The journey so far. We left Japan on the 26th of January and arrived in Tianjin harbor (Tanggu) on the 28th. We spent the next 4 days in Beijing, then took an overnight train to Xi'an. We left Xi'an on the 4th. We were in Shanghai for three full days and left for Nanjing on the 8th. After two disastrous days in Nanjing, we returned to Shanghai to catch a train south. We arrived in Nanning at 1am on the 13th and only stayed long enough to get our Vietnamese Visas. We crossed the border on the 14th and arrived in Ha Noi on the same day. We've been in the area since then, seeing Sa Pa up in the mountains and spending 3 days on Ha Long Bay.
Starr left this morning on her flight and I leave on a bus tonight at 7:15pm. I tried to book a ticket on a hard sleeper yesterday but they were sold out. My Lonely Planet says that train tickets are rarely actually sold out and if I went around to the different resellers I should be able to find what I want. I didn't want to waste another day searching for train tickets though, so I bought something called an open bus ticket. My starting point is Ha Noi and my destination is Ho Chi Minh City, but this ticket allows me to get off and reboard the bus at any point along its route. So possible stops for me are Hue, Danang, Hoi An, Mui Ne, and Nha Trang but I haven't really made up my mind yet. The bus ticket was $31, so this is also probably the cheapest way for me to head south. The buses themselves are new and they all have comfy seats and air conditioning, but I know this is going to be a rough ride. When I arrive in HCMC I will have traveled for about 30 hours or so on the bus, so I expect to not have slept much and be sore. I guess that's everything that I need to write about. Wish me luck.
