Bus nightmares.
Well, statistically, it was bound to happen. We've spent about 12% of our time in SE Asia on some form of transport (yep, I added the hours together and calculated it. Nerd). Every traveller has a story of a nightmare bus ride. This is ours.
We booked a trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang yesterday morning. It was scheduled to take eight hours. IT TOOK US 21 HOURS. Arrrrrrrgh.
We set off from our guesthouse at 7am to get to the main bus station. By 8am we were on our way, hurrah! By 8.10am we had pulled into another depot, got taken off the bus and told they had to fix the engine (or something like that, the English skills were almost non-existent). For two hours we watched about eight Laos blokes with loads of rusty old tools pulling bits of the engine out and tinkering. Confidence-inspiring.
10am: we were back on the road again. Alright.
3.30pm: in the middle of nowhere, up high, on some very windy and narrow road going over a lot of mountains, the bus pulled over and we were hauled off again. No explanation given.
3.30pm - 6pm: a crew of five guys whacked and tinkered and cut bits of rope and wood to try to fix what we think was the suspension. (I say "we"... it could have been anything with my vast mechanical knowledge).
6pm: darkness begins to fall. All the tourists get their torches out as the tinkering continues. We are told that another bus is going to come and pick us up. A minivan turns up and takes a family with a couple of young kids. The rest of us wait. We go back inside the bus as the sandflies and mozzies are starting to attack.
9pm: we are still waiting. The crew have given up on the repair and sit around smoking cigarettes. Other people try to hitch rides, but there are very few vehicles on the road. There is confusion as to whether the replacement bus is coming from Vientiane (five hours away) or Luang Prabang (three hours away). We wait.
10pm: there is a commotion, and we finally find someone who can speak both Laos and English. Turns out the road we are stranded on is notorious for robberies and they are worried that the "rebels from the countryside" will come and storm the bus, now that it is pitch black. We suddenly remember reading (in the Lonely Planet) about an incident a few years back. We are all hustled onto the broken bus, which attempts to turn around without tipping over, and hobbles the 3-4km down the road to a safer area, at about 10km/h.
11pm: Salvation! A local bus turns up and we throw our masses of luggage up the top.
3.15am: we finally arrive in Luang Prabang. Get in a tuktuk with three other tourists and start making the rounds of the guesthouses. They all usually shut at about 11am, but in Asia the staff always sleep on a stretcher in reception, so, guiltily, we start banging on doors. The first six guesthouses are full.
4am: we finally find a guesthouse who will take us. Collapse into bed.
I think I might fly back to Bangkok. Haha.
We booked a trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang yesterday morning. It was scheduled to take eight hours. IT TOOK US 21 HOURS. Arrrrrrrgh.
We set off from our guesthouse at 7am to get to the main bus station. By 8am we were on our way, hurrah! By 8.10am we had pulled into another depot, got taken off the bus and told they had to fix the engine (or something like that, the English skills were almost non-existent). For two hours we watched about eight Laos blokes with loads of rusty old tools pulling bits of the engine out and tinkering. Confidence-inspiring.
10am: we were back on the road again. Alright.
3.30pm: in the middle of nowhere, up high, on some very windy and narrow road going over a lot of mountains, the bus pulled over and we were hauled off again. No explanation given.
3.30pm - 6pm: a crew of five guys whacked and tinkered and cut bits of rope and wood to try to fix what we think was the suspension. (I say "we"... it could have been anything with my vast mechanical knowledge).
6pm: darkness begins to fall. All the tourists get their torches out as the tinkering continues. We are told that another bus is going to come and pick us up. A minivan turns up and takes a family with a couple of young kids. The rest of us wait. We go back inside the bus as the sandflies and mozzies are starting to attack.
9pm: we are still waiting. The crew have given up on the repair and sit around smoking cigarettes. Other people try to hitch rides, but there are very few vehicles on the road. There is confusion as to whether the replacement bus is coming from Vientiane (five hours away) or Luang Prabang (three hours away). We wait.
10pm: there is a commotion, and we finally find someone who can speak both Laos and English. Turns out the road we are stranded on is notorious for robberies and they are worried that the "rebels from the countryside" will come and storm the bus, now that it is pitch black. We suddenly remember reading (in the Lonely Planet) about an incident a few years back. We are all hustled onto the broken bus, which attempts to turn around without tipping over, and hobbles the 3-4km down the road to a safer area, at about 10km/h.
11pm: Salvation! A local bus turns up and we throw our masses of luggage up the top.
3.15am: we finally arrive in Luang Prabang. Get in a tuktuk with three other tourists and start making the rounds of the guesthouses. They all usually shut at about 11am, but in Asia the staff always sleep on a stretcher in reception, so, guiltily, we start banging on doors. The first six guesthouses are full.
4am: we finally find a guesthouse who will take us. Collapse into bed.
I think I might fly back to Bangkok. Haha.
posted by Nic at 12:25 pm
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