The Night Bus!

You would think I would learn! Who ever thinks that maybe, just maybe the night bus might end up being an enjoyable experience?
Me. I think two things. Maybe it wont be as bad as I think and it's a free night without having to pay for accomodation.
Wrong. Always wrong!
The bus was late. 2 hours late.
I met up with a group of Irish boys and at first we all thought this was funny. Until we thought that maybe they had forgot us. I marched off down to the booking office to see what had happened. When I got to the door and asked what was going on she just laughed. This woman just laughed at me like she knew exactly what i was going to ask. She said 5 minutes...which means at least half an hour.
Finally, the bus arrived and we hopped on to a full, well, crowded bus!
The air con was struggling with the amount of body heat and I had to sit in a seat with some kind of generator between my feet.
My saving grace was Shaun. One of the Irish Lads. He has a great sense of humour and put up with my babble. We talk most of the evening away, joking and having a bit of a laugh at our sitution. This helped us feel like it was passing the time away but everytime I looked at my watch....it was draging on..It felt like we were stuck in a tardas.
We pretty much stopped after we started and had a dinner break. We picked up two more passengers...We only had one seat! Some Vietnamese chick had to sleep on the floor, but I tell you she had the good end of the stick.
Finally, we were off again and only to stop in dust bowl to pee. This was not an option for me! I've had enough embarrassing pee stops to do me for a while. Back on the bus and my feet swelled up to two times their natural size. I felt like they were my Grandmothers ankles not mine. And it was painful.
Shaun however had taken a dose of Valium and was snoozing nicely on my shoulder most of the trip. Glad he didn't dribble on me or snore like most of my previous travel companions.
After a very hot sweaty and uncomfortable trip we finally arrived in some backwaters of Hanoi to be packed in to a cab to try and find accommodation. This was a debarcle. We got passed around like a baby at a Christening from owner to onwer. Taken to the wrong hotel and driven all around the Old Quater.
Finally Shaun and I decided to go to the orginal hotel that gave us the first flyer. The others eventually followed and Shaun and I bunked up together to share a room.....
We were in desperate need of a shower. We smelt like we were refugees that stowed away on bus with all sorts of animals and food goods. Or sardines in the hot sun. I was amazed that Shuan and I decided to share a room since we had been sandwhiched together for the past 15 hours. You share a special bond with someone you can sit harmoniously together with, sharing sweat and body parts,without any pre romantic interlude.
After we regained our humanity by showering, we set off for a walk around town, and sweated our arse off again!! We walk around the lake and fended off the usual Hawkers. Stopping at a great little hole in the wall for a bite to eat. This little place would concern the Health and Safety Department of most western countries but we were more than happy to experiment and put our bowels and health at risk.
We had the most amazing meal that was made up of a crispy thin pancake thing full of bean sprouts and meat, rice paper and lots of green lettuce stuff and herbs. Shaun and I sat there like Idiots trying to decide what it is exactly one does with this fan fair. I was spying on a man when the girl noticed our dumb founded looks. She promptly came over, took the rice paper, plopped some green on top, put some of the pancake on top of that and then rolled. Finishing with a dip in the sauce. Simple really!!
Yeah, we felt like the dumb tourists but we tried to go back every day since. The food was fantastic and a full belly for only a buck!
The night ended with me passing out at some grandma hour, whilst Shaun tarted it up in Hanoi.