May 20: Crossing the Vietnam Border
In the morning, I woke up at about 6 AM. I thought there would be breakfast at a restaurant in the hotel. However, I could not find it. I asked a front desk staff member where I was supposed to have breakfast. Then, she gave me a small paper bag that had two small pieces of bread and a carton of milk. That was the “breakfast.” I took it and finished checking out.
The railway station was just a 5-minute walk away from the hotel. On the way there, the street shops had already opened, which surprised me. I got to the ticket gate where the train was departing from. While I was waiting for the train, I ate the breakfast that I got at the hotel.
After I went through the ticket gate, I went to the platform with the other passengers. We were stuck for about 10 minutes along the way for some reason. Even so, the train departed on time at about 8:30 AM. On the train, I spent time reading a book about Vietnam and sleeping. The journey took about 5 hours.
I arrived at a station called Hekoubei, where I was supposed to go through all the procedures to enter Vietnam by land. As I have experienced before, as soon as I arrived at the station, there were many taxi drivers waiting for passengers coming out so they could take them somewhere. One of them started talking to me, and I responded by showing him the translated phrase “Vietnam Border.” He said no, meaning he could not take me there.
According to the information that I had looked up, I could go to the border either by bus or taxi. So, I asked a bus driver if he could take me to the border, and he said yes. The bus was already packed with passengers. I asked him how much I should pay, and he said “2.” I only had to pay 2 yuan (about 0.3 USD). It took only about 10 minutes to get to the checkpoint to go through the immigration procedures for leaving China and entering Vietnam.
I am pretty sure that I was the only Japanese person — or even the only foreigner besides Chinese and Vietnamese people — so every time the officers saw my passport, they looked surprised. It made me a little concerned about whether I could enter the country, but at the same time, it also made me kind of happy. On the Chinese side, I was asked a few questions, but on the Vietnamese side, I was barely asked anything. I crossed the border successfully.
There was a big gate on the Vietnamese side. Of course, there were also taxi drivers waiting there. I asked one of them to take me to Lao Cai. He said yes and accepted some Vietnamese cash that I had exchanged from Chinese yuan, so I do not remember exactly how much I paid. We had a small conversation, but I could not understand most of what he said.
I arrived in Lao Cai in just 5 minutes. I probably could have walked, but it was extremely hot. As soon as I entered Vietnam, I felt the heat and humidity, which was completely different from what I had experienced in Kunming.
Anyway, right before I got out of the taxi, the driver kindly explained where I should go to take a train or bus. Since I started this trip, I have felt the kindness of people in every country that I have visited.
At that point, it was already about 2 PM. I entered a restaurant where the owner asked me if I wanted some food. After crossing the border, I just wanted to settle down, so I said yes and ordered one bowl of pho from the menu.
There were already two customers who looked like tourists. While I was eating the pho, which was delicious, I started talking to one of them sitting next to me on my left side. It turned out that he was from Portugal and traveling around Asia on a motorbike that he had bought in Vietnam.
After he found out that I was from Japan, he told me how fantastic his experience in Japan had been. He had visited Japan before coming to Vietnam. We talked about where we had traveled so far and what we were planning to do next. He also gave me some travel tips for Vietnam. Since I am still a beginner traveler, I am always grateful to receive advice from experienced travelers.
We both agreed on how wonderful solo traveling is. After he finished paying, he said, “Have a good trip,” and I replied, “You too.”
I love these kinds of small encounters while traveling. In Japanese, there is a phrase called 一期一会 (Ichigo Ichie), which means cherishing once-in-a-lifetime meetings. I am sure I will never see him again, but I believe there is meaning in every new person I meet.
After he left, I asked the restaurant owner how to get to Hanoi, and he kindly helped me buy a bus ticket from there to Hanoi.
Originally, I had planned to stay one night in Lao Cai before moving to Hanoi since it takes about another 5 hours to get there. However, it was only 2 PM, and I had nothing to do. I asked a young girl who spoke English about bus tickets. She told me there was an available seat on a bus departing at 3 PM. I paid 350,000 VND for the ticket. I had to withdraw some money from a nearby ATM first, though.
I spent time sitting on a random chair waiting for boarding time. When I got on the bus, I had to take off my sandals. I was a bit worried about what the bus would be like, but it turned out to be very comfortable. The “seats” were fully reclined, so people could sleep. Each seat also had a blanket and a curtain for privacy.
Some passengers were from China, while others looked European. I spent most of the bus ride sleeping and scrolling through my phone. Unfortunately, I could not charge my phone.
When I arrived at about 8:30 PM, it was raining lightly and completely dark outside. On the way to the hostel that I had booked, I entered a random street restaurant and had another bowl of pho, which cost only about 3 USD.
I continued heading toward the hostel. The hostel was located on a small street in central Hanoi. A young Vietnamese man checked me in. He was so kind that he guided me through the room and recommended some places to visit.
The room had six beds, and I got the last one available. The room was much cooler than outside, which made me feel very refreshed. Since I was tired, I took a shower and immediately fell asleep.
May 21: Unanticipated Troubles
I woke up at about 7 AM. Although I could hear a lot of snoring from the other beds, I slept pretty well.
