If your planning on making the trip from Laos to Vietnam via the Na Maew/Nam Xoi border crossing on a bus here's a snippet of advice. It is possible to take a long direct bus from Vientiane to Hanoi but if you'd like to visit Phonsavan, the plain of jars, Sam Neua and Vieng Xai on the way and break up the journey a bit it is possible to take a bus from Sam Neua to Thanh Hoa or Hanoi. The bus is technically destined for Thanh Hoa but seems to generally continue straight on to Hanoi however . . . if you buy a ticket on the bus all the way to Hanoi you will likely be ripped off! The ticket from Sam Neua or Vieng Xai to Thanh Hoa is 180,000 kip, and my bus driver claimed it would cost me a further 300,000 dong (150,000 kip) to stay on the bus to Hanoi, apparently this is a frequent occurrence and the ticket from Thanh Hoa bus station to Hanoi will only cost you 80,000 dong. So get off the bus in Thanh Hoa and buy another ticket for another bus to Hanoi, the timetable claims they depart every 15 minutes but this is always subject to how many people are on the bus. If you overnight in Vieng Xai walk to the main road from the village and you will be able to flag the bus down here at around 8.30am (but you'll probably be waiting till 9.30 so if you're a little late don't assume you've missed it).
When I finally get on the bus at 9.45 we make a dash for the border which closes at 11.30. The driver is smoking something from a pipe which isn't just tobacco and doesn't smell like marijuana. He's bombing it hell for leather down the narrow mountain road flying through villages sending children and pigs squealing from his path. The bus emits an almost constant wail from it's horn under the hand of our invincible driver who seems to think any incident is impossible if you 'announce' you're coming and put your foot to the floor. I never the less make it to Thanh Hoa eight and a half hours later and through some of the most stunning scenery I've seen on this trip.
Are you still active on this blog? I want to do exactly this route, but am very crunched for time in Laos. Would you suggest getting the bus to Thanh Hoa in Sam Neua or Vieng Xai? Any other information would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteHi ethan, sorry i'm not very active on this blog any more so I hope you haven't already made the trip.
DeleteIf you're going from vientiane to hanoi and you're short of time I would recommend making a stop in Phonsavan as there is also a lot of history there, including the plain of jars and you can make a great tour of historical war sites there; visiting bomb craters and villages which are still suffering the effects of unexploded ordinance. I found it a very interesting place. You can then take the bus from there to hanoi, changing in thanh hoa. Vieng xai is also an interesting place with an underground cave network built in the war, but if you are very short on time I would suggest phonsavan as a stop over vieng xai.
Happy traveling.
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DeleteHi, Rachel. I am thinking of making the same trip from Sam Neua to Hanoi. I'm trying to figure out how long that trip will be. You say you got a bus at 930a (I was told that the Vietnam-bound bus from Sam Neua leaves at 7am) and that that border closes at 1130.. since there was a mad dash for the border... it must be 1130am? Then, the total trip was eight and a half hours. How much longer to Hanoi?
ReplyDeleteThanks.. your post gave me some hope that I can actually do this.
Steve
Steve, Rachel, Anybody!
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on the same crossing in a around a weeks time and wondered if there is any timetable for the Sam Neua - Thing How leg of the trip as I found a post on trip advisor explaining this bus only runs once a week?
Any help will be most appreciated.
Chrisrian
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