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Expedition Diary Vietnam 
The Vietnamese side proved to be a little more difficult and indeed is still being sorted out, arriving on a Friday afternoon didn't help as it took all afternoon to find out what the reason for the hold-up was. Meanwhile, although 5 of the team were allowed to progress to Hanoi, Will, Jax and Sam were stranded at the border where there was nothing much to entertain, no town, no accommodation and one restaurant serving only variations of instant noodles - not the ideal location in the run up to Christmas! Eventually on day 2 - Saturday - we found out that the Vietnamese believe it an impossibly dangerous act to drive on the right hand side of the road with a right hand drive vehicle and so have declared such vehicles prohibited in Vietnam! Regardless of the fact that we have driven approximately half of our route on their side of the road, we need either a police escort or our beloved Mutley and Pinky will be freighted to the Laos border where, it is rumoured, we may have precisely the same problem. Day 3, as it is Sunday, yields nothing. Day 4 and luckily offices are open again and we make a little headway: we find, surprisingly, that we are going to have to pay quite a lot of money, although how long it is going to take to organise varies from 48 hours to one month, oh yippee. On day 5, however, we heard that the vehicles would be picked up on Christmas Eve but someone must stay to sign documents etc. Will and Jax were 'released' and managed to scrounge a lift to Hanoi. At last! The other bit of good news is that we have been invited to Christmas dinner by the Ambassador, David Fall and his wife Gwendolyn who have decided to take in the British waifs and strays and give them a full slap up Christmas dinner, turkey, Christmas pudding, the lot! On Christmas Eve Sam rejoined us and we were all together again ready to celebrate. Christmas day brought lots of presents, some more practical than others! Later, a trip to the Ambassadorial residence for a marvelous meal which we all enjoyed immensely, definitely the best feed we have had in a long time! We met GAP students and VSO representatives all spending time out here teaching English and also Jane Owen and her husband Dave who entertained afterwards in their beautiful colonial house until the small hours. All in all we had a wonderful day only made possible by our irritating wait at the border - it's funny how things work out! The next day was spent recovering and then continuing the celebrating. Anna then went South to explore Hue and the DMZ while Toby flew to Saigon for a couple of days. The rest explored in and around Hanoi, a beautiful, not too developed city where the French influence is apparent both in the architecture and the food. Last night was New Year and we celebrated in our usual black tie style, having dinner at the 'The Spotted Cow' and then partying the night away in 'Apocalypse Now' which has rather become a regular haunt of the entire team. Today we are sitting recovering in our favourite restaurant 'The Verandah', a London style cafe with terrific breakfasts and brunches. Guy has already left with the vehicles and tomorrow the rest of us leave for the Laos border where hopefully we will have a more successful crossing. We have heard glowing reports of Laos and this New Year is visit Laos '99 so hopefully that will work in our favour, country 17 here we come. The Team hopes that everyone back home had a very Merry Christmas and would like to wish them all a very Happy 1999. |