Since the hostel provided breakfast, I went up to the 7th floor to eat. By the way, the hostel only cost 7 USD. It is amazing that I could sleep there and have breakfast included for such a cheap price.
There were already a few tourists eating breakfast. The breakfast area was located outside on a terrace. There was a staff member sitting there taking care of the breakfast service. The variety of food was pretty impressive. There was salad, bread, fruit, noodles, and sticky rice. I got some salad, noodles, and a banana.
I accidentally sat down at a terrace seat right next to a woman with blonde hair. While I was eating, I started talking to her. She was from Germany and traveling around Asia. She had studied and worked in New Zealand and Australia for more than seven months. She had also spent quite a long time in Japan, although I do not remember exactly how long.
I was impressed by the fact that she had hitchhiked during her travels. She told me how kind people in Japan were. Every time I hear something like that, I feel proud to be Japanese.
I told her how brave she was, and she responded by saying, “You should be brave while traveling.”
She also told me how enjoyable solo travel is. She used to travel with friends, but she often had to take care of them instead of just focusing on herself. I agreed with her, even though I have never traveled abroad with someone else.
In my case, I simply do not have many friends. Since graduating from university in Japan, I have definitely felt that there are far fewer opportunities to make new friends.
When it comes to traveling, being alone makes you stronger, and at the same time, it gives you more chances to experience unique things that you probably could not experience while traveling with friends. That is what I added to her statement.
Of course, traveling alone in foreign countries also has negative aspects, such as loneliness, but overall, I think it is easier and more rewarding to travel alone.
Anyway, we talked for a while about her future plans. She was planning to travel along the east coast to avoid the heat in Hanoi. It was also only her second day in Hanoi, so her plan was to do some sightseeing there for a couple more days before moving to different cities. I agreed with her because it had already been very hot, and it was expected to become even hotter in the coming days.
While we were talking, another woman from Germany joined us. I did not talk to her very much because I left earlier than they did.
Every time I talk with travelers, I have fun and learn something new. Talking with her made me feel that maybe I am not brave enough yet and that I should try hitchhiking at least once in my life.
After I finished breakfast, I saw an older woman who looked Japanese, so I talked to her. And bingo — she was Japanese. She told me that she was 64 years old and had come to Vietnam to visit a friend.
She started talking about her background and life experiences. It is always interesting to meet people who travel alone because everyone has such a different story.
We talked for a while in the lobby area. We exchanged contact information in case we meet again someday in Japan or somewhere else.
That day, I explored the city of Hanoi. I went to Train Street, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, and Ngoc Son Temple. I walked a lot.
After eating lunch at a nearby steak restaurant, I returned to the hostel to leave my backpack. Then, I headed to a hotel that I had booked online and checked in.
Since I was tired from walking around and sightseeing all morning, I decided to go to a local coffee shop and edit some videos from my camera. I sat at a terrace seat on the second floor where I could see the view outside.
There was a group of French women nearby. It had been a while since I had heard French spoken because I had last heard it during my trip to France. I was happy that I could still understand some of their conversations.
It made me realize that I should continue studying French, which I have not done for a while.
I stayed there for some time and then went back to the hotel to rest.
At about 6 PM, I went to a random restaurant and ate pho again. I saw many tourists drinking beer at pubs nearby. Maybe I should try drinking with someone at a pub while I am in Vietnam, although I do not really enjoy drinking very much.
I went back to the hotel and waited for the laundry that I had asked the hotel staff to do. He told me it would be finished by 8 PM, but it turned out there were some issues with my laundry. He said it would not be finished until the next morning.
I did not want to wait until the next morning because those were all the clothes that I had, so I asked him if it would be possible to finish earlier. He called someone to check on it, and eventually, he told me it would be done by 10 PM.
I waited on the first floor until it was ready.
At about 8:30 PM, two white guys entered the hotel entrance. It was obvious that they were drunk. One of them was so drunk that I became worried and asked him if he was okay. He could barely respond. For some reason, he was speaking Spanish. I had studied a little Spanish in the U.S., so I could understand some of what he was saying.
I was sitting in the middle of the couch, and he sat down on my left side. He was eating a sandwich. The other guy was much less drunk, so I asked him if they were friends. He said they had just met and started drinking together.
This guy was from Romania and spoke English with a strong accent. He also told me that the other man was from England.
The English guy had already gone to his room, leaving his shoes next to the couch for some reason.
I was talking with the Romanian guy and the hotel staff while waiting for my laundry. After I finally got my laundry back, I tried to return to my room.
That was when I realized that I could not find my room key.
At first, I thought I had forgotten the key inside my room, so I went upstairs to check whether the door was locked. And yes, it was locked, which meant I had lost the key somewhere outside the room.
However, I had not gone outside after leaving the room earlier, so the key had to be somewhere inside the hotel.
I told the young hotel staff member, who was very kind, about the situation. He brought out a spare key and tried to open my room for me. However, for some reason, the spare key did not work.
At that point, the only options were either to find the original key or ask someone to fix the spare key.
Since it was already very late at night, he gave me a key to another room so I could sleep there temporarily.
We agreed that the next morning, he would ask someone to fix the spare key.
I was exhausted, so I went straight to bed.
I will explain what happened the next day in the next journal entry.
