Continuation of the journey to Vietnam

We have thought long and hard about how we want to approach the trip to Vietnam. The original idea was to only travel Laos in the north and then enter Vietnam from northern Laos. Since our stay in Vietnam is limited to only 30 days, we find it nicer to travel the country from north to south so that we can spend the last few days relaxing on the beach and deal with the north more quickly. In January, it can get really cold there. But now we have landed in southern Laos. Somehow a very bad starting point for our planning. Since we don't feel like entering South Vietnam via Cambodia, we bite the bullet after a long debate and decide to fly from Laos to Hanoi.

But first, the visa has to be obtained! Between the days, we applied for the e-visa and mine arrives punctually on 02.01. by email. Actually, we wanted to take the flight on the 03rd, but Max's visa is still taking its time. Just when we're back on the road with the scooter, I'm trying my hand at a semi-automatic machine, the long-awaited email arrives on the 03rd. On the spot, among the old Khmer temples on the Bolaven Plateau, we book a flight for the next morning. From Pakse, where we are currently staying, to Vientiane and from there to Hanoi. Yay :) Not so yay is the price, but it still fits into the budget.

 
The next morning, we treat ourselves to our last Laotian noodle soup on the roadside and take a tuk-tuk to the airport at 8 o'clock. The next few hours are quite unspectacular. A 50-minute flight to Vientiane, 4 hours waiting time, and then another hour to Hanoi. There we have to queue at immigration, but there are no problems and our visas are accepted. Even though we cheeky rascals didn't get a stamp at the stamp station. So we have to go again, get a stamp and queue up again. Where is the sense in that? No idea. Smile and wave. Very important rule when dealing with officials!

Because we are such extreme individual travelers, we of course don't take a taxi, but the dirt cheap public bus. Doesn't sound too bad at first and has always worked great so far. Only in Hanoi it doesn't, but the traffic there is also incomparable. We conveniently drive in the middle of rush hour and can watch fascinated the interaction of 5,000 scooters, 300 buses, and 400 taxis. A celebration! Anyway, our bus doesn't take the route it should. We chat for a long time with a Vietnamese guy our age who looks up the right bus for us online, gets off with us and puts us on this bus. Unfortunately, it also turns in the wrong direction after two blocks. By now we have been on the bus for two hours (longer than the flight time). With the help of Maps.Me, we track our location and when the distance between the bus and the hostel seems walkable, we jump out of the cursed bus and walk the last few kilometers. We arrive at our hostel at around 7 pm and .... THERE IS FREE BEER!!!