Hue-Demilitarized Zone-Laos

Today was a busy, interesting, challenging, and amusing day. Up before the crack of dawn, we waited for 45 minutes for our “6:00 AM” bus to finally arrive (more of the Vietnamese ‘hurry up and wait’). We took the bus to Dong Ha, a city just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). We didn’t have time for a full DMZ tour, so after checking other options, (all closed for Tet) Dave and I rented a motorbike from an enthusiastic hotel owner/tour organizer. Generally, the overaggressive sellers are this way because their products lack the value of the better recommended vendors in the guidebook. Danthemanstan wasn’t too keen on checking out the Vinh Moc tunnels, so he stayed back to take care of a few errands. The tunnels were similar to those at Cu Chi, but we were the only people at the entire site (save a few staff members) so we had a good time exploring the tunnels for about an hour. Being completely unoccupied gave the tunnels a very eerie feel. We even partook of some rice wine and sweetened ginger with one of the few snack vendors; I think because she was just plain bored…but that’s Tet. The fact that I am writing this is proof that Dave and I traversed the 90 km trip to and from the tunnels without a scratch. I even successfully learned how to drive a manual motorcycle (well actually some Vietnamese auto-manual hybrid) on a dirt road and Highway 1A in the DMZ.

After returning we bought tickets to Savannakhet, Laos and boarded a mini-bus/large van. The ride went smoothly (figuratively speaking-it was actually super curvy and bumpy) until we hit the border. At this point we were informed that the driver was only paid enough from our “trusty” tour organizer to take us to the border. He made it clear to us that he had no intention (and probably no permission) to cross the border. After some discussion, phone calls back and forth to the “trusty” travel guy back in Dong Ha, we realized we weren’t getting a ride any further, or any money back. I can’t really complain, I’ve lived a pretty worry-free, affluent, peaceful life, so if some hotel owner (and possibly bus driver) in Dong Ha, Vietnam are going to swindle me for a little bit (to me) of money, I’ll be just fine. So they did. And I crossed an international border by foot (the first time in my life). Laos gave us an appropriate welcome with some goats grazing the field next to the border inspection building. Because the buses only ran in the morning, and we had no plans to stay the night in a border town; we walked on down the road hoping to catch a ride on one of the many pickup truck taxis for which Laos is known. Instead, as quickly as our luck had turned sour, it turned around. We hailed a man driving a very nice Toyota Tacoma (with the steering wheel mysteriously on the right) who agreed to take us all the way to Savannakhet for a very reasonable price. He turned out to be a Thai businessman who was dropping his brother off at the Vietnamese border. He was heading through Savannakhet on his way to Thailand; so it was a great match. He drove like a bat out of hell, and his pickup could handle the occasional rock piles in the middle of the highway. He spoke pretty good English and had a hearty laugh, and because of his hurry, we arrived in town for a nice dinner alongside the Mekong River, looking across to Thailand. We walked around the simple, slow paced town a little bit and now are hitting the sack in a cheap and suitable hotel.