Laos additions forum

Thanks a lot.

I looked at three options from Vientiane to Hanoi
1/ direct bus ,24+hour run ,bad roads , sitting on a plastic seat , but cheap .
2/ Bus to Phonsavan (plain of jars)and then bus to Vin in Vietnam 12+ on last leg , bad roads ,plastic seat .went up and had a look at the bus ,overloaded i think would be the word ,but cheap.
3/fly, comfortable seat , quick ,trolley dollies , expensive ,Vietnam airline $120 +$10 departure tax ,so, ok , i am getting older ,the plane (for once )won !

Hello, I just took this trip .... one of the best parts about Lao is slowing down to the pace over there. Why not start in Vientiene, and take your time wandering through the beautiful mountains on the way to louang probang... then fly to Hanoi from LP (about $115) good luck

Ok, I just went from Hanoi to Vientiane going the Vinh -Cau Treo-Lak Sao-Vientiane route. I had a hard time deciding whether or not to take the 24 hour bus but decided not to, mostly because I dislike being herded around.
I had a pretty good trip, but it is definitely more expensive than having your guest house arrange the 24 hr bus (16 USD inc. pick up) if you factor in random motorcycle rides, guest houses etc. I got to the Gap Biat bus station quite early in the morning and there weren't really any buses to Vinh. I also got swarmed by these awful teenagers the second I got to the bus station and they wouldn't leave me alone. I've been to a lot of Asian bus stations, but I have NEVER experienced anything like this. Drivers were grabbing my upper arm and dragging me aboard their bus and I couldn't go up to drivers without the teenagers trailing me, I assume to get a cut of my overpriced bus ticket. It was pretty shitty. Eventually I got on a bus to vinh that sat around the station for an hour and a half, and then drove to a weird freight facility where it sat for FOUR HOURS while the other passengers smoked and the conductor sexually harassed me. I was about to jump ship when we finally left around 1pm. I saw a lot of other buses on the road that said GAP BIAT-VINH so maybe the Vinh buses don't leave until around 11 or noon. Vinh was great, people were kind and xe oms didn't cost too much, and I had a good experience getting to the border. I got a microbus to the village where you get a xe om to the border (I forget the name of it) and it was a fun bus ride, fresh air and the driver and conductor competing to buy me snacks. I paid 70,000 dong for a motorcycle to the border which didn't seem bad at all. It's a beautiful ride and I highly recommend it. Once you get to the border you can change money and there's a small restaurant with rice and pho. I had some trouble with the sawngtheaw drivers on the Lao side. One guy really wanted me to take a private one and when I got on a shared one with some Vietnamese ladies around my age he came over and convinced the driver to charge me 5 dollars. I ended up talking to my driver later and talked him back down to a more reasonable price. If money is a big concern you may want to walk down the road a bit and flag one down to avoid this happening to you. Again, this is a beautiful ride and it really makes the whole trip worth it.
So long story short, if you want to save money, take the straight 24 hour bus for sure, but I had no real trouble with scammers or anything and really enjoyed the slow trip. Hope this helps somebody else out!

Posted from within Vietnam.

I was supposed to go to Vientiane from Hanoi last week but I couldn't decide since I find no one to advise me on what to do. Thanks Ellenruth for sharing your experience, I am now ready to take the chance. Where can I find the bus station in Hanoi? What us company is that?

People may be interested to know that recently (early Jan) we spotted an advert at Nong Khiaw bus station for a new bus link (3x p.w.) between Hanoi and Sam Neua . No idea how long it would take or what the buses are like....

I've done LP to Sam Neua by bus 2 yrs ago. I t was 'interesting' - 17 hrs, 9 of them on a plastic stool in the gangway. We never regretted doing it though.

We had a bad experience taking the bus from Lak Sao to Vinh in that, having paid for the whole journey, we had to change buses about 2 hrs from Vinh and the bus conductor was very unpleasant to us, trying to make us pay again, especially on the outskirts of Vinh after most other passengers had got off.

Has anyone done either the $18 or more expensive bus from Vientiene to Hanoi recently? Would be good to get an idea of how good/bad it is!

Posted from within Vietnam.

We just finished this hellish journey. Vang Vieng (via Vientienne) to Hanoi, on a sleeper bus. 24 hours - 260,000 Kip each.

Company PHANTAVONG TOURIST TRANSPORT CO-OP.

Bus driver was rude and very agressive. Almost started a fight with me over my flip flops.

The journey was nightmareish. We are a couple but we were shoved in at the back on two different bunks with two other strangers. All the other seat/beds are singles, so we were unlucky - but judgeing by the graffity they routinely give the worst seats to westerners. There were people on 'beds' which were just mats laid down in the isles.

The bus left at 7pm. We arrived at the border at about 3am and had to wait until 6am - engine off, no light, no aircon - before we could move on again. About 6hrs of this journey was spent waiting for one reason or another.

The 'aircon' on the bus hardly worked.

Seriously if you are considering this journey - FLY!!! If you can't afford it, try and break the journey up somehow, or prepare yourself for pain. If you absolutely have to get this bus try a different company.

Ben & Laura

We made the trip from Hanoi to Vientiane by sleeper bus yesterday and it was smooth sailing the entire way. We left Hanoi at about 7pm and arrived in Vientiane at about 3 pm the following day.
We arrived at the Laos border at 4am and had to wait until 7am when they opened to receive our visas. They charge $1 US to process the visa and on Sundays they add an additional $2 US on for overtime.
After reading the horror stories I was nervous for the journey, but it was one of the better buses I had been on.
The hotel charged $35 US with transport to the bus station, but if you buy your ticket at the bus station it costs $25 US.