22 hours to Laos.

Cut right to the chase, 22 hours on bus in Asia... Never again! Unless I am either knocked unconscious or I have a Mickey of vodka and valium.
Every other bus ride we've ever taken has stopped so many times for food and bathroom breaks, so we assumed that on a 22 hour long ride, it would be no different. This was the only time we didn't stock up on snacks for the ride because we planned to just pick some up at the stops along the way. We also had been making a good attempt to stay hydrated in this heat as we were putting back great big bottles of water often. Well, we were really kicking ourselves for drinking so much water and NOT packing food because the bus stopped only twice in the entire 22 hours! No food or bathroom breaks for us!
One of the two stops was the Vietnamese and Laos border at 6 am which was the most dysfunctional border I have ever been through. They had two officers for a lineup of about 200 people, while the other customs officers sat outside and seemed to be enjoying a nice coffee and morning smoke, while we stood in line freezing!! After we finally got our departure stamps,we went get back on our bus, and it was gone. We had read that there are lots of bus scams in Vietnam that just leave you once you get to the Laos boarder, and we really thought we were now part of one. We looked and looked but there was no bus in sight. We were a little choked but were also laughing because everything of ours was on the bus. All we had was our passports and $70 in pocket. We decided that we may as well try to start walking in the direction of the Laos boarder even though we had no idea how far it was. We walked aimlessly in the fog for roughly 5km up a hill, trying to find our bus or the Laos boarder, which ever came first.
We luckily made it to the Laos boarder to happily find our bus waiting for us on the other side, but again be faced with 3 people dealing with visas and entry for another 200 person line up. After trying to wait patiently, we finally got to the front to see that Canadians had to almost pay double the price as everyone and what do ya know bam! Kendal and myself only have enough money to pay for 1 and 3 quarters of a visa. We had finally reached the boarder but just barley didn't have enough money to get into the country! Falling only about 10 dollars short, the couple beside us whom also had been from Canada, graciously gave us the remainder of what we owed, which was a huge relief. After all was said and done we had gotten into Laos without being illegal aliens to the country woohoo!
We boarded back onto the bus to finish this bus ride from hell, but we had figure out a way how pay this couple back, with absolutely no cash on us and not ATM is sight. With good ideas coming far and in between, we had one hidden treasure that was going to save us... the 50 dollars American my old man papa Tim had given to me before leaving and said to only use this when you really need it!
It was one of those experiences that at the time this was all super stressful and extremely frustrating but now we can laugh about it! Needless to say we arrived safe and sound with enough money to pay back the saviors from Canada, lunch and our tuk tuk ride to the hotel.
P.s. this blog was written with a smile on my face!
-Jeremy