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It is possible, I did it in 2004 August. By far the simplest way is to get on one of BeiJing-Ha Noi trains (stops
loads of places along the way including GuiLin and NanNing), but these get booked up quite early (in the summer at
least) so you might want to contact a travel agent in advance. We didn't get tickets for the train, but still managed to
get all the way from Guilin to Ha Noi in one day.
We took a bus from GuiLin to NanNing, then transferred between
bus stations in NanNing (a very long taxi ride), and took a bus to PingXiang. PingXiang is about 10-kilometres from the
border itself (Friendship Pass) and when we got off the bus we were descended upon by loads of locals who set about
fighting over who was going to load us in to their little truck thingies.
This was quite scary as none of them
spoke any English and kept holding up signs telling us the others were going to rob us, etc. One guy followed us all the
way to the border holding a sign saying this.
Inevitably, about halfway to the border up this dirt track of a
road our driver stopped and demanded we pay him a lot more than the agreed price, and got a few of his friends to
conveniently turn up ... we just got out and told him we were OK to stay there, and we weren't gonna pay him anything.
Then one of the other drivers turned up and drove us to the border. To be honest, we arrived about 18.00H and
this might have been a mistake, as there weren't any other options at that time. There were taxis at the bus station, I
think we should have been more forceful and got in one of those, would have made the whole process simpler! Still, was
OK in the end.
We then walked across the border. On the Vietnamese side (possibly because it was late-ish) no
one would stamp our passports or customs forms, we eventually got in a taxi which took us a couple of hundred metres
down the road where they did stamp our passports. We then drove back up the road to hand in our customs forms!
Anyway, eventually the taxi drivers took us to their friend's minibus which was headed for Ha Noi (we paid about
USD$15 each - quite a lot, but again, it was quite late). Got to Ha Noi about 21.00H, not too bad!
Anyway, I
thought some detailed information might be helpful! If at all possible, get on a train across the border, if not then
try and start from NanNing early, I think a lot of our troubles were caused by being there not long before the border
closed for the day.
alp117
2004DEC08
WomPom comments:
The direct BeiJing/Ha
Noi train only runs twice weekly and is
a hassle at the border;
The border is only officially open
07.30H-16.30H;
This is very interesting information - alternate to waiting
overnight;
This is
the remote gas station scam. |
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