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Hanoi Backpacker Staff
These girls are worth their weight in gold. At 5.45 on Sunday night my 'transport' arrived. He was driving a packed motorbike and instructed me, "you walk now". So I dutifully followed him down the laneway stopping once to look back over my shoulder farewelling my loved and hated Hanoi Backpacker's .
At the end of the lane I saw the problem: 9 people all with huge backpacks needed transport to the bus station. There was 1 motorbike and 1 car to do the job. To say it was a squishy ride just doesn't cover it. In fact as we drove the 14km in peak hour traffic the local Vietnamese communters had a good giggle at the girl who was standing with her butt out the window. This is how the 24hour journey to Laos began!
The Sleeper Bus was comfy and in fairness it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. There were some great people doing the same thing, a few British couples, some German guys and Sandra, a Dutch girl who slept next to me. Together we made the most out of the situation and kept each other's spirits high.
What was meant to be a 5pm bus ended up leaving at
The front door
My home away from home. The Hanoi Backpackers 7pm, we also stopped at 8pm for a mandatory dinner. This means everyone must get off the bus and buy something. We complied happy enough to spend some of our last remaining dong. 30 minutes later we were back on the road.
It was lights out after dinner but it wasn't exactly the best environment for a decent sleep due to the insanely loud karaoke style music blasting out of the sound system. At 3am after various stops, starts, swerves and a few jolts due to heavy breaking I was woken by the hideous chanting that was STILL blaring from the stereo. That's not what I call a lullaby!
At 4am it was suddenly really hot. I realised why. The bus had arrived at the border crossing and the ignition was off, this left 42 sweaty bodies sleeping in a stuffy bus.
At 6am we were prodded awake to go and wait outside for the border to open at 7am. At least it was cooler outside. They tried to get us to pay for the crappy toilet but we all pleaded 'no money'.
Finally the boader opened and they allowed us to leave the country, but... not
Street Haircut
I love this! I took it in my final moments of Hanoi. until we bribed them! Yes, my first experience with bribery. They wanted $1US each for stamping us out of Vitenam, we begrudgingly indulged them.
At the Laos border there was none of the anticipated 'fake service stalls' the guide books warn about. We sleepily filled in the forms, attached the photo and handed over the cash- plus the additional $1US they stipulate on the highlighted, printed piece of paper sticky taped to the glass window for the 'stamping fee'.
Yay! We were in. All were ready for the jouney to continue but just as we were all dozing off to sleep again it was time for another break. After over an hour of waiting at yet another roadside restaurant we finally clambored back onto the bus. This time it really was full steam ahead. We pulled into the Vientiane bus station at 2pm, followed it up with a short pickup ride to the central area, found a cheap guesthouse and collapsed with glee onto clean sheets and embraced the fresh air generated by the whirring fan.
First impressions of Vientiane are great. The city is pretty, clean, obeys road rules, doesn't cause tentititis (s?) as motorists barely
Vietiene welcome
Sandra and I have our first Laos fruit shakes use their horns and has cute stores that I'm totally up for exploring tomorrow. I even think I could live in this city but since I've only been here for 6hours and getting here wasn't exactly a dream- I'll reserve that judgement for a bit later on.
All I can say is I'm happy to be in Laos!
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Mia
non-member comment
Fun Laos
Hi Chloe it was great to speak with you last night, thanks so much for calling. It's great to read your blog, I can't believe how annoying they made it on purpose! Imagine an Australian tour company doing that! It surely isn't all about the customer being right over there is it!? But your first impressions of Laos sould promising, I hope you continue to enjoy your time there. Speak to you soon sissy, love you lots Mia xxx P.s. Vegemite was waiting for my toast crust this morning and he was holding his teddy Marmalade in his mouth. This stops him drueling I have learnt. I was wondering if he would catch my crust in time if I threw it to him cause of course he would have to put Marmalade down first. I should never have doubted him, he would never miss a crust! He misses you too and sends licks and wags.