Journey to Laos

It started with Megan, Nicholas, and me:

- We took a night bus to the town near the border: met an Aussie, Lynne, on the way and ended up staying in the town with her the next night.

- The bus on the way was a bit ridiculous.. Hands down, the bumpiest bus I've ever been on.
I'm talking whiplash style too.. the roads weren't paved on the way to the border, and a few times we had to stop and wait for the construction to finish. At one point, we waited about an hour at this cafe that was just in front of a road block made out of a bamboo rod.

- That night we, on the spot at the bus station, chose where we were going the next morning. We ended up on the same bus as Megan and Lynne, but ended up getting dropped off before them, at Muang Khiaw because someone recommended taking a boat from there to the next village.

- The next morning I was walking toward the bus.. it looked awfully full, but we bought tickets, so I figured they had enough seats for all of us...  NOPE!  Hah.. But!  They did have rice sacks in the aisles for seats, and who ever said 5 people can't sit in the 4 seats in the back of the bus.. This is Asia!

-They took my bag and chucked it on the top (definitely didn't look like it was gonna make it all the way to Laos) and I got in.. luckily I got my own seat!

- And we were on our way.

- When we finally reached the border.. it took FOREVER!  We were probably there for about 2 hours or so. There was one girl trying to pay less for her visa because she had 2 passports and the visa for her Australian one was less than her Canada one - so she was trying to work the system.. then they put the wrong visa on Nicholas's passport lol, so they had to get that sorted.. and they kept charging us more for the different fees they have (weekend fees as opposed to a weekdays, fees for taking our temperature, a stamp fee, and an unexplained one), but what can ya do?  Can't refuse to pay them.. then they won't let you in the country! 

- After the border we had a 30 minute stop for food, toilet, etc.. then we got back on the bus..

So did about 20 other locals.
...and we thought it was full before. Hah!

- It was insanely full now!  There were 25 seats in that minibus, and about 45-50 people inside. Sitting on rice sacks, hanging out the door, and sharing seats.. it was crazy. An awesome experience though.  :)

- When we finally made it to Muang Khiaw, it was time for goodbyes to Lynne and Megan.  :(  Megan and I ran into each other sooo much in Vietnam, it was tough to say final goodbyes. But.. that's life of travellers.. We come and go and meet many, some may touch us, some may not, but at some point, it's goodbye.. but never forget.

- There were 4 others who got off the bus with us. And all our backpacks made it!  That was a shocker!  We all ended up getting the boat THAT DAY to Muang Ngoi Neau, the next village downriver.. it was about a 3-4 hour ride.

And it was beautiful.

<3