2 Business Cards and The Journey From Hell!

6.15pm.
Having enjoyed the birthday of Thai Thinh's son Lee, i had a last coffee with my friend next to the bus departure point. The toy car present for Lee went down a treat, as did his mum's food again!

6.45pm.
A sad goodbye and then i boarded a small bus to Vientiane with several others joining but with different destinations. I relaxed back for 10 minutes to watch a few reminders of the busy Hanoi lifestyle and prepare for the next place.

7pm.
Everybody moves to a larger bus and i am pleased to see that the business card marked 'bus to vientiane' is sufficient to act as my ticket. Thai Thinh had arranged with a director of the firm my ticket for 16 dollars. I am also informed on asking the man taking the tickets that we would transfer in Hatinh as ther wonly 5 of us going to Vientiane.

2am.
Arrival at a cafe in the middle of nowhere somwhere in Hatinh region though for sure. We all leave the bus and are encouraged to either get some food or strectch our legs and we do need it too! Here i meet the other 4 people heading my way; Mel a 56 year old Aussie, Tatsu a quiet 20 year old Japanese guy, Febe and Ella two English girls on their Gap years. We ask our driver about the change of buses but several times he chooses to ignore us and go to the back of the cafe. Next to us is another bus by the same company heading th opposite way to Hanoi. It becomes clear that 2 girls from their bus were going to Laos too bu they left on another bus 10 mins ago!

2.15am.
We are left in confusion and frustration as not only does our driver continue to ignore us but he also starts to laugh constantly. One woman and one woman only speaks broken English and she says accomapnied by hand gestures from others that we must wait until 7am for another bus. It is also explained that another man has rooms if we wan to stay in hotel. He later turns out to have a trendy mobile phone and also own the cafe. However on many previous requests for a phone to use we are rudely refused. I dont mind being refused but the cafe has its own telephone number pasted on the front sign and we were willing to pay whatever and they knew it! We became a laughing spectacle to many of these people and it wasn't funny! I f went back on the bus we would be going the wrong direction and also who knows what the driver would do next. If we stayed then we had to hope in a group of people so unbelievable it was untrue!

2.30am.
Our bags were unloaded and to the disbelief of those still having to use the bus we were left at the cafe to fend for ourselves. Me just with a business card as my ticket!

4am.
The shutters on the cafe are closed and our existence ignored for everything including an hour sleep on the floor, we stayed in the cafe. The feelings were high, trust deservedly low and the future extremely uncertain.

7am- 7.30am.
No bus and no acknowledgement by anyone at the cafe or nearby. Nobody able to speak any words of english or interpret the drawings or attempts made by us. One young lad waving trucks off the orad for food was able to give us a later time of 2pm though. Great!

8am.
I searched out a nearby phone at a small shop. Our choices were now to listen to the claims of a possible 9am bus with no possible use of our tickets anymore, try and get to nearby Vinh for a bus i had previously heard impossible to catch over the border or contact Thai Thinh wit ha chance he could maybe talk them around. We chose the latter as the abandonement of being where we were and the reality of the other buses was known to be extremely faint. I called and after 30 mins and several calls i was imformed to wait at the cafe and if a bus comes try to get on it, paying if needed! He would talk to the senior manager or director of the travel company.

9am.
A bus arrives and the cafe owner appears from the back, meanwhile three guys get off the bus and a heated discussion continues over the topic; us! Money is counted and i sense that Thai Thinh has managed to help us, the girls rush forward trying to board and other things but i was very clear to them and told them to sit back down. From now on if we wer going to get to Laos then i would probably have to suss some more things out on my own. Waving their tickets they moved back and i gave little contribution to the discussion between the men. Now a few hours ago when really neede i asked this man to pay and use his phone, now he is paying for 5 of us to get on the bus with these guys, work that one out! Finally after negotiation we assured of passsage to Vientiane and we borded an otherwise empty bus (another strange fact!).

1pm.
The border, a deserted place high in the mountains surrounded by clouds and raining heavily. The officals (all two of them!) are at lunch, we wait an hour and a bit. In this time are attention is either watching the bus does not leave or talking to an English/Swedish couple who had managed to find and board the cramped bus from Vinh. They were then in front of our eyes told and physically shown that they would transfer to our bus by one of the main guys from each bus.

2.30pm.
The visas have been stamped wrong as just before we leave we rush back int oto correct the problem, otherwise we would have severe problems explaing a 15 day stay on a 7 day stamp! Issue resolved we board the bus. All except the couple that is, a comotion ensues and as i struggle to stop the drivers it becomes clear that our saviours are as bad as anyone else! To watch in disbelief and unable to help more or risk my own seat (which wa sworked so hard to gain) and to have unable timely support from the other who were sat near the back the bus pulled away leaving the couple at a dangerous border crossing on their own and a long way from the next town. I tried to stop the drivers with claims they would be paid to take them but they really did not care at all. I know how it feels to be left and i promise if i could have done more i would but if such a thing happens to you you will understand i am sure! So now try sit back and relax...

5.20pm.
We end the long twisted road from the mountain border at a t-junction where we know we have to turn right. We turn left but shortly pull over and have a stoppage. Efforts are made to try and discuss lightly a few matters but the impression is given that we are going to turn around and head the right way along the main road to Vientiane. Some people also feel as though we are waiting for something and i recall watching the guy count some cash before stopping.

5.40pm.
A bus going the other way is topped, i see the driver give some money and the old couple who obviously run this local transport debate the effort of fitting 5 westerners complete with large packs onto a bus already to full fit another person through the door. We are urged on and squeezed in but not without them trying to charge us first. At which point and while others started counting money out i bluntly told the man i had seen him pay them something already and that we would pay nothing. There was silence and we baorded for free, sold just like the animals kept in the hold below! Scooters on the roof, rice bags littering the isle way, 3 people to every seat, luggage everywhere and not one cm more of room we set off for Vientiane on at least a 5 hour journey!

10.10pm.
The feeling of arrival in Vientiane was ecstatic but subdued. Standing for 2 hours, sitting on the floor of the isle for a further 2 and lukily lying there for one was made better by the trust we had in actually knowing we would arrive. Reflection on the experiences and people we had encountered though was worrying and but for the phone call and a very trusted friend we would still havea 5 hour wait to chance our luck with the next bus on the following night. This almost certainly would have cost us and staying at the cafe would have been destroying. Febe, much like one of those people ruching to get off the plane but inevitably heading for the same exit as everybody else decided to act quite immature and make stupid comment! Thank you for a little gratitude young lady and im sure your hurry will pay dividends!

10.45pm.
Me, Mel and Tatsu all caught a lift into the centre , found some accomodation and went for a nextremely well deserved beer! There who should walk in but my German friends Sebastian and Thomas who had also left Hanoi on the 12th March and also claimed to have ahad a really bad journey! We enjoyed a few Beer Lao and some food and made plans for the next few days and some rest. We have our birthdays to prepare for!

written by  50watts on March 14, 2006 from Vientiane, Laos
from the travel blog: Ending 2005 and Starting 2006
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