If At First You Don't Succeed, Try a Prop Plane

When we last wrote we were heading to a little used border on the Vietnam/Laos border. The trip was going to take 3 days and it would include a couple of bus rides and an all day boat journey. We thought it would be a good way to see Northern Laos, and avoid a $150 one way flight from Hanoi to Luang Prabang, our destination of choice in Laos. Hmmm....it seemed like a good idea at the time. The journey started off well. We took an 8 hour mini bus from Sapa, Vietnam to Dien Bien Phu (DBP), Vietnam, technically the border town with Laos. The ride was pretty uneventful except for a lunch stop at the dog meat restaurant, complete with sad little dogs in cages in the back. While the other Vietnamese on our bus happily ate, Chad and I fumed. Needless to say, we did not buy one thing from them. When we arrived in Dien Bien Phu we were met with a somewhat chaotic bus terminal. We grabbed our bags and fought our way to the ticket window. I believe the conversation with the ticket counter went something like this:

Chad: We need to buy tickets on the 5:30AM bus to Laos for tomorrow.
Ticket Women: No bus tomorrow.
Chad: What?? Why no bus tomorrow?
TW: Road closed, border closed.
Chad: What about the day after tomorrow?
TW: Road closed, border closed.
Chad: So when will the next bus be?
The ticket women shrugged, and that was the end of that conversation. So apparently little used=closes easily. We were not happy and Chad was battling the tail end of a 3 day bout with the flu. We went through other options, including hiring someone to drive us to Laos (not possible with the roads) to looking up possible flights. No luck. Our only option was to take an overnight bus back east to Hanoi and try to catch the next flight out to Laos. We were only off the bus for an hour in DBP before we got on another 14 hour bus to Hanoi. Sometimes you just have to role with the punches. Did I mention that the Vietnamese have a small problem with motion sickness? And by small problem I mean massive. It is discussed by other travelers constantly around here because no one wants to end up with a puking person next to them on a 14 hour ride. The buses all hand out little black bags on every trip. We had gone about 5 feet outside the bus terminal when it started and it continued for the entire bus ride. The best part is when there is a stop for dinner and all the sick passengers get off, stuff themselves with food, then get back on to get sick again. Someone needs to start importing Dramamine to this country, they would make millions.

Groggy and exhausted with arrived once again back in the city of Hanoi at 6:00AM. We hightailed it back to the cafe where we had booked our cruise to see if they could buy tickets for us on the next Laos airlines flight. $300 poorer we landed in the city of Luang Prabang at 8:00pm that night after a entertaining flight aboard a prop plane, the jury is still out on whether it was Russian or Chinese built? It was a relief to finally be in Laos.
Laos is completely different than the other SE Asia countries we have visited. It is laid back and calm. The people are friendly and the countryside is beautiful. No one honks at us during our daily runs and we even had a local tell us 'sorry for bothering' the other day after we declined his tour services while eating at a cafe. Laos is definitely a breath of fresh air.