Day 7: Change of Plans

On night 6, we put our bikes and ourselves on the train to Vinh, and it must have been Official Take Your Young Children to Vinh Weekend, as our car was chock full of families and their kids heading south. We settled in to our 3^rd tier bunks (a huge improvement over the benches from the train to Lao Cai) and got some good sleep. We arrived in the morning, got some gasoline, some food, and some coffee, and headed off towards the Laos border.

Because there is not much to see between Hanoi and Hue/Danang/Hoi An, (aside from a very long stretch of highway separating them) we decided to go south through Southern Loas, which contains some fabulous natural attractions, affordable accommodation, and PEOPLE THAT CAN SPEAK THAI! Hooray!! So it would be a few days working our way down south, a few in the 4000 Islands region, on to the southern capital of Pakse to take care of Vietnam Visa stuff, then several more days in the mountains of the Bolaven Plateau. The trip would conclude by leaving through the southernmost checkpoint between Vietnam and Laos, which happens to be quite convenient to the Plateau as well as the citys of Hue, Danang, and Hoi An, our next destination.

We would be riding our bikes into Laos, as we had heard several 1^st and 2^nd hand reports of how easy and cheap it is to bring bikes across the border. We were eager for a change of scenery, and made our way as quickly as possible to the checkpoint, but the roads did not allow for very high speeds. Dodging pothole after pothole, and trying to get by big trucks on small roads was not our idea of fun. But once we got out of the villages and into the mountains, things changed drastically for the better.

The colorzzzzzzzz

Let's be honest: that guardrail wasn't gonna help anybody.

The roads were great and the scenery baffling, and we couldn't wait to see how things continued on the Laos side. We were in high spirits as we pulled up to the border. We went up to the office to get stamped out of Vietnam and pay whatever customs tax we owed for the bikes.

And then they told us that we could not take our bikes into Laos, and would have to leave them at the border.

Ssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Fantastic.

What will Ian & Dan do?? Will they get out of this pickle? What about the bikes?? Read on to find out.

We tried reasoning, we tried pleading, we tried bribing, but the Vietnamese immigration officer wouldn't budge on his position. He was kind enough to let us go try to work things out on the Laos side before stamping us out, which would void our visas. The Laos side gave us the same answer, despite the pleading and bribe offers. No matter how many times we told them about our friends or friends-of-friends that had gotten in with bikes, it was always the same answer. There was just no getting these bikes in to Laos. Mega Bummer.

The impenetrable gate that is the Lao border. 

Bummer aside, we did still had to make a decision about what to do next, given the situation. The biggest issue was Dan's visa, set to expire that day, a big reason we were leaving the country when we were. He could renew it in Hanoi, but not at the border, and we were a couple days' trip from the capital. This meant a trip to Pakse for a new visa was required regardless. So, rather than turn back and forget Laos, we decided to soldier on, doing basically the same trip, but traveling via bus rather than our trusty 100 cc roadbeasts. A less than ideal solution, but as we already know, shit happens, and you just gotta deal.

The Laos customs officers allowed us to lock up our bikes at the office, and after a quick and reluctant farewell to our vehicles, we got stamped out of Vietnam, into Laos, and made our way via pick-up truck to the nearby town of Lak Sao, where we decided to stay for the night while figuring the logistics of our new plan.

And we'll just have to see how it all works out. Next time!