Even after deciding that our best course of action would be to head north to the border crossing near Muang Khua, we didn’t actually finalize that until early in the morning at the bus station on a hill above Sam Neua. We stood there with some new friends, backpacks sitting in the dust, and tried to figure out if there was actually a bus to Vietnam that day or not. One guy, large and gregarious, was convinced there was in fact a bus, and kept repeating the name of the town it goes to while pointing at the sign for it above one of the bus bays. It wasn’t until a couple ladies showed up to unlock and staff the ticket window that we got a firm ‘no, there is no bus to Vietnam until well after Tet.’ I’m overstating how smooth and clear the conversation was (Google Translate was involved, and not very effectively) but we did get a clear answer. We bought a ticket to Nong Kiaow and stood around chatting with our fellow travelers.
Little did we realize, we had not just bought a ticket to Nong Kiaow. It was also a ticket to one of the most taxing bus rides we experienced on the whole trip. There were no minor accidents like on the bus in Munnar, and no significant illness like the train to Agra, but there was everything else. Locals (it’s always the locals!) vomiting into tiny plastic bags that were tossed out the window, rats/chickens/etc in bamboo cages stuffed into the aisle between bags of rice and plastic goods, children laughing, screaming, and gurgling, and napping, a roof loaded with two motorbikes (one picked up en route, one loaded in Sam Neua) along with piles of colorful, woven plastic bags, and as many people as could be jammed into the considerable interior of the bus itself.
The number of seats really has no relationship to how many people end up on the bus. There were endless stops to pick up people (or bags of freight), including a missed stop (for the second motorbike) which meant a full-length bus doing a three-point turn on a 1 1/2 lane mountain road with a massive ditch on one side and a cliff on the other. We arrived in Nong Kiaow late at night, tired and exhausted, but invigorated with the feeling of having survived an ordeal.
Nong Kiaow was a very pleasant place to spend a few days. There wasn’t a lot to do there but we managed to fill our time fairly easily. We hiked down the road, ate at a few different restaurants, and even got the chance to watch Monsters University! The scenery was very beautiful and we had a great view of the surrounding mountains from our balcony.
From Nong Kiaow, we decided to take a boat ride up the river to Muang Khua (we were done with buses). It took about six hours and goes through some really beautiful scenery.
Muang Khua was not the most remote town we visited in Laos (that would have to be Muang Sing) but it really feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere. There is only one restaurant that even slightly caters to foreigners (a bit like Sam Neua) and the whole town feels even more run down and dusty. The only reason to be here as a foreigner is to catch the bus to Vietnam. Unfortunately, we still had not traveled far enough to escape from the shadow of Tet and had to wait for a few days before we could leave. We did have a good time at the guest house we found (see the post about where we stayed for more information) but there was quite literally nothing to do there but wait for information on the bus. That being said, I was glad to be there for a couple days and soak up the local flavor. Everyone was really nice, especially this old man that proved to be a fount of information about the bus and even surprised us by producing the ticket book once it was time to depart. Perhaps the best part about our time in Muang Khua was the sense of solidarity that developed between us and the other travelers trying to figure out how to cross the border. It was nice to have an bonding experience that didn’t involve serious physical harm or danger (or vomiting locals or caged rats or motion sickness).
As excited as we were to enter Vietnam, we were a little sad to leave Laos. Other than the bus rides, we really enjoyed our time there. We met a lot of cool locals, enjoyed some tasty food, and had the opportunity to explore some beautiful landscapes.