Travel Blog Chapter 15: Overnight bus out of Vietnam into Laos

It was evening time when I reached the bus interchange in Hanoi to take the bus to Vientiane, Laos. That day I scrimped on my food intake as I know it was going to be a long bus ride and having unnecessary bowel movement was not something I want to be coping with. The bus left the interchange at 7.30pm and I got to know the bus driver and some other passengers that would be heading towards the border crossing. It was going to be a long ride, around 17 to 20 hours and I spent the time talking to this Vietnamese girl who was studying in Hanoi and was going back to her home town during the weekend. The bus picked up a lot more passengers along the way and after awhile in the bus I had no idea where I was. From what I gathered talking to people, the bus actually passed through Vinh City, Hue and some countryside. I was totally oblivious of my whereabouts in the bus and I know that I would be reaching the border crossing before dawn.

Hanoi Interchange

Looking out of my bus window in Hanoi

One by one the passengers got off until there were less than 5 passengers in the bus. Finally the bus stopped and the sky was still very dark. It was around 3am and the engine was turned off. In my half awake state I wondered what was going on. The door of the bus was opened and the breeze blew in. The driver reclined on his chair and went to sleep. I woke up to the sun shining through the bus windows and saw a few other buses parked around this huge compound. Getting my bearings, I realized I was at Vietnam customs where I would be crossing over into Laos. I saw many travelers got out of the buses in the compound, stretching and making their way to the toilet. I was glad that my nature's call was to just relieve my bladder as the toilet was in quite a bad condition. The air was very cold that morning and I was shivering when I got out of the bus.

I gave the driver my passport as he was collecting them to be stamped and we drove towards the customs. It was going to be a very messy affair crossing the border. The driver gave the customs officer my passport and when I checked my passport there was no stamp. I had to go back to get them to stamp and had to pay 1 USD for leaving the country. Eventually it was done and I had to walk to Laos custom while the bus drove through. The process at Laos customs was much better and faster. I waited at a convenience store while the bus came through the customs to pick us passengers up. I had to pay 200000 dong more to continue my journey into Vientiane. It was extortion.

The bus continued the journey into Laos and as I looked out of my window the landscape has change dramatically from that of Vietnam. Even though Vietnam was a developing nation, there was still enough semblance of similarities to city life in Singapore that I could relate to but Laos was very backward in comparison. There were miles and miles of villages with huts with thatched roofs. You would see women bathing or washing their hair by the side of the road. You could see rolling hills and by the side of the road where the bus was moving there would be forested greenery for miles at one time. Finally we arrived at a more urban setting amnd we stopped at a road side eatery for lunch. I got to know one the travelers on the bus who was a Vietnamese and worked for the foreign embassy in Thailand. He was stopping over in Laos to visit his wife before crossing into Thailand from Laos. To my surprise he could speak Mandarin.

Vientiane

After the lunch, we continued our journey to Vientiane and finally arrived at noon. From the bus interchange, I took a tuk tuk into the town central and tried to find a hostel that was listed in my "Laos Rough Guide" and to my dismay was no longer open. Rough Guide needs to update their guidebooks more often. Around the corner I found a hostel called "Sabaidee Hostel" and seeing that it was quite cheap at around 5 USD a night I checked in.