Banqiao Old Town @ Baoshan

Yesterday I made a plan that I would take the bus from Baoshan to Dali, however before doing so I would make a visit to Banqiao Old Town. This is a small attraction just north of the city, and used to be a important hub for trading along the Old Tea and Horse Road.

This morning I made my way over to the bus station at noon and purchased my ticket for the bus leaving at 3:50pm. Afterward I walked up to the taxi stand and asked how much to Banqiao, the guy I was negotiating with told me he wouldn't use meter and wanted to charge 50 rmb there and back to the station. This price sounded ridiculous to me so I walked out onto the road determined to find my own way.

I talked to a couple taxis on the side of the road and here I was getting even worse answers then at the taxi stand, everyone said 50 rmb one way. Rather then negotiating, the next cab that pulled up, I just told them to turn the meter on, go straight and then turn right on the main road going north. This was working quite well until we got about half of the way there, at this point he asked for the location and I thought it would be safe to tell him now. I was wrong, we argued for a couple minutes and then I gave the 10 rmb that had accumulated on the meter and got out of the cab in a pretty desolate area near the north edge of town.

No taxis were even driving on this road so I began to wonder if I should have gone with the first driver's price after all, however nearby there was a bus stop so I decided to go check it out. After a couple minutes I was able to match the Chinese characters I'd photoed from google with one of the stop names on the bust stop chart. Eventually bus no 5 pulled up and I paid my 1 rmb and got in. The audio announcements weren't the least bit understandable so I was a bit worried I might miss the Banqiao stop, to prevent a miss I tapped the lady in front of me on the shoulder. She was very interested to know why I was on this bus, and after asking me a series of questions she agreed to help me find the right stop.

Five minutes later she gave the cue and I followed her off the bus, as we walked down the street she explained that since I was unfamiliar with the area that she would help me get to Qinglong street and also to the ancient temple just up the road. She guided me around for the next thirty minutes, even helping to suggest which things I might want to take a photo of and paying a small rickshaw fee for me.

Entrance to Qinglong Street

Qinglong Street

Ruili to Lianghe

In between Ruili and Yingjiang there's three long mountain ranges running north to south, these mountains aren't as sickening as the ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng however they are about as beautiful, the whole thee hour bus ride I never got bored of staring out the window. As you come down the west side of the last mountain the Husa river runs along the side of the road, it drops in elevation much quicker than the road allowing you to get beautiful views looking down the canyon to the river as the elevation difference slowly equalizes. 

The Winding Road to Vang Vieng

After my third complete day in Luang Prabang, I decided to venture south toward Vang Vieng. I woke too late to take the morning bus, leaving me the options of taking the night time bus or the van. Having survived two van experiences in Vietnam I decided to go for it. This van experience was more tourist oriented, no rolling around town picking up birds and random locals. The road south goes for 6 hours of curvy road through mountainous terrain, so be prepared to be rocking back and forth the whole time if you ever take this trip.

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Pig Brain in Ho Chi Minh

With one day left before my flight was due to leave out of Ho Chi Minh, I had to find my way out of Phan Thiet. My original intention was to get back by train, however after speaking to several travel agents in town the best price I could find was twice what Id already paid to get from Ho Chi Minh all the way to Nha Trang. Rather then trying to get to the train station on my own to fisk out the truth, I decided to purchase a ticket for one of the fancy tourist buses(no van this time).

The Road to Phan Rang

After running through my options for the next place to go I decided south would be my best bet. I'd have to make my way back to Ho Chi Minh eventually, so why not do it in a couple of smaller trips instead of going north and then having to take an 8 or 15 hour train ride back. The next city south, Phan Rang, was about a 2 hour ride away.

I approached a couple of tourist booking shops near my hotel and asked about trains or buses south to Phan Rang. There was a lot of confusion about the train departure times so I decided bus was the way to go. The guy at the last shop I visited said that it was too late for him to sell me a bus ticket, but that if I got to the bus station within 20 minutes I could still buy a ticket there for 150,000 VND.

Upon arriving at the bus station I explained where I was headed to the first person I saw. This guy brought me around to the other side of the station toward a small beat up white van with a card board Phan Rang sign in the front window. The guy then asked me for 200,000 VND at which point I turned around and walked away to go find my tourist bus, but then they guy changed the price to 75,000 VND and I decided maybe the van was worth a shot.

After about 15 minutes we left the bus station and appeared to be on our way, but as I would learn the van doesn't work quite the same as the bus. After about 5 minutes we pulled over at some random shop and one of the guys yelled something out the window at a group of people, one of the people stepped forward and hopped in the van. On the way out of town the van did this repeatedly, eventually picking up 4 people, a bird and a mysterious brick shaped package.

The Package