Ninh Binh is located about 90km west of Hanoi, so Lauren (fellow volunteer) and I decided to visit there.  We flew up and then headed to the central bus station in Hanoi.  This is not a frequent place for foreigners so very little English is spoken.  We went to about 7 different ticket offices before we got what we were after.  By then we had the whole bus station following our every move.

We then decided we needed some food and there wasn’t much around so we got into a taxi and said “take us to the nearest food place”.  This got a blank stare, he then used his phone to call a friend who could speak English.  After a long conversation the phone got passed to me and we then conversed for a while.  I then hung up and he said it would cost $100,000 VND.  I said “no-way”.  By this time we had slow crawled in the taxi to a Pho (noodle soup) place, so we got out there and paid $20,000 VND, about $1.20 AUD.

We walked back and Lauren and I bought some snack food and waited.  We then walked to where the buses were parked and the same routine that we experienced buying the tickets happened again, but this time we also had to dodge big moving buses.  We made it to our bus and were told no, I then asked why and they took our bags and ushered us onto the bus.

Our seat for the next 2 hrs was to be this.

Yes, in a bus… We were situated where the door was and it was very crowded.

All was going OK until I started to feel a bit sick.  This sometimes happens when I get really tired and I had had a big couple of weeks travelling.  I had bought a snickers and cookies for the bus and they were in a small plastic bag along with my phone.

Now we all know what it is like when you have the urge to throw up.  I tried to stop it, however I had to give in, however, I was having trouble getting my phone out of the plastic bag and some sick went up my nose.  Eventually I got my phone out and I proceeded to throw up.  Now, because it was so packed, I was literally throwing up in someone else’s lap, I had a knee in my back and the bus conductor looking at me.  After I finished I said to Lauren, did she have some tissues?  Unfortunately not.  I had no idea what to do with myself.

The conductor then motioned to give him my bag which I didn’t want to as I would then have nothing else to use, however it was quite full.  He then opened the door while the bus was moving and threw the bag out.  He then handed me a new bag and some tissues which I was so grateful for.  This routine then continued for the next one and half hours where I proceeded to fill about 8 bags.  In the end I was getting a thumbs up from the conductor like he was impressed with my effort.

The strange thing about this whole event was that no-one made a fuss at all about someone throwing up beside them, apparently it is quite a common occurrence as a lot of Vietnamese get motion sickness.

We also stop frequently on the highway to pick up passengers and drop them off and on one of these stops a small boy was passed over the heads of the passengers and the conductor held the boy while he went to the toilet.  Unfortunately he had peed on his shoes which was then transferred to Lauren’s red seat.  This was wiped off and the journey continued.

We finally made it to Ninh Binh, that was one of the longest journeys I have ever had!!!!