A Bowl of Stupid

Okay, as noted in my last post, I’m traveling again through Southeast Asia. I’m doing so despite having an underlying feeling of apathy towards this whole expedition.

For the most part, I’ve stayed with my initial travel plan (I picked up a nasty head cold the day I left, which I had neglected to work into said plan) — I took off by overnight sleeper train from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, where I caught a taxi (i.e., some guy with a car) from the train station to the bus station, where I caught a bus to the border town of Mukdahan.

I had been misinformed about how to get over the Thai-Laos border (e.g., the Mekong River) from Mukdahan, and I took a tuk-tuk from the bus station to the actual border bridge — where I found I had to pay to get back ON a bus (which I could have caught for the same price back at the bus station) to ride over the ‘Friendship Bridge II’ into Laos.

Once over the bridge, the bus promptly disappeared into town without waiting for me (apparently having served its purpose of taking me across the 200 meter-long bridge), leaving me to take yet another tuk-tuk the 8 km or so into the Laotian border town of Savannakhet.

I eventually wound up staying in Savannakhet for a couple days — first, because I felt like shit and needed to rest; and second, since I was TOLD the only bus leaving town for Vietnam would not be leaving until then. When I did wind up on that bus, it only took me as far as the Vietnamese shithole town of Dong Ha, where I had to pay almost as much as I did for the bus from Laos to go the next 67 KM down to Hue.

So here I am. In Hue, Vietnam — which is known for its infamously bad weather. It has not disappointed.

For the sake of brevity, for anyone ever interested in going this route (up to this point, of course), in addition to the above and the general stuff of doing a bit of research beforehand, I also have these following suggestions:

• Avoid the Savanbanhao Hotel in Savannakhet, Laos if you want to sleep — although recommended by several travel guides, it also owns a restaurant/nightclub RIGHT next door that’s open until 2-3 a.m., and I’m pretty sure it’s a front for a whorehouse.
• Avoid buying a bus ticket from Savannakhet to Hue from Saphon Travel (also recommended by some travel guides) — they don’t actually bring you to Hue, but only to some shithole of a town called Dong Ha, where they will tell you you need to stay in their hotel overnight until you can buy ANOTHER ticket on their next bus to Hue, which leaves the following morning (for essentially double the price you would have paid for a ticket directly to Hue from another company).
• Try to get rid of all your Laos Kip before you leave Laos — there’s little to no need for it once you get on the bus, you can get Dong from ATM’s in Dong Ha or Hue, and you will … repeat, WILL … get ripped off if you try to exchange it for Vietnamese Dong with those little gnome-ladies on the Laos-Vietnam border (one way or another: for another person, they fucked him on the rate; for me, they simply grabbed my cash and ran) — just like the James Gang, there’s a reason they all wear face-masks.
• Trust nobody here until you know them — despite being a ‘communist country’, many of the Vietnamese I’ve met to date are some of the most opportunistic and slyly deceitful people I’ve met. Whereas folks in other Asian countries I’ve visited and/or lived (especially the Buddhist and Hindu ones, where they believe in Karma) will always try to out-bargain you — even to the edge of theft — I’ve never had anything actually stolen from me until Vietnam (so far, I’ve had money and my camera stolen here in only 2 days).

All in all, Vietnam is a fascinating place. The people are esthetically gorgeous. The food, while not outstanding, is interesting and diverse. And the history is extensive. But I’d rather be back in Bangkok.

* Extra points for anyone who knows, or cares enough to cite the reference.