|
  | |  |
Welcome to Vietnam
Entry 10 of 25 | show all | print this entry |
We hit a slight snafu when it came to leaving Laos: Vientiane, transport hub, was closed to foreigners for the ASEAN summit. Much conspiratorial whispering amongst tourists (I refuse to call us travellers - please: get over yourself) about why - did the Lao think we would lower the tone? Pose a security threat? Personally, I think it was simply No Room At The Inn. Imagine ten heads of state plus wives, seconds, officials, security, hangers-on and media descending on, say, Derby, for a week and you see the scale of the problem.
Consequently, all flights out of Louang Prabang were booked solid and the usual bus route to Hanoi via Vientiane was closed. So we did a gruelling three day trip via an only-just-opened route.
First day: bus from Louang Prabang to Phonsavane close to the border. This took us up Route 13, the other road allegedly plagued with banditry. Unlike our bus to Louang Prabang, this time our bus had an armed guard. This was both reassuring and unreassuring. More spectacular scenery and no traffic for 8 hours. Phonsavane is the gateway town to the Plain of Jars, allegedly one of Laos' premier tourist attractions. It's a plain, with a bunch of old jars on it. No-one knows who made them, or when, or why. Since, it's pretty obvious that they really aren't that interesting, a side-line tourist attraction of UXO (UneXploded Ordance) is being developed. The whole Laos/Vietnam border was, of course, the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Plain of Jars, being the only flat section, was of particular strategic significance. Laos, in the late 60s and 70s, gained the dubious distinction of being the most bombed per capita nation on earth, a statistic which is frequently morphed into being most bombed nation - but remember Laos is pratically empty. Statistical quibbling aside, the Americans did drop a lot of bombs to almost no military effect (but don't get me started on strategic bombing) and about 30% of them haven't exploded yet. So UXO is both a tourist attraction and hazard.
Phonsavane hotels generally have a UXO collection in the lobby. Ours even had a couple of bomb casings cut in half and turned into flowerpots. "It's a hippy's dream!" said Paul. Um, yee-es.
The next day we headed for the border. Up at five to take a mini-bus with 8 other tourists. The road was surprisingly good and we were at the border at 8am. We lost two of our companions on the Laos side due to their Vietnam visa not being good to travel. Once through the Laos side, ritual humiliation and a good shake-down commenced. Get passport stamped. Walk 100 yards up a dirt track to second office. Get departure form. Fill in departure form with concentration of extremely dilligent students sitting important exam. Some questions utterly baffling and not previously seen on practice papers. Walk 100 yards back down dirt track to first office. Get form stamped. Get sent to "medical office." Fill in form swearing against existence of any symptoms of SARS. Medical officer claims this costs a dollar. As I have just lied about half of the symptoms (shortness of breath, cough etc) not in a position to argue. Hope I don't start coughing. Passed to customs officer, who takes my bag apart. First up is my large plastic bag of (legal) drugs. Medical officer pulls out a random pack of pills. "SARS?" he demands. No. Malaria. Whole thing is an exercise in humiliation but two can play at that game which is what your dirty underwear bag is for. Welcome to Vietnam.
On the Laos side we had met a tuk tuk driver who explained the nearest town was 25k away and the only travel option on the other side was a motorcycle taxi. Six of us clubbed together and promptly hired him on the proviso that we told the motorcycle drivers we'd hired him in Phonsavane. They are not keen on people poaching "their" tourists. Over in the customs house we found the other two members of our group - a young couple from Limerick - who had not engaged the tuk tuk driver in some distress at their options. Paul and I agreed to intercede with the tuk tuk driver but that wasn't going to happen. The motorcycle drivers had their blood up and the Irish couple, now close to hysteria, were tossed, like human sacrifices, over to them. They were last seen claiming that they couldn't pay the 4USD charge as they only had 3USD each, a tactic which we admired for it's implausible but bare-faced cheek until it dawned on us they were telling the actual truth.
OK - how stupid do you have to be to turn up at a remote border crossing between Laos (a country which possesses no ATMs) and Vietnam with only 3USD in cash on you? What border crossing did they think they were at - Tijuana/San Diego? Apparently they were planning to use the ATM on the Vietnam border. Unfortunately, this particular border crossing had only been open a few months, it was in a section of Vietnam heavily bombed during the war and subsequently ignored, the Vietnamese were still in the middle of constructing a road to it, and the fully-featured shopping mall was still a twinkle in the architect's eye. The closest ATM was in Vinh, a mere 300km away. Oh, well.
Meanwhile, we were bobbling down the dirt track / partially built road in our tuk tuk to the nearest small town 25km away. Along the way, some construction workers hitched a lift. Once in the tuk tuk, one of them opened his bag and showed off his loot: a mortar shell, still encrusted with mud from where he had picked it out of the ground.
Terrific! We are in a tuk tuk with no suspension on a dirt track with an unexploded mortar shell on board. Paul and I went silent as we separately attempted to estimate the size of a mortar explosion. Bigger than the tuk tuk, we gloomily concluded.
From the town, we had our first experience of the Vietnamese national sport: gouging foreigners, when we were charged 10USD for the public bus to Vinh. (Local price 2USD). It turned out the road hadn't been built pretty much all the way to Vinh so it took 8 hours of BumpBumpBumpBumpBump. To make matters worse, the bus was pretty full. Paul and I, who had unwisely picked the back - and most bumpy - seat were squeezed into a space meant for four along with three rucksacks and three more passengers. We didn't have enough space for all four legs on the seat at once, so we took it in turns to hook one leg over the other.
The following day we took the bus to Hanoi: it was empty and the road was sealed. We were there in four hours.
So first impressions of Vietnam: dirtier, dustier, food not as good, people not as friendly or honest - Laos is going to take a lot of living up to.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Vietnam or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
4 votes 
