crossing the border

Make sure when you buy the ticket, that you get something IN WRITING that says you will be on the same bus the whole time. A lot of tourists get sucked into paying for a VIP bus only to be transfered to a very uncomfortable local bus at the border. --Advice from Lonely Planet

The bus ride from Hue, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos is said to be 20 hours if you manage to buy a ticket for the VIP direct bus. The bus leaves at 10am and arrives at the specified destination at approximately 6am. Sylvan and I shopped around a little bit before purchasing two ticket, $30 per person, on the 10am VIP bus. We had no idea what great adventures lay ahead of us.

Sylvan's alarm went off at 6am. He wanted to get up early and update his blog before spending 20 hours on a bus. I slept for another hour or so, got up, showered, and packed up our bags. Sylvan was still on the computer when I went out to find him. We sat down to have breakfast. It was 9:05. We had plenty of time.

Just as we finished ordering, the woman who worked the reception counter walked over to us and said "bus come 9:30." Having had a few buses and shuttles show up early, we were somewhat prepared for this change of plans. I went back to our room, grabbed our bags, paid the receptionist, and officially checked out of the hotel. 9:45, the bus had not arrived. I checked again with the receptionist. "10 mo minute.'" she said in broken English, "done worry." A few minutes later and older gentleman wearing a jacket approached us at our table and said, "Vientiane?"

We were off. We followed him out of our hotel and down the alley to the main street where his van was parked. It's not uncommon to take a shuttle to a main bus station so we weren't surprised to find a van in place of a bus. He asked for our ticket, which was actually just a receipt our hotel receptionist had given us. He took it, examined it, and put it in his pocket. I was a little concerned because that receipt was the only proof that Sylvan and I had, in fact, purchased bus tickets. We drove for a few minutes. Sylvan and I noticed that we were heading out of town so I asked our driver where we were going. He assured us, as best he could in broken English, that the bus was very far out of town because we were on the VIP bus, which apparently comes from some other town, by the main highway, and doesn't waste time or gas by coming into Hue. Well, what the heck. We drove for another 10 minutes or so before pulling over on the side of the highway at what appeared to be a truck stop. The driver made a phone call from his cell. It's impossible to tell what people are saying when they speak Vietnamese as I know absolutely NO Vietnamese. Because Vietnamese is a tonal language, it's also impossible to tell a person's mood from the way they speak. Most Vietnamese sound impatient and annoyed--- always. After ending the phone call with what can only be described as a grunt, he turned around and said to Sylvan and I "we wait here 10 minute." The driver then got out and smoked a cigarette.

There, on the side of some highway, in a rickety old van, we waited for our bus. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a bus pulled of the road and honked. The driver pointed, indicating that this was our bus. We ran across the highway, with our bags. Our van driver apparently gave the bus driver our ticket or communicated with him about our arrangement. I asked just to make sure and our van driver assured me that he had given the bus driver our tickets. Then the van driver patted Sylvan on the back, in a way a man might pat his son on the back, and wished us safe travels. It almost felt safe.

There were no other tourists on the Tourist VIP bus. No one spoke any English. A man pointed toward the back of the bus. Sylvan and I found our seats in the half empty bus. Thus began the 20 hour journey.


To be continued...