Lao PDR - From Vientiane to Hanoi - Travel Story
Overland - Vientiane to Hanoi
24 Hours of Fun To Hanoi
A few minutes before the bus arrived at the hotel to pick us up in Vientiane, a vicious storm blew in out of the blue. There was plenty of thunder, strong winds and heavy downpour combined with frequent power outages. As I stepped on the bus, I was first shocked to see only two other tourists, while the rest of the passengers were locals in the region. Within a few minutes all of us tourists were chatting about what we were told by the various travel agents regarding travel time. Some people were told the journey was going to take twelve hours, and others twenty-four. It took a good hour just to get out of the city, as the driver seemed to stop often, honk his horn, yell something and then drive off into the dark. Often though, people came rushing out with large packages that were put in the back of the bus. It seemed our bus doubled as a local delivery truck! Our last pick-up was a group of middle-aged men all slightly under the influence. One of them sat two seats away from me and proceeded to load up his bamboo bong for a little smoke. The home made bong made more smoke than an entire pack of cigarettes. I could tell this was going to be fun.
Of course the roads were horrible and the lights were still out, so we were traveling in the dark while it continued to pour. After a couple of stops we arrived at a small café around 3:00 and assumed we were near the border. We were right, but four hour wait in the cafe was unexpected.
When we finally made it to the border, we had no idea what to do. Do we wait on the bus or walk? Do we take our bags? It would have been easier if everyone did the same thing, but they all took off in different directions – some with their luggage, some without. Of course, nobody spoke English. We eventually decided to walk with our bags and we arrived shortly at the Lao immigration. We then weren’t sure if we were supposed to wait for the bus or keep walking. We had no idea how far the Vietnamese border was. Since there were only a couple of others from the bus waiting, we decided to wander across the bridge and up the hill. We passed building after building filled with Sony Vega flat-screen televisions, which we assumed were part of the “duty free store.”
Arriving at a building with only a partial roof and a Vietnamese flag, we walked around until people pointed us to the right officials. First we had to fill out a medical form, and then a customs declaration form. The medical form was then passed on to a “doctor” who stamped each form for 2000 dong, or 13 cents, and then we handed over our passports to another official along with the two forms. Our passports were graciously returned to us after we each paid a $1 “processing fee.”
After the bus was rigorously inspected (walls tapped, seats ripped out, luggage inspected etc.) we were finally on our way to Vietnam. At our first stop, after knocking one motorcycle driver into a field and banging into a tractor, we lost a window, as an old lady slammed it shut with the brute force of a feather on steroids. As expected, the shattered glass remained on the bus floor for the remainder of the journey. Other than that the rest of the trip went surprisingly well. The scenery around Ninh Binh was gorgeous and we were all awake to see it since horn honking seemed to be a national pastime practiced by everyone on the road. In order to enjoy the trip try not to focus on the road.
