37 Hour Journey We Wont Forget

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We left Nha Trang by train heading for a city up the coast called Vinh. We had researched the best way to cross into Laos and there really didn’t seem to be a way that was any way decent. All our internet searching and Lonely Planet trawling led to stories of scams, being dropped off at borders or waiting all night on buses waiting on immigration to open but we did read of a bus that went from Vinh straight to Vientiane so we decided to brave it.

The train journey was 20hours long. I didn’t really know what to expect cos as far as I could remember this was to be the longest continuous journey in one mode of transport that I have ever been faced with. We booked sleeper tickets – soft sleepers. This is the best ticket you can get and it basically means that you are in 4 bed compartment that closes over. When we arrived I was amazed at the size of it, it felt pretty cramped especially with our oversized backpacks and the luggage of the other man who first shared with us. We had top bunks. To get up you place your foot on a metal foot post on the wall and hoosh up onto a metal bunk bed. It was surprisingly comfy but a bit rocky at times.

The 20 hours passed with a lot more ease than I anticipated. Between food carts, people coming and going from our compartment (this happened lots), staff using spare bunks as sleeping posts (at one stage two female staff got into the bunk below John while a male staff sat on the end of it and they all had a nice chat!), toilet runs (yes literally toilet runs cos it was way too much hassle to get down and up from that bunk frequently), attempting to hold oneself upright on a train squat toilet (it is VERY difficult) and a good bit of sleep it was an enjoyable enough experience!

We met a very nice couple at about 9pm (we got the train at about 1pm). Both of them were obstetricians. They had plenty of questions for us about where we were from, what did we do (before I knew they were Doctors, rather than going into the whole OT speech it was easier to say nurse, OT’s you know what I’m talking about, it’s hard enough in English!). They then asked us were we married and of course the shock and awe in their faces when we told them we were going out 11years and no, we were not married. I thought the lady was going to drop off the bottom bunk in shock. There was the customary explanation of why we were not married followed by their suggestion to John that a present on woman’s day was necessary. This then was followed by do we not want kids? To which I replied of course, sure there’s plenty of time. Nosey (and slightly wanting to turn the tables on them cos believe me they were seriously judging our living in sin ways) me, I asked them did they have kids (they were late 30s easy) and they told us no. The guy swiftly answered that having children makes a woman fat (from an obstetrician) so they wouldn’t be having any!!!! They also attempted to invite us to their home in a city called Hue but of course we were going far beyond there and didn’t have time, we explained. We all headed to sleep after our chat, they left at about 3am, didn’t hear them leave which was really worrying. Glad there was no one looking for our backpacks! A very nice couple indeed but the cultural difference definitely shines through when you can chat to locals.

We got to Vinh and hopped into a taxi bound for the bus station as this is where the local ticket agent for buses to Vientiane is based. The taxi man took one look at us saw money signs. Not a word of English, the back pages of the Lonely Planet came in handy and we headed to the bus station…. Or a bus stop!! He stopped the car literally outside the train station gate and told us we were there. WE had read bout stuff like this so were prepared. WE negotiated for a minute and got him to call the number for the ticket agent to go to the correct location. When we got there, the next dilemma started…. No signs for the travel agent. We asked lots of people and no one had any coherent English. Some people kept pointing towards a building in the bus station yard; we went and asked at a few windows but no…. Starting to feel a bit dodgy cos I realised that this was very different to most other places we have been in Vietnam. It just wasn’t used to tourists and I really didn’t know if we were going to get on a bus too handy.

Then after about half an hour hanging around this man just turns up out of the blue and says “You were looking for me, your taxi called”. Weird stuff. We really didn’t know what to trust or whether we were getting into the biggest scam of our trip but we had to put faith in this man. We booked two tickets to leave at 1.30pm (It was now 10.30am). So he pointed us off with one of his Lonely Planet Vietnam books and told us to wander around for a while, get some food and come back later. Feck it, off we went!

Walking the streets in Vinh, it was clear that we were basically they only foreigners in town. We were stared at, no one could understand us, there was nowhere to eat, change money etc. So we just walked for ages taking in the city (it really wasn’t the nicest place). We tried to change money at one stage in a bank, when we walked in, no word of a lie; the whole place came to a standstill – the staff, customers, security man (who followed us from his hut outside). You could hear a pin drop. All we could do was laugh then everyone in there started to laugh. It was surreal.

On our way back to the bus station the guy who sold us the tickets stopped to let us know he was off home for a bite of lunch. We asked him about where we could get dollars and he took us into this jewellery shop where an old lady proceeded to ascend and descend stairs fumbling here and there eventually finding about 3 keys to open a safe. Then we did a bit of haggling and picked up some black market dollar and kip! The guy explained that this lady was very wealthy but it was only her and her husband who lived in Vinh. All her children had moved to far flung parts of the world and they were lonely. He said she was very unhappy even though she had all the money she could ask for. From looking at her, I think he was right.

So of course the bus was about 3 hours late. You can imagine the scam we felt we had signed up for (we had only paid half the fare so far but still). We also were concerned that the border was going to close at 6pm or so and it was to take 3 hours to the border…. It was now 4.30pm.Our helpful ticket agent reassured us there would be no problems and sent us on our way. He told us to pay the other half to the bus. (Ok so we may have been slightly scammed). We were to arrive in Vientiane early the next morning (6 or 7am).

When we got on the bus we were shoed to the back lower sleeper seats beside all the luggage… The beds were under a very low ceiling so we had to lie for the whole journey. I tried to swap but it meant that we would have been separated and it was basically all men and me and I was getting funny looks already. We had to grin and bear it. The guy collecting the money tried to fleece us for an extra 100,000 dong but we managed to tell him where to go. No one on the bus speaks a word of English, not a word.

It was clear that we were both anxious but we didn’t talk about it too much. The anxiety was mainly to do with the border, the lack of English, the trust we had to place in the people who have already tried to scam us for extra money, being the only foreigners on a bus full of men, the stories we have read and the total discomfort of the shittiest seats on the bus!! The journey to the border has to be one of the longest of my life. My mind was racing with thoughts of every worst case scenario. When I did mention something to John it would just be “hope the border is open” or “I just want to get the border over and done with”, not any of my scenarios!

So we get to the two borders after a scary windy mountain trek with a crazy driver. I ignore this stuff now; I just can’t let it get inside my head! I can tell that John is more aware of it cos he is at the window seeing the steep drops at each sharp turn. Both borders are open and all passes without a problem – damn research/stories. It was 8pm approx. when we passed through them so we can only assume it was a special arrangement with this bus?!!

The remainder of the journey is a bit less worrying (apart from the horrendously fast driving). We tried to sleep but got little. We stopped a few times for male outdoor toileting, no female options and I was busting! Next thing I know it’s 3.30am and they tell us we are in Vientiane…. We weren’t supposed to get there til maybe 6 or 7 so our research warnings flash into touch – they are dropping us in the middle of nowhere. It certainly looked like the middle of nowhere. Yes it was a bus station but not a capital city bus station. All I knew I had to run to the loo……

We asked some tuk tuk drivers, they agreed it was Vientiane. I ran to the loo thinking sure they are stopped, most people are getting off, and I can get my bag after. When I get back John is standing with the backpacks, the bus just rushed off, he was barely given time to get them, oops on my part! Luckily the only thing he couldn’t get was a small bag of food.

As it turns out we were actually in Vientiane! Our tuk tuk driver took us to a guesthouse where we had to wake up two young men sleeping in camp beds in reception to give us a room. 37 hours from door to door, a journey we will never forget. I tell ya the bed in the guesthouse was not that comfy but I slept like a baby!

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