9/2/10 (ba na hin)

Ba Na Hin, Laos - Vinh, Vietnam

Coming off of what felt like a real life pirates of the Caribbean cave adventure, we were energized for our long travel day and excited to move on to Vietnam. The local transport picked us up at 8am in front of our guest house. The transport consisted of a mid-size pickup truck with a covered roof to create an enclosure for the passengers and a place to stack luggage up above. The pickup bed was half filled with boxes containing supplies for the local village shops and the bed was lined with 50lb bags of rice stacked three deep. The driver helped us load our luggage onto the roof and secured it with a bungie net and we squeezed ourselves in the back among the locals and were on our way. The transport was cozy, filled with supply boxes, rice, and ten natives. As we progressed along our route, things quickly got cozier and at our journey’s peak the truck was loaded with twenty passengers bursting from the truck and the bumper held a full-size motor bike. It was like nothing I had ever experienced as my body was contorted in every imaginable direction for our two hour trip. A lady in her early seventies, 4 feet tall, and limited on teeth kept me warm as she sat on my feet for the entire ride giving me a smile from time to time as I wiggled my toes. 

When we arrived at the Lak Sao bus station, we coordinated our trip over the Vietnam border to Vinh. The bus wasn’t leaving for another two hours and Annie and I decided to venture out for some lunch. Lak Sao is a small transport town and the only reason to visit is if you are coming or going. After stopping at the local bank, they recommended the only one restaurant, which in fact was the name. While in Lak Sao, we probably ate more dirt than lunch from the dust clouds stirred up from the hundreds of swarming motor bikes. Our second bus from Lak Sao was larger and fully enclosed. When we originally boarded it was a lot more spacious but just before departure, the locals slid open the windows and began to deposit large supply boxes of food into any remaining space making things much more confined. The trip to the Vietnam border passed quickly as we ventured through the rising mountains of the region. When we arrived at the border, it felt nearly abandoned and we had to exit the bus and walk our way into Vietnam. The procedure was fairly painless as the immigration officers scanned our luggage much like any major airport. The sprawling immigration area is on a relic hilltop fortress from the by gone Cold War era.

The drive toward Vinh was incredibly beautiful as we twisted our way down through the mountains and back into the countryside. After a short transfer to a new bus we passed through hundreds of rice fields as the locals worked feverishly to harvest their crop. The sun was setting and the bus stopped often to squeeze in more passengers and avoid the local herds of cows. It was picturesque and both Annie and I commented on how nice it would be if would could stop to take some photos. After an hour on our new bus we arrived at Vinh and navigated our way to the local train station. Things were a little busier than usual because this day was the Vietnamese Independence Day, 65 years ago Ho Chi Man helped liberate Vietnam from the French. We lined up an overnight sleeper train that left at 9pm and would arrive in Ha Noi at 5am. At the train station, we met some nice locals who took us to a local restaurant for dinner and got us situated with some beer and food and before we knew it, Annie and I were compressed in our cozy sleeper bed looking forward to getting back to a big city in the early morning.