panic

Why do things go awry for me so often? Did I do something to piss off the gods? It feels like they are after me sometimes.

After a very traumatic Monday, and a better Tuesday, we've figured out where thing stand. Sort of. I have much less money than I was hoping to have at this point due to having to use cash only. My bank card was lost in Ninh Binh and the tickets I was planning to exchange for flights to Hong Kong, or maybe even Shanghai, are almost useless. The flight costs to Hong Kong are way too high (I'd have to fly from Ha Noi to HCMC, then from HCMC to Hong Kong, at about $500 each) and my tickets are only for $220 each. But still that's more than $650 in total, and right now, that's nothing to sneeze at.

The costs of the visa for China is double that of Vietnam, so we can't afford to go to Hong Kong, at all. We'd have to get another visa to come back out of the city. So, instead of heading to Hong Kong by plane, we will be heading to Nanning by train. Where is Nanning? you ask. I don't know exactly. I just know it's the furthest I can get from here. Or so it seems.

Looks like we'll be leaving for there on Friday, arriving sometime on Saturday. We will attempt to purchase onward tickets, but it looks like we'll have to wait at least 2 or 3 days to get another sleeper car as the trains are packed. No one can seem to tell me how to purchase onward tickets before arrival. So, we'll waste a lot of precious time in some city in the middle of China, before heading on to Shenzhen to visit Tommy for only a day or two, then back on the train to Shanghai. We'll be spending way more time travelling than enjoying anything, so I'm a bit perturbed at the turn of events, to say the least.

What was supposed to be the culminating "holiday" for the kids has turned into a luggage-dragging marathon across China. Darn those expensive flights and no credit card.

So, we're here in Ha Noi until Friday evening, hopefully. We are supposed to get our visas that afternoon and take the night train into China. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We'll have only eight days to make it across the country, all by train. Honestly, I'm not so confident we'll make it. But either way, it'll be a great story.