly to chat with us. They wanted help pronouncing “fence” from “France”. After introductions, pictures and becoming Facebook friends, we bid our new young friends farewell. 

Dinner was at Dan Nao Meuang Xam Restaurant. Popular with foreigners for its English menu, it had more to offer than just that. The food was fresh, flavourful and full of vegetables – something our diet has been lacking!