Crossing the China/Laos border

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I bought a bus ticket from Jinghong to Louang Namtha in Laos from the Mekong Cafe in Jinghong. At least they got the departure date right.

The bus left at 6.40am. I misjudged my time and ended up being the last passenger to board. I was the only foreignor on the bus. I had the worst seat in the bus - the back row side, so 2nd seat of 5 in a row. The back of the seat does not recline and in this case the window seat passenger was travelling with a long narrow box that he stored at his feet, streching into my foot area. I travelled the whole ride of more than 8 hours with one foot higher than the other, putting pressure on my butt and back muscles.

So we departed the bus station only to stop a few blocks away for breakfast! The bus could have left 45min later and just let everyone arrive having eaten already. I guess I was the only one surprised by the stop for breakfast.

After breakfast, we drove straight through to the border. Passengers have to walk across the border while customs checks the bus and contents. I had alot of fruit and snacks with me, so I thought I had to bring them in to declare. Turns out that they don't care about the fruit and snacks, it was simple to get through the China departure customs. I ate some of my fruit and snacks in no man's land between the borders, waiting to be told what to do next. Shortly after, the bus driver got me on a golf cart to be driven to the Laos border.

At the Laos border, I was asked to pay $44 US or 350 RMB for the 30 day Laos visa. Although I had been told the charge was $42 US for Canadians, I was also warned that the customs officials tack on extra charges for their pocket. I gave them $60 US, but they complained that they had no change and preferred RMB. I showed them that I only had 300 RMB (stupidly, the rest of my RMB was hidden in my pack on the bus). They took the 300 RMB and a $20 US and gave me $15US back. I definitely over paid for the priviledge of a 30 day visa to Laos!

The next surprise was that our bus was joined by two Laos travel guides in the parking lot of the Laos customs. It turns out that the bus was actually a tour bus for chinese tourists and they had simply sold two extra seats to individual travellers. Now that they picked up the two travel guides, one of the new guides who spoke some english told me to get off the bus and to arrange to catch another ride to Louang Namtha (2 hours away)!

I protested in angry Mandarin that I had bought a ticket to Louang Namtha and showed them the ticket. They still insisted that I find other transport and tried to bar me from boarding the bus. I was quite concerned about getting my backpack from the bus, so I pushed past them, accusing them of trying to keep my backpack. Once I was on the bus, the Chinese tourists came to my defense - probably because they could understand what was going on. The driver let me stay on the bus, saying I could ride to Louang Namtha.

As we just leaving the parking lot, one of the Chinese tourists claimed that his wallet or some money from his jacket pocket was missing (he had left it on the bus). The bus stopped and discussion ensued about his missing wallet/money. Because we were stopped in the parking lot, we drew the attention of one of the customs guards. Maybe he had also noted the earlier altercation with me. Anyway, he came over and started insisting that we all exit the bus and return to the customs station to go through customs again, with the possibility of be rejected entry, or pay a bribe to leave. There was alot of discussion back and forth between the guides and the customs official. Finally, half an hour later we left the parking lot - I don't know if the guides paid the bribe or managed to talk their way out of it. I kept my bag closs and was ready when the guides uncerimoniously dropped me by the side of the road, 10 km from the centre of Louang Namtha. At least I was able to catch a local tuktuk to the town centre.

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