Going from Vietnam to Laos, The Hard Way

The journey from Sapa, Vietnam, to Muang Khua, Laos, was a long one; it was often uncomfortable and at times frustrating but we were also able to see some of the most stunning scenery in the region.

We started at 7am in Sapa, in a minibus that sped around hairpin mountain passes as if it could defy gravity. The morning was probably one of the clearest we had during our five days in Sapa and the views over Mount Fanxipan and the peaks were amazing. Bend after bend revealed more beautiful mountains as cool air rushed in through the open windows. So far so good.

Leaving Sapa.

Scenic spot where we stopped for lunch.

It took eight hours for us to reach Dien Bien Phu, where we stayed the night. During the drive Ric got a sick bag splattered in his face and we had to stop twice while the road was cleared after a landslide.

Dien Bien Phu is where the French we defeated once and for all by the Vietnamese, ending their rule over Indochina. The town is of great importance to the Vietnamese and a huge war memorial looms over the town, providing us with a great vantage point for sunset. As Dien Bien Phu was our last stop before leaving Vietnam, Ric uncharacteristically set me loose in the supermarket and suggested I spend the remainder of our Vietnamese money! I was in my element. It seems not that many tourists visit DBP, I posed for more photos with gangs of school kids in one evening than I have during 7 weeks in Vietnam! Two little lads followed us around for ages giggling and occasionally blurting out random things in English. In spite of its historical importance, DBP is seriously lacking in the restaurant department and we went to bed hungry after a bland meal of rice and fried tofu.

 

My fans.

Sunset over Dien Bien Phu, from the war memorial.

The next day we got up at 4:45am to start our journey into Laos. What a farce! The bus eventually set off at 5:30, crawling along the streets, and stopping every 50 yards to big up cargo. This was a minibus, not a lorry yet the driver and his pal spent the next two hours driving up and down the same street filling the bus with all sorts of produce set to be transported into Laos. Rice, pig feed, fish feed, plastic bottles, flat pack wardrobes, car parts, bedding… we had it all crammed around our shoulders. At 8am we finally left DBP. Three hours sat on the bus and we hadn’t even left town. At least the company was good: a lady on the bus took it upon herself to buy and feed us a breakfast of eggs and meat samosas.

At the border Ric was reminded why he doesn’t let me shop very often; we didn’t have enough money for our visas! The border crossing was much more expensive than we expected and we ended up paying all the extra ‘fees’ to the border officials in a mixture of dollars, Vietnam dong and Thai baht.

 

Sitting comfortably.

At the border, our already full bus received an extra 12 passengers that squeezed themselves in on top of rice sacks, in between slabs of wood and on my feet! To add to the relaxing atmosphere the driver put on some traditional Vietnamese music, full blast. Vietnamese music is truly terrible: high pitched wind instruments accompany even higher pitched warbling distorted with the echo effect usually found on karaoke machines. The bus’s speakers crackled and strained under the pressure.

Eventually we arrived in Muang Khua, not our intended destination but as with Dien Bien Phu, a necessary stop to break up a long journey. Muang Khua is a tiny town nestled in the mountains between Laos and Vietnam; its wooden stilt houses, dirt roads and narrow alleys make it a charming place to wander around and the restaurants and bars lining the Nam Ou river make for a peaceful place to enjoy a beer and get into some blog writing. 

We walked across a terrifying wooden suspension bridge that creaked and shook as motorbikes zoomed across it, and then strolled through dusty lanes until we reached a primary school on the edge of the town. A few little boys rushed over to Ric and dangled themselves off his arms. 

Play time, Muong Khua

The lovely brown Nam Ou River with the scary bridge in the distance.

The colourful town center.

We Stayed At...

Manh Chay Guest House, on the main road. Good room, friendly owner, $10/£6.

Cu Chi Tunnels (Independent Trip Without Tour)

50km outside of Ho Chi Minh City lies a vast network of underground tunnels that served as a military camp for the Viet Cong soldiers during the war in the 1960s ad 70s. The tunnels cover over 250km and once contained hospitals, kitchens, bunks, store rooms, meeting rooms and munition assembly rooms; everything you need to wage an underground war against invading American soldiers.

The soldiers and villagers of Cu Chi were forced to dig the tunnels and move their lives underground to escape the carpet bombing of their village, on the outskirts of HCMC. The construction of the tunnels is amazing, an architectural wonder. The Viet Cong used hollow bamboo to ventilate the tunnels, concealing the bamboo in termite mounds at the surface to hide it from the Americans; they channeled the smoke from the kitchens to be released far away from the tunnels into an area of dense vegetation so that the smoke would not be seen. The tunnels had booby traps, secret escape hatches, hidden peep holes from which they would shoot the enemy, even trapdoors that once closed would protect them from chemical such as agent orange and napalm.  

The tunnels at Cu Chi have been preserved and the area has become a war memorial where tourists can go into some of the tunnels and see what life might have been like. The tunnels have been widened and made 'safe' for tourists but it was still a struggled to move around inside: hot, dark and claustrophobic, bats flying around your ears. There are displays of the deadly traps used by the Viet Cong, some constructed out of unexploded US bombs, and photographs to show what life was like living underground.

The tour agencies and hotels in HCMC were charging between 100,000 and 130,000 VND ($5-7) for transport to the tunnels and an English speaking guide. We decided we'd do it alone, partly to save money, partly because we like a bit of a challenge. We took the local buses and made it to the tunnels in just under two and a half hours - thank God the local buses were air conditioned! We made a friend on the bus, a young man from Hanoi who was also visiting the tunnels, he acted as our translator for the rest of the day so we didn't even have to pay for an English speaking guide (Vietnamese guides are free.)

The visit started with a very anti-American film from the war, shot in grainy black and white. Then we visited the different tunnels that are open to tourists. Going without a tour group meant we had the place to ourselves, we could spend as long as we liked looking around the tunnels and the exhibits, and it was perfect silence in the jungle where the tunnels are situated.

Ric almost getting stuck in the tiny tunnel entrance.

Tips...

• If you're thinking of going solo to the tunnels, aim to arrive there for about 11am, just as the morning tour groups are leaving, and before the afternoon groups arrive.
• Take mosquito repellent! The area is surrounded by tropical jungle full of hungry mosquitoes.
• You don't need to befriend a local on the bus, English guides are available at the entrance for tourists without a group.

How We Got There...

• From district one, take the north bound number 13 bus from 'Cach Mang Thang Tam' (one of the main streets that runs through the centre) out of the city centre to Cu Chi bus station (the terminus). Cost = 7,000 VND
• Change onto the number 79 bus at the bus station and it will drop you off outside the entrance (look out for signs in English signaling the entrance and tell the bus driver you want the tunnels). Cost = 6,000