Dec. 4- Bus Ride from Vietnam

Dec 4

I know I am behind. I think you will understand after reading this.
Friday morning, we left Diem Bien Phu, Vietnam for Laos by bus. The ticket cost about $4.50, and it was supposed to be about 6 hour trip. At the hotel in Diem Bien, the receptionists told us it was difficult but I “thought” she was just uniformed or trying to get us to stay in Vietnam, after all this border has been open for more than 2 years..

The bus was scheduled to leave from the local station at 5:30 and because we hadn’t bought our ticket yet, we needed to go early. We bought the ticket and saw that there were only 2 others signed up to go, even though it was a 26 passenger bus. We found the bus, got our seats and stored our bags inside the bus. This bus was really more like a shuttle bus at the airport and was already filled with many boxes. I thought maybe they don’t worry about the number of passengers because they are hauling so many boxes. Well, unbeknown to me, this was only the tip of the iceberg. More passengers began to come and more boxes. Soon, not only were there lots of passengers but tons of boxes-I am not exaggerating. Finally, can some heavy machine parts. Now some of these were put inside and above. If any of these rolled or fell, hitting you, it would be “curtains” for sure-no safety. The back of the bus sagged so low I thought we would never get out of the station. What had a sign on for now!! It look like a death trap for sure.

Around 6 am, we pull out. Now it is 35 KM to the border and road is paved but single lane. The bus seems to be holding up ok, but I can hear things rolling around. There are 4 other tourists passengers on the bus too, who I had met last night, but we really couldn’t talk because of how we are sitting. Going to the border, even thought I thought we were beyond saturation, along the way, I am thrilled to see the driver, stopping at every local village, finding new passengers and boxes. There is no Limit!!

The road to the border gradually gets narrower and narrower, but the bus chugs along. Then one local colorfully dressed woman starts to go into hysterics. I am not sure what she is saying but I learn that she has left her passport or legal paper work in home, so now she wants the driver to turn around. Wow! The bus driver make a calls-yes, he is using this cell phone while driving.

We arrive at the border. I am now sure how this will go but I got my Visa already so it should be a breeze. Everyone gets off the bus and into a line where a VNese immigration official is pressing some sort of temperature instrument to the passengers forehead. He is checking for swine flu!! No one is sick, and I am not sure what they would do if anyone was sick. I guess they just deny them entry.

This crossing go fairly smoothly as we are there only business. I talk to the immigration officers who have nothing to do-bureaucracy at its best!! One offers to exchange my VNese Dong money for Lao Kip. Of course this is all under the table and at a good rate for him. But I do it as we need some local currency. Now, I have to start thinking about costs in a different currency. Always some adjustment. The bus and passengers go about 6 km where we go through much of the same rigamarole(??) except that this time the border officials scan the bus for “terrorists materials”. I am not sure how they would get anything out of this “sardine can”... but luckily, that isn’t an issue. A Lao official tells me that it about 6 more hours to Muang Khua, which is my end destination, which turned out to be fairly accurate but that only tells one small part of the story.

This last 6 hours were the most horrendous of any bus ride I have ever been on. I know my guardian angel was working overtime and beyond. I thought I could easily die. Many times I just wanted to get out and go back, even though we were in the middle of no where. The road was really a gravel path, constantly climbing through a morass of heavy green landscape with no signs of life. Sitting next to the window, I could see only mountains and jungle. The obstacles on the road were always a challenge too. Sometimes the bus would just ford across a shallow stream because there was no bridge. One time, we had to all get out and walk across a suspension bridge, while the bus driver drove through empty. Luckiy the suspension bridge was not too high or difficult, otherwise I would have been stuck there. Ha!! Of course, the bridge did sway, and I saw some of the thin planks cracking from the footsteps of a fellow passenger ahead of me and he was much lighter in weight than me. Ha! So, I crossed with gingerly and praying the whole time. Another time, the bus stopped because of a landslide and there was a bulldozer clearing a path. We must have sat for over an hour. Finally, the road was wide enough, so the driver proceeded slowly and carefully(thank god he was a good bus driver) I really wanted to get out and walk but I didn’t. The road seemed like soft clay and bumpy but we inched forward, swaying all the way. I thought someone just sneezing would put us over the edge-And I mean edge-because, from where I was sitting , it was straight down. Death for sure. No one on the bus was speaking. My silent prayer mantra was racing in my head. I think I have used up all of my 9 lives on this trip.

As we continued to drive on, the road seemed to always continue to climb. I thought it would never end. Finally, we there was a decent, with some small villages along the roadside. Sometimes the driver would stop to load or unload people or boxes. When we got to our destination, there was suppose to be a ferry to take up across the river, but for some reason no ferry. We then had to use this long boats which worked ok.

I was now at Muang Khua, which is only a small village, but few guest houses. More about this later..

I hope everyone is good. Special “Hello” to my Father.. I am praying for you. Love Roger