We (or many other tourists) have never been to Vinh in Vietnam. Vinh is the closest major town when crossing from one of the northern Laos borders which is why we are pitstopping here a couple of days. We had 3 long days of winding mountain road car travel & short visits to different places in Laos to make it across the border without doubling back over several of the places we had already been in Laos so we need a little break on stable land for a couple of days.
Arriving into Vietnam from Laos, there are immediately observable differences. The Lao are loud - they shout everything. We were unable to discern a reason for this from Loa or foreign people but all acknowledged that yes Lao shout about everything but it is in no way associated with being angry or with heightened emotion, it just is. Vietnamese people are relatively quiet. Traffic management however, is the exact opposite. Vietnam is LOUD with traffic, everyone uses their horns for all sorts of reasons, all of the time. Laos traffic, while no more ordered, doesn't seem to rely on the horn as a standard operating piece of equipment as they do in Vietnam.
Laos has more cars on the road, especially in Vientiane & Luang Prabang which is surprising. Laos has been enjoying a rapid increase in wealth (relative wealth) over the past few years & this seems to have resulted in an increase in car ownership. The problem with this is that neither city nor country roads are set up for this many cars so it can be chaotic & slow driving all the way. Vietnam has better roads, more lanes in cities especially but also fewer cars than Laos but more motorbikes, e-bikes, mini-buses, buses & trucks - all using their horns.
The border crossing we chose is not well patronised, except for enormous trucks taking gigantic trees from Laos across Vietnam for sale in China. China is certainly a spectre in Laos with lots of discussion about what China buys & owns in Laos. China was spoken about often, never fondly.
South Koreans are the number 1 tourist group in Laos at present so lots of signs & tourist information is in Korean. They are a tourist group that seem to be well respected in Laos as they seem quite fun & spend a lot of money. We met a few Koreans on our various journeys & they seemed bright & happy if a little crazy on the quad bikes in Vang Vieng. Western foreigners are seemingly rare. We are causing a sensation wherever we go with people stopping vehicles to look at us, people calling out 'hello' whenever they see us & being asked to pose for pictures several times a day, as well as the standard grabbing of my arms & poking my belly which seems to have become the thing to do. We are also having the chance to dig into the phrase book as there is very little English about which is nice as it makes us do a bit of work.
Vinh as a town doesn't have much to offer except a 4 lane highway, some big hotels, Ho Chi Minh's ancestral home & Cua Lao beach which is 14 kms away. For us, it is offering a swimming pool in the hotel, a place to rest & do laundry & to catch up on our colouring, games, tv-watching & sleeping. We move on from Vinh tomorrow & will say thank you, we are unlikely to see you again.
Top 5
1. Vinh traffic noise has confirmed for us that we are definitely back in Vietnam. It is gratifying that we are starting to be able to better understand the different regional ebbs & flows
2. It is nice to be able to call out 'sin chow' & 'hello' to all of the people happily calling out 'hello' to us. This simple exchange makes both sets of people happy
3. The excitement of communicating & being understood in another language is gratifying. It is great seeing Miss C becoming more adept at using different words in different places & for her being able to understand that the world speaks so many languages
4. The pleasure of a hot bath, clean sheets, freshly laundered clothes & some TV (for C) cannot be underestimated
5. We are laughing thinking about all of the photos that we are now in for people in this region. We are certainly objects of curiosity
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