Crossing Borders by Bus: Vietnam & Laos | IndoChina Travel Blog Series

Hello Everyone!

For today's stroll, I will be sharing our crossing borders experience from Hanoi City, Vietnam to the Nam Phao Border of Laos, where we'll begin our trip to the second City of our Tri-city Indochina trip. In this blog, I will be sharing ideas on what it feels like to travel on a sleeper bus while traversing the mountains of Vietnam.

The Bus_{The Features and What to Expect}

Finally, we will be able to experience the sleeper-bus!
I have been wondering how it feels like to travel for one whole day, would traveling on a sleeper bus be comfortable enough? Read more, to find out!

The bus is a double-decker, and there are double beds on the first and second decks on one side and single beds on the other. Luckily enough we were one of the passengers on that trip to board the bus first, so we got a chance to choose the 4-bed deck on the backmost portion of the bus where Shiela, Jovy, @ybanezkim26, and I positioned ourselves next to each other.

The bus is equipped with charging outlets, no worries about cell phones dying batteries while browsing online, playing mobile games, and watching videos throughout the trip.

However, it is still best to bring power banks on long trips like this, as other passengers might be charging on the outlets when you need the energy the most.

The length of the bed seats is designed for Asian size. Emre and Julia
a couple-travelers who are both French who became our friends on this trip, they are pretty tall and would need to bend their legs or slouch when lying down.

Upon boarding, shoes must be removed and kept on a plastic which will be provided by the bus operator, there are slippers for use also when you get off the bus at bus stops.

The Trip_{Booking process and The Journey}

We booked this trip to Laos online at 12Go.asia for 2,292 Php or 40.32 USD per person. It was very convenient as the trip already included a pick up from Hanoi City (at the agency office which is just walking distance from our hotel).

We were picked up by an MPV car, I think that was a Toyota Innova, together with Julia and Emre where we first met and conversed with them. We traveled to the bus terminal at 3pm, for around 30 mins including the traffic jam of the city.

Price-wise, we believed that it was competitive enough or even much cheaper than booking a taxi from the city to Hanoi South Bus Terminal and buying tickets at the bus terminal. After we arrived at the terminal, we were assisted by a person (I think she is an agent from the transport company where we booked our trip online) to the ticketing lane to sign and get our trip ticket. Moreover, we were assisted by people from the agency which I believe is very helpful given the language barrier.

On a side note, it was a not-so-comfortable transfer though, because the schedule of the trip was not on time. We waited for almost an hour to board the bus standing, with the humid weather of Vietnam and it was so sultry that day. If you are taking the same trip as ours in the future, make sure to wear comfortable clothes.

The Real Quest of the Road

We have positioned ourselves on the back bed seats and are set to bardagulan (friendly fight) with each other throughout the trip.

We also brought some food with us which we bought from the neighboring variety store on the street of Hanoi.

It is a must to bring food and water along on this trip because the first bus stop would still be far enough to hold off for dinner.

We departed at 6:15 pm, the time we did not expect to leave Hanoi, which we thought would be earlier. Well, it would make sense though, because the time would just be enough to reach the border of Vietnam and Laos and wait not much longer for the immigration to open the gates.

Along the way, some additional passengers boarded the bus with some packages and loads, I believe it was their trading resources that they bought from Vietnam and will be sold to Laos. As per my observation, the passengers of the bus are Lao people who are traders and businessmen, if not tourists.

The Call of Nature

3 hours after we departed, the four of us felt the need to urinate, we tried to talk to the bus operator who didn't know how to communicate in English through Google Translate, and he told us that the bus stop was already near. We were relieved when we reached the first bus stop and got a restroom break. Alongside, the bus stop has also food and beverage stalls available.

We continued the bus trip to reach the border of Vietnam and Laos, the first part of the trip was pretty smooth as the roads were concrete. As the trip progressed, I saw from the pitch-dark night outside the window that we were starting to traverse to the mountains of Vietnam and the road was getting rough.

Given the other time of travel and road convenience, the trip to Laos from Vietnam may only take around 15 to 20 hours. We traveled for 9 hours to reach the borders of Vietnam and Laos, the Cau Treo Border Pass of Vietnam, and the Nam Phao International Checkpoint of Laos, but it was still 3 am when we arrived, so we continued our sleep in the bus until the breaking dawn.

The Borders

We got off the bus at quarter to 7 am and got our passports ready for immigration.

As much as I want to show you what the borders look like, cameras are forbidden. We follow the rules because it is something that we want to create good impressions especially when we are asking permission to enter the other country. Well, I have already taken a video (I did not see the signage at first), but I deleted it because the officer saw it and he might inspect my phone, I don't want to be left behind in the borders, lol!

With our common feelings and observations, the Cau Treo Border has a North Korean vibe, if you have seen the Crash Landing on You K-drama series of Korea, it has a very close vibe to it. Including the vibe and uniforms of their officers- very classical and unmodernized.

One thing I would like to emphasize is that:
It is a safe ground for tourists to leave from Hanoi or at least have the classic immigration entry stamp of Vietnam rather than the online Visa.

There is one foreigner who left from a different province in Vietnam which is much nearer to the border, he was asked by the officer to get a ride to Hanoi City to have his passport stamped. He was explaining about the online visa but the officer insisted on neglecting it. We weren't sure if he was successful on his quest that day to cross border.

Of course, I took some quick snaps when we got out of the immigration of Cau Treo Border Pass and rode a cart for 10,000 VN / 23 Php / 0.41 USD to get to the Nam Phao International Checkpoint of Laos, which we realized is walkable.

We got our passports stamped at the Nam Phao International Checkpoint in Laos where we paid 20,000 VND or 46 Php or 0.82 USD, it was 20,000 Lao Kip that they asked actually, but the guts of @ybanezkim26 saved as all when he asked and insisted that we can pay only in Vietnamese Dong! 😅

The Laos immigration and border is nothing fancy and even much less modernized than the Cau Treo Border, their immigration office was built in container vans.

I am excited to share the sceneries of this trip but I might have to end this blog here, I will be sharing those up on my next blog. Don't forget to follow for more strolls.

Xoxo,
Kim,thestrollingmind