Hue

Writing from Hue as I wait for my overnight bus to Hanoi. I arrived from Hoi An yesterday at 5:00 and am shipping out the following day to Hanoi. It is Sunday July 17th and I have to be in Hanoi on Friday, July 22nd to meet my brother. I've decided to try to catch an overnight train to Sapa either Monday or Tuesday night and then be back in Hanoi by Friday morning. Here's to hoping.

Kevin and I had planned to travel from Hanoi, into Laos and down to Bangkok through Chiang Mai, but our plans have had to be re-arranged due to the ASEAN Regional Forum (for those of you interested in Southeast Asian Politics..) being held in Vientiane. From the 22nd to the 30th of July there will be no inbound or outbound travel in Vientiane, where both our bus or our plane would have brought us.

Sooooo... We've decided to skip Laos altogether, which although disappointing to us both, will allow us a much more leisurely and enjoyable pace. We will be in Hanoi until Wednesday, when we fly to Bangkok, taking an overnight train to Chiang Mai and spending a few days in the mountains of Northwest Thailand, before heading back down to Bangkok and possibly taking a day trip somewhere from there.

Kevin ships out on the 3rd of August, leaving me to fend for myself once again, doing some last minute shopping and visiting friends, before catching my August 7th flight to Bangladesh (assuming I get the flight I am trying to book...). Where from the luxury of my dear friend Erica's mammoth apartment, I will gaze down at the streets of Dhaka, remember this moment, not long before, when I sat in an internet cafe, desperately needing a shower, facing a 12 hour bus ride (preferably not with extremely loud, exceptionally bad Chinese movies dubbed in Vietnamese blaring all night) and yet another early morning search for yet another $5 hotel room. The thought is blissful.