48 Hours in Transit: Bus, bus, boat, bus

Traveling like locals and eating my shoestring
This fabulous frenzy is strangely appeasing
The dirty, the bumpy, I find no fault with it
For low key and budget I'd want no alternate

August 8 - 9, 2008

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND to HUAY XAI, LAOS to LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

And after a day of living like Canadian royalty abroad (just call me Adrienne Clarkson), thus begins a grueling 2-day journey to Luang Prabang.

Time in transit: 44 hours
Modes of transport: 6
Cost of trip: $86
Time spent on public bus: 22 hours
Number of types of currency used: 3

Holy non-reclining seats, Batman!

We woke up, I called home and John with a calling card I'd been given by Andy from the CIH, and then we hurried to the bus station, by hiring a sangthiaw.


Our adventure in crossing from Thailand to Laos started at the bus station in Chiang Mai when we missed our direct bus to Chiang Khong at the Thai-Lao border. There was a bus going to Chiang Rai and another connecting to Chiang Kong from there, but we didn't know what time the bus would be leaving from Chiang Rai, and on top of that, we didn't know if we'd get into Chiang Khong early enough to cross the border, which closes at 6 pm. And you don't want to get stuck in a place like Chiang Rai overnight...because there's nothing there, including any English.


So, throwing caution into the wind, all South East Asia style, we hopped on the 11 am bus to Chiang Rai, which turn out to be a really nice public VIP bus, giving us bottled water and "spicies" flavour cracker snacks (most disgusting crackers since the Cambodian "salt and cheese" cracker disaster), complete with reclining chairs and a/c. I was stuck sitting beside quite possibly the only obese man in Thailand, who, fortunately though, was very very nice; but unfortunately I was relegated to having only half a bus seat the entire ride.

I was struck by how little the Thai countryside resembled Cambodia. Even in the rural areas, the houses are quite large, and, though made of wood or bamboo, they don't look as ramshackle or makeshift or unsanitary as those in Cambodia. It's quite a stark contrast, really, to see the extent of the urband-rural divide, and, more eyeopening, the rural-rural divide between neighbours.


Luckily enough, we did make it to Chiang Rai in time to catch a bus to Chiang Khong -- but it was a pretty rickety bus with fans that didn't work, and uncomfortable wooden benches. It was a painful 3 hour ride, but the view was pretty, as we made our way through the high hills of Thailand towards the border (and prayed as the rickety old bus struggled to make it up the lowest-grade hills). Phew. That was lucky. Grabbing that 10 minute-tight connection. Whew.


We did eventually make it to Chiang Khong, and with time to spare. Actually crossing the river proved to be the easiest part of the trip. A rickety ferry (little more than a canoe) over the Mekong was super fun: the water was flowing quite quickly, and it was raining, but it was great being on the might Mekong itself. It's easy to feel the power of such a large river when you're in a tiny speck of a boat, struggling to cross the current.



When we stepped off the ferry, we were on Lao soil. The boatman handed me my huge backpack, and we headed over to customs.

(I'm continually surprised at how people complain about my pack. I assume that people are pretty strong -- well, maybe in rural areas more so than urban -- but it kills me to see these men puffing and straining just to lift my pack. I usually just try to do it myself -- don't want to give anyone a herniated disc.)

It was only about 5:30 pm at this point, and from what I knew, the border was supposed to close at 6 pm. nevertheless, the customs agent insisted I pay him an extra 1 USD above the posted visa price for "overtime." Pretty sure it was a bribe...but why argue over a dollar?

And not the prettiest of towns, either...

Anyways, that's how we made it to Huay Xai in Laos. Thurns out that there is nothing to do in this tiny town, and since it was raining, and the country has an 11 pm curfew, after an unremarkable dinner, we tried to go on the internet. Didn't work, though -- the whole city was out of electricity. Luckily, our guesthouse had a tv and electricity (and I guess, a generator?), and they were watching the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, so we joined them for a little bit before bed.

We opted (mostly -- and by that I mean "entirely" -- at my cheap-ass, I-love-to-travel-like-a-local, no-uncomfortable-is-too-uncomfortable-for-granola-me, insistance) for the pbulic bus from Huay Xai to Luang Prbang, an 16 hour ordeal with no air conditioning and straight back seats, combared to the 11 hour minibus with a/c and comfy seats.

It was worth it. Freaking awesome.

We got to the bus station at 10:30 am. The bus didn't leave until 12:00 pm.


The bus was crazy. There were plastic chairs, and old-school 6 foot diameter satellite dish, and a motorcycle, along with all of our luggage, strapped to the roof, and covered in tarp. The seats on the bus were tiny and wooden, with no butt dip to hold you in place. I sat next to the sweetest girl in Laos who spoke almost no English but kept offering me snacks and pointed out things of interest outside the window. She was going to Udomxai, a stop we made around 10:30 pm, leaving me to sprawl out to sleep over the two seats.


The ride was definitely -- strike a Sarah-brand action pose here -- an adventure. The road wound its way through the mountains, and our bus, with about a 2 hp engine and 3 N break force, really struggled to get up the steep roads, and flew down the downhill grades.


And bumpy. When I was sitting in my seat, I actually fell out of it twice, since I had fallen asleep sitting up and the bus pitched sideways; with no armrest (or the butt dip to hold you in place), I went flying into the aisle. The first time, the girl beside me laughed. The second, the Taiwanese guy talking to Taulee laughed at me. Couldn't help it. I'd become the laughingstock of Laos.


The rain has been really bad in Laos -- record rainfalls that have flooded Vientiane, Vang Vieng (the reason for our rerouting through North Thailand), and the mountains in the north west were no exception. There were landslides covering the roads in many places, and sections where the asphalt had broken as a result of a landslide below. A few times we had to stop and wait for the road to be cleared. It made for a very slow ride.


I've developed quite a penchant for Oreos on this trip. I don't even like them that much at home, but I've found them so yummy and satisfying (taste of home?). I ate a lot of them on the bus. I'd been rationing...but...


The overnight was pretty hellish and uncomfortable. "Sprawled out" over two seats still meant being super cramped, but at least two seats are better than one. Luckily, I still had that nice travel pillow I'd taken from Korean Airlines...which proved to be a godsend throughout the insane bus rides thus far.

We got there though. Arriving in Luang Prabang at 4:30 am with no idea where we were or where we were going (and on top of that, without sufficient light to read the Lonely Planet!) was not a good idea. We hired a sangthiew and had to try four guesthouses before finally finding one, but we did. And...that was the end of the en route from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang. Despite everything...it was a pretty expensive transit.

And at 5:30 am, we unpacked in our new guesthouse. But we didn't go to sleep...and why not? Well, that's technically the next day...