Travelogue for Vietnam/Laos/China Part II

*Do note that those who wants to do an anti-clockwise route of our itinerary will be faced with much difficulty getting transport from Hanoi to Nam Xoi as direct transport would have to be chartered since there are no direct buses.

Phonsavanh to Sam Neua (Xam Neua)
From here you can take the public bus from the bus station to Sam Neua; it takes about 80000-85000 Kip per pax. and its' a winding 8-9 hour(180km approx.) bus ride. However, you can opt to take the private minivan option provided by the few travel agencies in town which takes about 5-6 hours only for 90000kip per pax. only in a 9 seater Starex(Hyundai) minivan. The difference is that the extra 10000kip per pax. is saved from taking a tuk-tuk to the bus station in Phonsavanh instead, the minivans do offer pick-ups from your guesthouse.

Sam Neua
During the time that we were in this town, there was a Lao-Vietnam ministerial meeting and all the guest houses were full for that week. We could not find accommodation here and thus had to leave for Vieng Xai, a 1.5 hours bus ride away (30-40km) for the night on the day of arrival. However judging from the recommended attractions in the tourism office in Xam Neua, there are plenty of attractions that you should not pass like the 'Stonehenge' and the many waterfalls and hot springs in the area.

Sam Neua to Vieng Xai
From the town center of Xam Neua you have to take a 15 min tuk-tuk ride to the bus station outside of town (don't ask me why they locate their bus stations so far out, I am curious myself!) which costs about 10000kip per pax. Then, from the bus station you have to take another bus (its' just a tuk-tuk, really) that will take you to the bus station in Vieng Xai(its' a 10 min walk from the town centre, unlike the other bus stations) for 10000kip per pax. for 2 hours. The bus leaves at regular intervals daily and ours left the bus station at around 1630 hours. (If I am not wrong, one bus leaves there every 2 hours till evening)

Vieng Xai
This is a place that all travelers should not pass when in northern Laos; a pity so little people know about it. The place is surreal in itself (see our photos, its' definitely worth the trip); there are white cliffs sprouting out in the middle of town alongside houses with no street lighting in town. Its' back to basics here as there is no internet access and hot water has become a luxury. However, the main attractions of the town is the Pathet Lao Caves; there are in total 7 of them in which the Pathet Lao hid out during the Secret War fought with the Americans in the 1960s. One full day would be just nice to view all of them and they all can be reached by renting bicycles (10000kip per bike, 30000kip per pax. for entrance into ALL 7 caves) from the local tourism office. There are only four places to stay in town: Tha Vi Xe Hotel, Naxay 1 GH and Naxay 2 GH and one more that I can't remember. Naxay 2 should be your first choice followed by Naxay 1; Tha Vi Xe hotel was quite a nightmare for us.

Vieng Xai to Na Meo/Nam Xoi
From Vieng Xai your transport options are rather limited: either you back track back to Xam Neua and go to Phonsavanh/Nong Khiaw OR you can choose to cross into Vietnam through Na Meo like us. For the latter, you can choose to either take a bus from the Vieng Xai bus station (ours left at 0800, better be there early) which departs quite frequently for 20000kip per pax. for around 2 hours (55 km approx.) OR you can walk to the main road (linking Xam Neua and Na Meo) which takes about 20 mins by foot and stop a local bus coming from Xam Neua to take you to the border for the same price.
*I would not recommend the latter as the bus may already be full from passengers coming from Xam Neua and cause you to wait for long periods along the road.

Na Meo/Nam Xoi to Thanh Hoa onto Hanoi
The border crossing (international) is rather tricky. First, make sure you have your air tickets printed out or have them on hand that will take you out of Vietnam as the border guards will refuse entry to even foreigners who do not have a pre-arranged way out of Vietnam! (A swedish backpacker was forced to travel back to Xam Neua to print his air tickets after the guards refused him entry into Vietnam, took him 2 days to get it done.)
Next, have at hand something to offer the guards, it will make things get done faster. (For us it was some alcohol the guard 'asked' for, cigarettes would do just fine too). Do note that you have to pay 2000VND per pax. (or the equivalent in kip ) for some health quarantine declaration that is mandatory for all foreigners.
Then, you should change ALL your kip here into VND as it becomes worthless paper outside of Laos. Here they accept your kip for 1.7 VND to 1 Kip while the people in town trade at 1.6VND to 1 Kip. There will be no more chances for you to use your kip anymore, trust me.

Now for the main issue at hand, there is only 1 bus that leaves Nam Xoi (Nam Xoi is the Viet side of the border, Na Meo is the Lao side) for Hanoi via Thanh Hoa which takes about 8-9 hours (we took 10 hours) to Hanoi and 6-7 hours to get to Thanh Hoa. The bus leaves ONLY ON tuesdays, thurdays and saturdays and it leaves at around 1100-1130, one bus only for these few days. IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU MAKE THE CROSSING ON MONDAYS OR WEDNESDAY OR SUNDAY, YOU ARE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! All travelers should take note as there are no guest houses in Nam Xoi and the food there is priced ridiculously high. And heres the best part: the ticket to Ha Noi is 25 USD per pax. (20 USD to Thanh Hoa) which is sky high. But then again, this is the only ride you have out of here, so keep some money to get ripped off here or don't make the crossing at all. (The driver accepts VND too, but at some exchange rate that is highly unfavorable to you thus you should just pay in USD!) You can opt to stop over in Thanh Hoa, a popular beach getaway for Vietnamese that is 3 hours away by bus or by rail to break up your journey. However, for the extra 5 USD you are paying you might as well go straight to Hanoi as it is more worth your while.