Canada Day on the bus on our way to Laos

• Ericabg's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Luang Prabang

Trip Start Jun 01, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 27, 2008 Next
Entry

  Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Ok so our journey to Laos started on Tuesday Morning from Sapa.  We took a minibus to Dien Bien Phu, a city close to the boarder.   The bus ride was once again quite teh experience.  It was not a bus but a minivan as the road is too bumpy and windy for a big bus and we were about 20 in a 12 people car.  Needless to say, Sean was not very comfortable for most of the trip as these cars are designed for small asian people. Also, we find that Asians have trouble with being on cars.  There is always someone throwing up on a bus ride.  You think they would get used to the bumpy roads!!There were 3 others foreigners on the bus so we felt better about crossing the boarder.  WE arrived in Dien Bien Phu at about 5 pm where we bought our bus tickets to Laos for 5 am the next morning! We walked around the city for hte rest of the day with the other foreigners and got some food but didn't too much as we had to get up quite early the next morning.

The next day, we showed up to the bus station and we had hoped that only a few Vietnamese would go to Laos but we were wrong!! AAHAH you should have seen the bus when it pulled in the bus station.  It was alrealdy filled with bags of rice and other goods.  The alley was full with bags of rice and the passenger side of the bus had been taken out to allow more people to sit on the floor.  THere were tons of people on the bus and we were going probably 30 km/h because we were so heavy.  We stopped 20 mins after leaving for a one hour breakfast break where more stuff got loaaded on the bus!! oh god!  We reache dthe boarder and exited Vietnam no problem. Entering Laos took such a long time tho and Canadians are charged the most for the Visa.  We were not too please by that! Everybody paid about 30$ and we had to pay 42$ each but oh well no arguing about taht at the boarder. The bus ride was just as sketcy on the Laos side.  We crossed several rivers on the bus and the road was pretty windy but we made it alive to the final destination at about 3 pm.  There, we had to cross the river in a pretty tippy boat on the really fast moving river but once again we made it alive.  We walked to the bus station to discover taht our bus was leaving right now.  So we jumped on it with all the other foreigners and teh bus was once again very packed.  People were given children plastic chairs to sit in the alley. But all and all teh bus ride was fine and were got to destination really quicly.  There, we had to catch one more bus to our final destination.  Once again, we were told that the bus was leaving now so we jumped on it and off we went.  Everything was going smooth until we got a flat tire.  My headlamp came in handy for the bus driver to change the tire. So it tooke about an hour for the whole process and then got back on the bus.  We finally arrived in Luang Prabang at 1:30 am!!! WE were 7 foreigners trying to find a hotel for the night.  ONce again not so easy because we dont have the power when bargaining at taht time of the day!  But here we are ! I woke up quite early and SEan is still sleep ing so I thought I would update our blog. We will stay here for about a week and then move in a different city in Laos.

We were told taht this way of crossing the boarder would be faster and cheaper.  I dont think it was much cheaper and any faster but we got to stay an extra day in Sapa and the scenery across the moutains was awesome.  But I'm pretty happy that we are not getting on a bus for the next week or so because we just spent two full days on the bus!

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry