Scam in Loas (Bus ride from Savanakhet to Pakse)

Scam in Laos (Bus ride from Savannakhet to Pakse)
Never second-guess! We caught a bus ride from Savanakhet to Pakse. A ride that was supposed to take 4 hours (and easily could have without all the stops) turned out to be more than 6 hours. The bus driver and his business minded wife (complete with trusty clipboard) stopped constantly along the way picking up and dropping off people, parcels and other goods while other buses sped by. In particular, one stop took almost an hour at a rice refining shop where “the sidekicks” loaded the bus full of bags of rice. Geoff thought the machine they used was interesting as it spat out rice husks making a huge pile in the back. It wasn’t surprising to experience the stops but watching as all the travelers’ backpacks got sorted and lifted to the top of the bus was unusual.
Later, when we started passing vendors and brick houses we knew we were getting close to Pakse. Then, when a songthaew (pick up truck with benches) sped beside the bus and the bus driver slowed down to a stop we figured there was something going on. The songthaew driver with a big smile hopped on the bus yelling at the backpackers "Pakse, Pakse, get off here!" As he was yelling I saw all the travelers backpacks get loaded on to the songthaew without our permission. So, Geoff and I got off to see what was going on. We were told there was no bus station so we were being dropped off here to catch a 4km ride into town in the songthaew. It did not seem right to me so I questioned why none of the locals are being sent off the bus and only 'Farangs' (foreigners). Simple answer we received was that 'the other passengers are heading to a different town!" We wanted to get back on the bus so we grabbed our bags out of the Songthaew. As I was questioning the whole situation the bus driver's wife went to a French traveler who spoke Laos to translate the situation. We refused to take the songthaew which was charging 10,000kip per person, at 8 farangs that’s a cool 80,000kip which is basically outrageous for a shared ride. We didn't make it back on the bus in time before it left so we stopped at a pho (noodle soup) stand to eat. We were told there was a hotel about 1km further down so we marched ahead not really sure where we were. The hotel wasn't up to snub, and we weren't getting any help from passers by so we stopped at a small pagoda where a stone Buddha was being colourfully decorated with braided flowers and offerings of incense were left by locals arriving on their motorbikes. Eventually, we were able to hitch a ride the rest of the way. The road to town was straight, indicating the bus would have needed to pass through the town before heading to the bus station. Later we found out there were actually 2 bus stations in Pakse and locals do get dropped off in town. We figured the scam was to split the money of the songthaew ride when the bus driver met up with the songthaew driver further down the road. We wished we got back on the bus because there was also a local going to Pakse that Geoff was chatting to earlier who obviously hadn't gotten off (but we hadn’t thought of it during the confusion). Lesson learned.

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