Travel to Ha Giang

So we weren't sure if we had a reservation on the bus at 7am to Ha Giang or not.  Ami had been texting with some lady, Dung, and the communication was pretty unclear.  We decided to go to the bus station anyways.

We couldn't get a Grab (like Uber), so tried to share a taxi with a group of 4 people who were going to the bus also.  Waited for like 10 minutes, but then the driver didn't want to take all of us.  Ok, called a second taxi.  Another 10 minutes later, taxi picks us up and we're on the way.... until a few blocks down the street, he gets a flat tire, but assures us "one minute one minute".  Yeah, right.  We hustled back to the hostel and order a third taxi.  This time we really head to the bus station.

Things at the station are chaos.  We had no idea if we were in the right spot or not, but we stood outside of a bus that said "Ha Giang".  Everyone else paid for their tickets inside, but they paid double the listed price ($360k dong vs 200k dong).  I was freaking out a little but Ami kept saying "no, we should wait here".  He was right.  Last minute, the driver shoved us into the bus and told us where to sit.  We only paid 200k dong, half of what everyone else paid.  This was like be packed into a sardine can.  I was squished in "beds" along the back with a family of 4 vietnamese and we were on the bottom bunk.  For most of the 6 hour ride, the lady to the far left and her son were throwing up.  Ami got the top bunch with 4 westerners.  Let's just say this wasn't the most pleasant bus ride of my life.

They had men sitting on the floor of the bus also.  People were packed everywhere.

Lady puking.

Guys squished next to me.  They were both heavy smokers.

Ami's view was different.  Life on top!

Our pod hostel was so cool!

More of the hostel

Waterfront view

We went for a walk through the city.

You bought your kid a toy jeep?  Here we buy our kids tanks haha

Pho... again

Ladies were sweeping leaves into the street and just burning them

I learned to ride a semi automatic scooter today!  Good thing it went well since we're starting a 4 day ride tomorrow!! 

First time driving semi automatic motorcycle

I love this coffee with condensed milk

Patio at our hostel

These little kids were playing outside of our room and So intrigued by us foreigners lol