Travel days suck!

After Sapa, we had to cross the border over into Laos. We had heard the northern border crossings were bad, little did we know. From Sapa we took a minibus to a town called Dien Bien Phu, which was very near the border. We were told it was 5 hours, it took 9. There was no room for our legs because all the luggage had to be placed by our feet. It wasn't bad at first, until the bus kept picking people up, and our 3 seater quickly became a 5 seater with no leg room. The roads were unpaved, but hey at least the scenery was nice. Once we got to Dien Bien Phu we walked about a 1 1/2 miles to our hotel and checked in. We asked the guy if he could book us the bus to Laos, and he couldn't. This might seem normal to most people, but not in South East Asia, where hotels and hostels are normally fighting for the chance to book your travel through them and make a few quick bucks on the side. This guy told us we would have to walk the mile and a half back to the station to get it there. So we walked back and got a ticket leaving at 5 a.m.! Oh well, we figured this bad day was over, and the next day we should be there around lunch, since the bus takes 6 hours. Like I said, little did we know. At 5 the next morning we show up at the bus station, and the guy tells us to get on. As we look in, we notice that there is bags of rice, potatoes, etc, in the back 4 seats, and two others. We ask him if he is going to put it on top with the rest of the luggage, he says no, we ask why not? He "doesn't understand" or simply doesn't care. Either way we are stuck with it. So Kristin is in a pull up side seat, and I am in a pull up middle seat, we can deal with it. Upon leaving, there are some upset people, especially the 3 guys that got to the bus after us, and are made to sit on a bag of rice, with their head at the ceiling (one of their buddy's that actually got a seat is throwing a peace sign in the pic below). We get on our way, and after about 3 minutes we pick up three more locals, who cram in, including one in my lap. This was just the beginning!

After every mile or so we pick up more and more people, and luggage. It never stops the whole time, we just keep adding. After about 3 hours we arrive to the border with 38 people in a 22 seat bus. Don't forget 6 of those seats are filled with bags. The last hour to the border, I counted 8 people I was touching at any one time, and none of them were Kristin. Needless to say the foreigners are in an uproar, but nobody cares. The border takes about 2 hours to get through, including getting ripped off by the Vietnamese guards who are exchanging Dong for Kip, the two currencies at about 3 times less than its worth, but say you must pay for your Visa in kip. After the first half of the journey the foreigners just wait by the bus, in which you have to fight your way onto to get a "seat", which means about 1/3 of a seat. No chivalry here! We were slamming old ladies out of the way to get on the bus...hey, they would have done it to us! Anyway, after rearranging for the 2nd half, we have a little better positions, meaning I actually have Kristin on my lap, instead of a stranger. We go about 1 hour, and get to the lunch break. Neither of us ate, because we were plotting our mission for a seat, which we got, at least as good as you can get. We are feeling lucky and thought we couldn't have too much longer to go. After about 45 minutes we get to a sign that says the road is closed from 12-4. Its about 1:30 at this point, so needless to say we get to stop for 2 1/2 hours, in which me and Kristin never leave our "prime" seats.

If we had to describe ourselves that day, Kristin would be the "pillow" and I would be the "lap". She had about 3 different ladies sleeping on her, including the woman that would only put her head on Kristin in between vomiting episodes.

So the 6 hour, 22 seat bus, took us on a 13 hour, 38 person ride from hell! We made it to Muang Khua... Unfortunately we have no money other than a $5 U.S.. Luckily we made friends with a couple from San Fransisco, who bought us a couple of very needed beers and lao lao (rice whiskey).

The next day we took a 5 hour boat up the river to a small town called Muang Ngoi Neua, and decided that was enough for the day. It was much better than the bus and was like something out of Apocalypse Now. The town is very small but with great scenery right on the river. We walked around that town and went and saw some of the caves nearby. It was a good way to relax and kick back.

The day after we took another 1 hour boat up to a transfer town, and got on a sawngthaew (covered truck bed w/seats), and travelled for another 4 hours to Luang Prabang. We finally made it to an actual Lao city, and it only took 3 days!!!!