Na Meo; Vietnam- Laos Border Crossing

It's an interesting point that the entire reason that we decided to go to Vietnam was to avoid the reportedly very sketchy border crossing between Cambodia and Laos. We had heard that transportation was inconsistent, bribery was rampant and that after crossing the border you may be left in the middle of nowhere and forced to ride in the back of a local truck with chickens and other cargo. Our 'genius' plan we came up with in Ho Chi Minh City was to break up the Vietnam to Laos journey into stages (cutting the horrendous 24hr+ bus ride from Hanoi to Luang Prabang into more manageable 4-8hr rides). At the time, it seemed fool-proof. We sat there laughing about why no one else had thought of this before...little did we know that the border crossing we had chosen was even more obscure and in the middle of nowhere than any in, possibly, the whole world. And transportation?? Literally non-existent.

Looking at a map of SE Asia, we determined that our most direct and interesting route was to go; Hanoi- Mai Chau, Mai Chau- through the border at Na Meo- Xam Neua, Xam Neua- Nong Khiaw, Nong Khiaw- Luang Prabang. From what we read, our longest bus ride should be about 8 hours (Xam Neua - Nong Khiaw) and all the others should be anywhere from 1-6hrs. We made sure there was at least one daily bus so we wouldn't get stranded and from our research each ride should be $5, max. The only piece of the journey we didn't entirely figure out was Mai Chau - Xam Neua, but we thought “there must be a bus, we'll figure it out when we get there”.

"Super straight forward"

Once in Mai Chau, when we told people that we were planning on crossing at Na Meo border, they would have one of two responses: either “where is that???”, even though they lived less than 150km away, or “you can't do that – go back to Hanoi and take a tourist bus.” Nevertheless, we decided to continue on our journey as planned.

After numerous hours of rigorous independent research, we established that there may be a bus... maybe... but to catch it, you have to travel 60km along a winding mountain road to a junction in the middle of nowhere, then hope to all things holy that you've made it in time to flag down the one bus per day that traverses the route, which may or may not stop for you, depending on how many people it has already picked up along the way.

So, we took a taxi-- and opted to spend the night at the border in Vietnam. There's no town on the Laos side and if you cross too late, you'll be sleeping in the dirt with nothing but your backpack and your pride--

We paid 1,800,000d ($85) to get to Na Meo but the price was well worth taking the road less traveled. We were able to see Vietnam in its most authentic form. Our taxi followed the paths of rivers which wound their way through limestone mountains covered in pristine jungle and valleys of emerald-green rice paddies. Then up over a huge mountain range and back down again. The villages that dotted the countryside seemed untouched by the 21^st century; most were just groups of stilt houses that we could see from across the river or at the bottom of a ravine with no visible roads leading in or out. Every village we actually drove through, people would wave and sometimes point and laugh at the sheer absurdity of seeing white people driving in a taxi this far out in rural Vietnam.

Taxi on a dirt road

As rural as it gets in Vietnam

View from the taxi

It took us around four hours to drive about 120km. And when we arrived, we found nothing but a dirt road lined with shops that had a border crossing station at the end. Our driver, who spoke not a word of English, dropped us off at the border thinking we wanted to cross right then and that presumably we had a driver lined up waiting for us on the other side. Instead of trying to mime “guesthouse?”, “we sleep here tonight”, we just grabbed our stuff, said 'thank you' and walked 30 seconds to the other end of town to the first of only two guesthouses. We quickly checked in, dropped off our bags and went in search of cold drinks and some much needed food. We found what appeared to be the only restaurant in town, sat down and immediately realized we didn't want to eat there-- imagine the aroma of rotting chicken and foul milk. So we had a beer and played a few card games then headed back to our guesthouse, where we hoped they could feed us or at least point us in the direction of somewhere that could.

Border Crossing Station

The other end of town

After waiting for 20 minutes for the family who owned the place to finish eating dinner themselves, the nice woman who checked us in walked us a few stalls down to the local Pho joint and explained to the cook that we needed food. Our last night in Vietnam we ate traditional, truly authentic, delicious Pho Bo (beef noodle soup). Yum!!

Though, before we even got our food we were joined at our table by a Ho Chi Minh lookalike who offered us a glass of the rice whiskey which they were brewing in a barrel in the back of the restaurant. One glass, as is always the case, led to many, and then on to beers and Vietnamese karaoke in a nearby bar-cellar. It was a memorable last night in Vietnam, to say the least.

Our new friend Kip showing us how to eat Pho Vietnamese style a.k.a SUPER SPICY

Kip "This rice whiskey, you drink", Sam "umm...no thank you. I don't like hard alcohol" Kip "yes. You drink."

3 shots later; Kip "Now you drink with my friends", Sam "OK"

Sam at the table behind us taking shots with each person

Having a great time!!

8pm and time for Sam to go to bed

Mackenzie singing Vietnamese karaoke while Cait gets her dance on

Cait singing the 'Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh' song.

Left to right; Mr. Ho Chi Minh, Cait, Kip andThanh

The next morning we were all feeling more than a little rough, but we had read that there should be a songthaew (pick-up truck with benches in the back) that leaves the Laos side of the border for Xam Neua at any time between 9:30 and 11:30am and waits for no one. So we were up far earlier then we would have liked :( We arrived on the Laos side at about 9am and found, like we had read, nothing but a single restaurant.

We went in hoping to have a cup of coffee, some breakfast and to inquire about the songthaew that should be leaving in the next couple hours. After serving us the most disgusting cup of instant coffee known to man, the woman who owned the place explained that it would cost us six billion dollars to get to Xam Neua. Well, 600,000 kip, but for us it was practically the same, because we knew that the journey should only cost 24,000 kip ($3) per person. In an attempt to get across the point that paying more than 10 times the actual cost was slightly unreasonable, Mackenzie went as far as inscribing “the price is very high” in Laotian on a piece of scratch paper, but the lady (who is quite possibly the rudest lady in Laos) just laughed in our faces. So we paid for our coffees, walked out to the street and waited...

And waited.

We asked every person who drove through the border if they were going to Xam Neua, but to no avail.

Waiting

The mythical songthaew never arrived and we had resigned ourselves to waiting until 5pm, when the bus from Vietnam was rumored to be passing through. It was hour 5 of waiting, and we were just settling into a game of cards and a bottle of Beerlao when Sam mustered the energy to ask one last pick-up truck driver if he was going to Xam Neua. By some miracle, he was! Before he had a second to say anything else we were gathering up our things to throw in the back of his truck. He kindly explained that he was hired by two Korean men and that we should probably ask them if they would mind giving us a ride. Thankfully, they didn't mind! Not only did we get a ride, but they refused to let us pay anything (in your face, 600,000 kip lady)!

We jumped into the bed of their pick-up truck and away we went. The scenery was beautiful and the cold mountain air was much welcomed on our haggard faces.

Hitching a ride!

It was a truly exhilarating drive and two short hours later we arrived in the small town of Xam Neua. Thankfully, our Korean friends Mr. Son and Mr. Mun were kind enough to drop us off in front of the only guesthouses in town so we were able to find accommodation without any headache or hassle. Thanks again guys!!! We got some food, then headed straight for bed.