February 14, 2007
To Vientiane: By bus
"Rachel are you awake?" whispers Patrick at 5am. "We can get the early bus to Vientiane." So we are up, packed, eat breakfast and at the bus station by 6am.
Patrick buys the tickets, there's no extra charge for the bikes. The front panniers are loaded in the green duffel bag, other panniers and dry bags all loaded under the bus, the bikes on the roof. All is done very calmly, no frenzy or shouting.
The bus leaves at 640am, then the trolling begins for more passengers. Slowly driving with the conductor on the lookout for someone wanting a ride, this continues throughout the day; the driver is actually driving safely. We don't know how long the ride is to Vientiane. There is a clock at the front of the bus stopped permanently at 3:15.
As the day progresses, the bus fills up, we see the karst scenery and at one point follow the Mekong River. Occasionally the bus stops at the side of the road for "happy" room (toilet). People pile off the bus and scatter into the bushes, women in one direction and men in the other. Little plastic stools are placed in the aisle as more people are picked up. We try to follow on the map our location to get an idea of how long the ride will be. A motorcycle at one point is loaded at the front of the bus where the conductor ended up sitting. Vendors approach the bus when we officially stop at stations, and vendors climb on board, weave over the people in the aisle, and ride a ways and then hop off the bus.
We near Vientiane then all of a sudden, we pull into the southern bus station. It's 3:15 just like the clock in the bus, was it marking our arrival time? Gear and bikes are unloaded in a pile. We reload each bike one at a time and watch the rest of the gear. We set off for the city, still a way to go. It's about 4pm, after checking out our first choice in hotels we realize most are full or filling up fast, so we take a $20USD room, including breakfast. It's a nice room with cable TV, fridge and most importantly hot water.
It's Valentine's Day, Patrick bought Rachel a red cloth rose in Hoi An that has been on her front rack, replacing the birdie. We have a Tex-Mex dinner.
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