Border Crossing: From Laos to Vietnam

I was planning to go to Cambodia via the south exit point of Laos but I didn’t receive any confirm information that it’s open. I browsed the web hoping to find any confirmation but unfortunately I didn’t find any. I really wanted to do this route because I wanted to see the Mekong river dolphins in Pakse but it seemed that I couldn’t, unless I go there and retrace my way back to Vientiane.

So my other option was to go to Cambodia via Vietnam. For some reason, Vietnam was not really part of my plan.

I booked a bus in Vientiane going to Hanoi. Everything was all set and there seemed to be no problem at all until we reached the bus station. The bus that I booked was already full, it had already left and there were no other bus going to Hanoi for that day. Damn it!

(definitely not the vip bus, that i paid for)

The guy who picked us up told me that the only option that he could give us was to rebook it for the following day. It wasn’t really that frustrating for me because I don’t have any schedule to follow anyway. However, I didn’t want to stay a day longer in Vientiane.

I started walking around and checked out the remaining buses in the station. I compared the name of their destinations with my map and I found one bus going to Vinh (Central Vietnam). I asked the guy if he could transfer me to that bus instead and he agreed. The other tourists tagged along with me.

We paid for a VIP bus going to Hanoi and we got a “chicken bus” going to Vinh. It was cramped and uncomfortable, the only thing that frustrated me was that it felt like I was cheated. I couldn’t afford to waste money. Well, life’s sometimes a b*tch, so I just dealt with it and tried to enjoy the ride.

After some agonizing hours inside the bus, I smelled something different. Some goddamn tourists were smoking pot at the back of the bus. I really don’t care with whatever they were doing, it’s just that my backpack was also at the back. There’s not much space in this bus and those guys were sitting on top of everyone else’s bags. I heard some horror stories about people slipping drugs or controlled substances to other travelers’ bags and paranoia struck me. I didn’t want this to happen to me, who knows what the policy in Vietnam about drugs is, right?

(vehicle checkpoint area)

I was able to pull my bag and placed it in front of me. And unfortunately, it ate whatever leg space I had. Anyway, I turned on my flashlight and started checking my bag, it’s very dark and my backpack is like the “dump everything from the top lid” kind of bag.  I was only able to check ¼ of the contents and I just gave up. I was disturbing my seatmate in the process and I really couldn’t see well even with the torch at hand. I just hoped that there’s nothing there that would get me into trouble.

Alas! We arrived in the border a little early than expected and we waited for a couple more hours until it opened.  We did the usual routine, exit, entry, paid this and that and got stamped. Finally, Vietnam!

(Cao Bai Immigration)

I thought the waiting game was over, the bus driver told us to wait for one passenger that was held at the immigration. The officers suspected that this British guy had a fake Vietnam visa, which I found very intriguing. Who would fake a visa to get in to Vietnam, right? All his friends said that they got the visa from the same agency back home and all of them got thru except for this one. After waiting for five hours, everyone had decided to leave him (including his friends) there to sort it out. I'm pretty sure, it was an awful situation to be in.

(Vinh, my entry point to vietnam)

To cut the story short, we got to Vinh, took another bus to Hanoi. After the grueling 18 hour bus ride I finally got to rest on a flat dorm bed at the Old Quarters in Hanoi laughing at every misadventures that happened along the way.

Welcome to Vietnam!!!