The bus journey...

So after an amazing 3 days in the north of Vietnam I decided to hop on a bus to
Laos aiming for the famous Vang Vieng. I gate crashed a bus journey planned by some auzzie boys that i met on the Halong bay trip.

30 minutes after the bus got back to the hostel from the Halong bay trip, the next bus was ready to take us to Laos. I knew I had no time to shower or eat, just enough time for a quick toothbrushing and that was about it! We crammed about 20 people plus backpacks into a bus built for about 15 and headed to the bus station. Here we waited about an hour for... Things... Not sure what! Time is not of the urgency in
Vietnam. We received our tickets and put our bags on the bus and waited for... Stuff... This time about 2 hours! I attempted to board the bus as we were queuing outside but was yelled at by the driver and shooed off. Finally we boarded the "sleeper" bus which was 3 rows of bunk beds crammed together and settled down for the mammoth journey! I don't remember much of the journey except sharp corners, bumpy roads, brakes being slammed on as cows stand in the road, loud Vietnamese songs, random pit stops and then the Vietnam border 15 hours later.
This was another experience. Queuing for passport checks $2. A 1km hike in the drizzle and flip flops (do I not learn...!) to the border. Another queue for visa applications $35. And a small trek to the bus once again. 10 hours later we arrive to...somewhere...in
Vientiane and hop onto the back of a waiting van (30 000 Lao kip) which drives us 30 minutes to a private car to take us to vang Vieng (100 000 kip). This was a VERY bumpy journey, with sharp corners, cows in the road, under taking, strange pit stops and brakes being slammed on. 4 hours later we arrive into the vang Vieng streets lined with bars showing family guy and friends episodes and set off on foot to the guesthouse! Food time, bed time!