From Hanoi, Vietnam to Vientiene, Laos
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2007
1
7
25
Trip End
Jun 2007
Vientiane,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Can't believe all the resteraunts in Whitby were shut !! I like the Magpie, although you have to share a table with other people cause its so busy ! Cant believe the weather in England either. I saw on the News E Anglia was hit bad. How is it your end????
We're now in Vientiene, Capital of Loas. Hurray we made it. We took the 20 hour bus ride from Hanoi, Vietname. It was the most horrific journey you could imagine. Graeme warned me not to take it. He said to remember 'Romancing the Stone'. Well , I think that would've been better. In my last blog I said how I hated the way that the Vietnamese treat animals, especially pigs, and how they're packed into small trucks, so that they're on top of each other. Well I've realised that that it also how they treat humans.
(WOw - a monk has just sat down at the computor next to us !! He's wearing a traditional orange robe. We were lead to believe that monks had very basic lives and were not aloud any possessions. This is not true. They have mobile phones ! I'm not sure where they keep them though !!!)
Back to the bus journey. OMG !!!! We were taken to a bus and told to get on with our rucksacks. I thought that was a good sign. Maybe the bus was half empty. Until we got on the bus.........The bus was full. Every seat, apart from the back row was taken and 2 other seats that had luggage on them. The isle had boxes, animal cages, and bags stacked one after another. Under the seats and the space where you put your feet on the floor ...more bags and boxes and linen. I shouted Gary to grab the back row...We had to climb over all the boxes and bags and finally make our way to the back row...to find out that that was even worse. THe floor space was completely stacked with boxes and bags, and the space above our heads to the back of the bus had peoples luggage squashed in it. THere was 6 Westerners got on the bus and we all sat at the back of the bus on the last remaining seats, squashed like the pigs. Every bump (it was a very bumpy road) would make the bags at our head fall down. It was 7pm and we would not get to our destination for 20 hours ! The man in front of me had 2 seats to himself, so I'd put my rucksack on his spare seat. HE wasn't impressed and moved to the front of the bus. (I'm not sure how). I took the chance to grab his seat to give us more space. Bad move.
About half an hour into the journey the bus stopped. "What is happening. Another 3 people???? No way"....." At the border we should all refuse to get back on the bus." " We should proteste" "They'll have to get us another bus" the Isralian boy said. "Good luck." "They won't be another bus" said the Austrian girl said. She had been travelling for 2 years and had endured being stuck in a pickup truck from Thailand to Cambodia, which apprently was worse. They managed to squeeze the 3 people onto the bus, rearranging the boxes and bags, piling them higher in the isle. I rearranged my rucksack on the seat next to me and decided to use it as a pillow. There wasnt any leg space, so I stuck my legs into the isle. I'd just managed to fall asleep, when the bus stopped again...half daised I looked to the front of the bus. The driver started pointing and shouting at me in Laos. I knew what he meant. I turned my rucksack upright on the chair and pointed to it. I quickly asked Gary to pass me his luggage and we pile things up on my spare seat. It was no good. Another 10 people got on that bus. Another man was sat next to me. Our rucksacks were piled upto head height next to us in the isle. We were sandwhiched in. No foot space below. No isle space to our sides. We were going to spend the next 11 1/2 hours sitting like frogs. The bus started moving. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stall. The Vietnamese/ Laos music was turned up to full blast. Every 2 hours, the bus would stop. We would climb the mound of boxes, cages, bags, etc to get out the bus, stretch our legs, and use the stinking wet hole that they called a toilet, taking with us toilet paper. It was at this point that I realised that those extra people that got onto the bus had been made to lie in the isle of the bus on top of the boxes and bags. To leave the bus we now had to climb over people.
We arrived at the border at about 5am. I'd managed to get some sleep by resting my head on a rucksack in the isle. We got off the bus. The border was closed. The sign on the door read. "opens at 7am". 2 hours to wait. I got back on the bus. THe bus driver was asleep. I returned to my seat and waited. At 7pm,we all got off the bus again. We were told to leave our luggage on the bus. We proceeded to fight with the crowds to get our passports stamped out of Vietnam, get our visas and get stamped into Laos. Theres no queuing system here. Whoever pushes the most gets served first. A boy pushed passes me handed over his passport and then pushed back passed me. I was tired and I pushed him back. Luckly he just laughed. The crowds suddenely disappeared. Only a few people remained. We were still waiting to get our passports back. We started to worry our bus would leave without us. Half of me hoped it had. I looked at the man behind the desk and pointed to ourselves to ask him about our passports. He just shrugged. People had came in behind us and had their passports back. They were from Laos. We're westerners. Simple as that. We were the last ones to get our passports back. We ran to the bus. Still there. Part of me glad, the other part not.
It was daylight. We were told to walk to the Laos entry point, and have our passports checked again by the guard before we got back on the bus. Things started to look up. The sun was shining. We were in Laos. The scenery was stunning. It was quiet countryside, but most importantly, there was no bikes. We were all glad to have left Vietnam behind. It was noisy and dirty. It was impossible to cross the roads and impossible to sleep with the noise. Peace at last. We got back onto the bus. During the last part of the journey, the roads had started to get very windy. I get travelsick, unless I can get a good view of the front window. Idecided the best option was to sit in the isle on a rucksack. The driver shouted at me and I tried to explain that I was travel sick. Within seconds a Vietnamese/ Loas man jumped into my seat thanking the driver. I was stuck in the isle among the luggage. I didnt mind. I could stretch my legs, and more importantly see out the windows. Along the way, pigs ran out into the roads. It was countryside, and we were ascending a mountain.
We arrived in Laos. "we're here Nikki' Gary yelled. We were all happy. I got off the bus and Gary threw our rucksacks through the bus window to me. SOme of our belongings had got lost in the jumble sale bus, magazines etc, but they were gone. The 6 of us westerners decided to get into a pick up truck and head for town. It took us hours to find a hotel with a vacancy. They were all full. I had picures of sleeping in the streets. I didn't mind. Nor did Gary. It was better than the bus.
We love Laos. We were going to miss out Vientiene as there isn't any sights to see, but the bus only came here. Now were glad. Vientiene is a quiet town, with nice little bars and massage places. But most importantly. Its not Vietname !!!!
