Grounded

Vinny and I are heading to Ha Giang for the weekend. We're planning to graze the China border on motorbikes where limestone outcrops, mountains the the great big skies reign. The problem is the amorphous Vietnamese travel infrastructure.  We've spent the last 18 hours finding the bus station that heads north from Hanoi.  Not a big deal, but there are no public directories that lists schedules or routes.  Which means we have to a) find a public bus that drops us off at the long distance bus station b) wade through the crowds of xe om drivers offering their services and c) ask various attendants for information since they all differ on their answers.

We've settled on leaving today at a bus station near the Red River.  We checked out the station this morning, but to our surprise, tickets to Ha Giang were not on sale.   Instead, a lady reprimanded us for arriving so early, and said to come back at 3 am and get on the bus.  "What about tickets?" I asked, pointing to the sign above her head.  "No tickets now," she barked. "Come back, get on bus, buy ticket."

Fishy.  I'm have the premonition that the ticket price will suddenly be jacked up tonight.  Not to mention that when I telephoned earlier, an attendant said that the bus to Ha Giang departed at 2 am.

All this just to get on a rickety van for a 7 hour trip in the middle of the night along God knows what kind of roads?

Now, when we get there, we still have to:

• Book a guesthouse
• Map our route
• Obtain a travel permit
• Rent bikes

and all this without maps or points of reference, just a couple of blurbs in a guidebook about the amazing scenery to be found.