This bus journey was quite possibly the most bizarre experience of my travels. I booked the transportation through a travel agency that would take care of getting me from the hotel, to the bus station, across the Vietnam-Laos border, and to Vientiane, the capital. It all started with a shuttle bus which picked me up at around 8pm and then continued on to pick up other backpackers who had shared the same idea of an overnight bus ride to save time for more exciting activities. We continued to pick up more people. Eventually we reached a comfortable maximum capacity and then continued to pick up even more people. By the time we were 'full' we filled a ten seat bus with fourteen people with a backpack for each person roughly the size of its owner. The bus then sat on the side of the road for another ten minutes or so with a driver who didn't speak English and the guy who picked us up missing in action. The bus driver received a call and we started moving again. We eventually made our way to the bus station, got just about pushed out of the shuttle and directed towards the entrance to the bus station. The group of us entered and found a very grumpy worker at the counter who refused to acknowledge us or let anyone go to the bathroom. He continued to not answer our questions but eventually started handing out bus passes and we were herded onto the two buses. I found my seat and tried to get comfortable for the bus ride that would occupy the next eighteen or so hours of my time.
Surprisingly the ride went pretty smooth until we made it to the border crossing at around 5am. The group of us filed out and into the border crossing building. One by one we got our paperwork filled out and then directed out the next door. After a long wait and a small fee to line the employees' pockets, I found myself on the other side of the door. What awaited me was a scene from a horror movie. There was extremely thick fog which reduced my vision to a considerably shorter range. For some reason, we're not allowed to ride the bus between the two countries I had to walk to the other side. The road to the left ran back into Vietnam so I took to the right and started walking. I could see shapes of other travelers in the fog and so I followed them. On the sides of the road sat trucks waiting to pass through the border. They weren't turned on and no light illuminated from inside. This added to the creepiness of the whole thing. After a five or so minute walk, thinking something was going to attack me from the fog, I found our bus waiting to continue on to Vientiane.
