Day 71

Cat Ba > Hanoi

I had a quick breakfast before packing up and hopping on the bus to Hanoi. The bus itself was fine but in doing some research about the border crossing into Laos it turns out I might need to get a VISA from Hanoi first. This would be fine, infact it would be perfect if it wasn't for the fact that it was Laos New Year and the embassy was shut till the 19th, and then it was closed on weekends too. So now it meant I would have to come back to Hanoi for a 3rd time to get a VISA, costing me more travel money and more time.

When I arrived in Hanoi I had a few errands to run so quickly got some more money from the ATM, exchanged some money into USD for Laos, went to the Post Office, and renewed my SIM card (annoyingly it was 30 days minimum). After that I was feeling pretty accomplished so I checked into the same hostel as I was in before as the beds were actually really decent. I ended up grabbing some food and drink before heading to the Laos Embassy just to check it was shut and the person I messaged who was in the same predicament as me hadn't gotten their days mixed. Unfortunately, it was indeed shut so I wandered over to a lake to chill for a while. A Vietnamese woman ended up sitting next to me and we chatted in basic English for a while before she had to go but it makes me appreciate the effort that people go to in order to speak my language.

For dinner, I wanted to try the famous Bun Cha restaurant that Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate at. I got there and it was busy but I could sit down straight away as I was riding solo, and I ordered "Combo Obama" from the menu which was a special bun cha, a fried seafood roll and a Hanoi beer all for less than 4 pounds. I also think the restaurant is on the Michellin Guide which is insane to think I can eat here for so cheap. The food was good of course, but the best bit was all the pictures of Obama eating there all over the wall, as well as the glass box upstairs filled with the exact cutlery that they both used.

After that, I grabbed some snacks and headed back to the hostel where I met a lovely Manchester lass who I ended up talking to for a few hours (instead of my planned movie night) before I went to bed and she went out for a drink with some friends.Read more