Trying to leave Laos

The $4 bus to Savannaket left me with no bus to Vietnam that day and only the possibility of a bus the next day...I decided to continue north to Vientiane, hoping the capital would have a bus to Hanoi that night. No dice...So at 12:30AM after 16 hours on a full local bus with no ac, I went shareda tuk tuk with two french guys back to the Sabaidy 2 guest house for a $1.50 dorm room. The next day, I booked what was supposed to be a VIP double decker tourist bus, thinking I deserved to spoil myself after the unending local bus ride from the previous day (plus the station told me the local bus had the same $18 price tag).

Turns out, the price is the same because there is no real VIP tourist bus to Vietnam. The mini-bus picked up 7 tourists from Vientiane town center for the 8 km trip back to the bus station. We arrived at 6:45 to a scene of chaos...buses to and from Vietnam were sequestered in the back corner of the station and we were told by 4 different people to get on 4 different buses during the hour before our departure.

The dirty bus we wound up herded onto was packed to the gills with green mangos. They filled the luggage area and literally unbolted several seats in the back to get all the crates in. People-wise, there were about 8 locals, 2 brits, a finnish guy and myself, all with two seats to ourselves (very nice). We rumbled down the road at about 7:45.

It was quite dark by this time, but I could still read the ocasional road marker. We were headed south, back to Savannaket, to cross the boarder down there for some reason that is definitely beyond me...oh well, I spent 40 out of 60 consequitive hours on a bus. An experience I am not keen to repeat any time soon.

During the journey, we made friends with two locals, Phoung and Sau, who helped us order food during the journey and got us on a local bus from the bus station to our hostel once we reached Hanoi. They also invited us to their home for a traditional meal the next night. We whole-heartedly accepted and had a wonderful time eating noodle soup with vegetables from a hotpot in the center of the table. Phoung means direction and she is an answer to my prayers.