hanoi-laos

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and then there were two.

so tamsyn flew out successfully. no missed flights this time. greg and i were left in hanoi in a BEAUTIFUL guest house room which i think is someone's house, complete with a tv, A/C, and a rack of CDs (including britney spears, and rosie o'donnel's "a rosie christmas"). we inquired about a bus to laos and were told that we would have to wait 3 or 4 days to get a laos visa. trapped in hanoi, our least favorite city, for 4 days! we asked another travel agent, and they told us we had to wait a week. desperate, we found a third travel agent, with a wonderfully sweet man working there who enjoyed his own sense of humor. "congratulations!" he exclaimed, after a few phone calls, "you can leave today and get a visa on the border!"

thus, at 6pm, we got on the bus to vientiane.

we were told the trip would take 16 hours, our longest single bus ride so far this trip.

we were crammed into a van, per usual, and delivered to the bus station. there, we discovered what the bus company seemed to have just suddenly noticed: no one had gotten on the bus yet, and already, the baggage compartments seemed to be mostly full. how ever did this happen, and what could they do? they set about badly shoving odd bags into the spaces between boxes, managing to be both inefficient and ineffective. finally, we were allowed to get on the bus. there were no assigned seats, so as soon as the door was opened, it was crazier than the last school bell ringing in middle school. everyone crammed to the front. we were lucky to get two decent seats. the bus filled in no time, leaving the driver and others outside, trying to figure out how to fit too much luggage into too little space.

once the bus was full, more people still wanted to get on. the driver pulled out little plastic stools and filled the aisles with them. the late-comers got to sit on these miserable plastic stools for the entirety of our journey. since there was no space for the luggage, the extra bags were shoved between people on stools in the aisle. any fire marshall would have had a heart attack just looking at this scene.

it had taken almost 2 hours to actually leave the bus station, but eventually, we were on our way. it was 8pm, and we all opened our books to settle in for a long trip. and then the driver shut the lights off. greg and i attempted to play cards by the light of passing cars, but soon we were on a long stretch with no other traffic. ah well.

the trip was long. there was no bathroom on the bus. every time it stopped, if you wanted to get off, you had to step on the armrests all the way up to the front of the bus because there was no floor space. once, while driving, the bus narrowly avoided hitting a cow, so it braked hard and swerved to the left. everyone, since we had no seatbelts, was pitched forward. those of us who had the luxury of seats just hit the seat in front of us. everyone in the aisle, leaning on the back of the person in front of them, or on an armrest, or against luggage, was pitched forward into a tumbled mess. i did not envy those seats.

just before dawn, the bus stopped. the bus driver got out with a matt and a pillow, and lay down on the sidewalk. we got the idea we were there for a while. the reason, apparently, is that we were near the border and it didn't open until 7am. one might ask, then, WHY did we leave so early if we couldn't even get through the border? but asking those kinds of questions is pointless. at any rate, it was nice to get off the bus and walk around.

the border was surprisingly painless. no children begging. no vendors at all, actually. we just went in and paid. i had forgotten our passport pictures on the bus for our visa, and i was desperately trying to explain to a guard that i had to just hop over to laos for just a moment to get my photos on the bus that had just crossed the border without us, and i promised i'd come right back to vietnam. no luck. fortunately, a picture of george washington is just as good as a picture of yourself, and the visa-man was willing to waive the photo for an extra dollar.

the drive in laos was beautiful. tall jutting lush tree-covered mountains, with the occasional exposed white cliff face, all with early-morning clouds still clinging to them. it is cooler here.

we grabbed a pickup truck taxi with a bunch of other foreigners and got to the riverside where there were apparently a bunch of guesthouses. it is a very laid-back atmosphere here, not much traffic or many large buildings at all. we got a place and ate dinner with the other foriegners. at SOME point, we saw a motorcycle for sale for $300, and greg and i got it into our heads the idea of making a bike trip from laos through to thailand. what an amazing trip that would be! we got 4 other guys on board for the trip, planning to help them find 2 more bikes.

sadly, the morning came with a bit more concern about things like safety and papers and maps and such, so it looks as if this idea is out. still, it could be possible for thailand, if we find a bike there. what better way to be immersed in the country and get the opportunity for amazing photos and meet people we'd otherwise never meet? we shall see...

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