Lào Cai
Aug 29 2018 - Aug 31 2018
China, Vietnam
5832 km
On August 29th, we cycled the last 100km to cross the border to Vietnam. We decided to stay two nights in the Vietnamese border town Lào Cai to get used to the new country, and plan a little ahead.
Still in China, early in the morning:
Banana plantation:
Roadkill:
Vietnam, on the other side of the river:
There were two police checkpoints on our way to the border. At the second one, we had to wait for about an hour, so the police officers first gave us cold energy drinks and pears, and after waiting for a while longer, they brought us a delicious meal. Grilled fish with soy sauce, nicely marinated pork with green peppers, cooked sweet potatoes, and of course rice. This was unbelievably nice, and came at the perfect time, as we were really hungry and had almost no Chinese money left. In the end they even apologized to us for taking so much of our time. Unreal.
Border procedures were fast and pretty straightforward. Arriving in Lào Cai:
Our first dinner in Vietnam:
On the next day, we went out to explore the town.
Communist mosaics:
Street market:
Later that day, we got a message from Gregg, that he had to come to Vietnam for a visa run, so we decided to stay a little longer and go out for some drinks together.
Having some Phở:
Night out at the beer bar:
Later we got invited to join the birthday festivities of this girl, and had to drink a lot of liquor with all her friends:
Bánh xèo for breakfast on the next morning:
