Vientiane Airport to Da Nang by bus, flight

Bus left at 18:00 from Vientiane Southern Bus Station. As usual in Laos, it travelled quite slowly due to the numerous potholes and washouts in the road. The Bus made it into Nam Phao/Cau Treo Border post at 02:30, whereupon the driver, lined up in the growing queue of busses and turned off the engine (and therefore the AirCon). I was only just getting used to the various tonal snores of the various people when I dropped off myself. The bus driver and his offsider were helpful, though they didn't speak any English, giving me the nod when to get off the bus and where they would pick me up from. Get off at the Lao side, get stamped, walk about 1km to the Vietnam side, get your passport stamped, hopefully you have an e-visa and meet the bus. You have to then take your luggage off the bus and send it through the luggage scanner, collect it and wait while the border guards give the bus the once over. After they have, put your luggage back on and hi-ho away we go to Hanoi Nuoc Ngam Station. Bus was comfortable,in that I fell asleep a number of times. The AirCon is Arctic. They do give you a pillow and blanket, which is helpful, but wear thick socks and rug up. You HAVE to remove your shoes to get on the bus. They lay a strip of mattress on the aisle, so passengers can really stretch out and when you get off the bus, especially to the toilets, the ground is just plain filthy and you don't want to bring that back. They do provide you with slippers for when you get off the bus. However, either bring your own or buy some at Vientiane Southern Bus Station, which is what I did. All in all a good experience, The driver was exceptional as a driver, managing to avoid most of the potholes and just keeping the bus journey really smooth. Caught the Wednesday bus (with no on-board toilet or WiFi), rest stops about every 2 hours. Got into Hanoi Nuoc Ngam Station at 18:00.

We arrived 3 hours early and the bus staff did not assign us a seat until the last minute and gave us the worst seat at the back of the bus. I have been told this always happens to westerners.

Instructions on the booking voucher was to go to counter 3 at the bus station to exchange for a boarding pass. But no one was at the counter (it was empty, and didn't look like the counter was in operation). Checked with a couple of other counters (other companies) and was finally directed to go straight to the bus bay. By sheer luck, met a staff (who turned out to me the driver) who spoke both English and Mandarin, and he helped me to settle everything. And since I was the only foreigner on board the bus that day, he also took care of me during the journey especially at the border crossing, telling what to do since the locals got to stay on the bus while I had to go through immigration myself. A big thank you to him (I didn't manage to get his name). Other staff didn't speak English but could see they were trying to help as well. The bus ride was decent. Overall an okay experience, less the boarding pass issue at the bus station.

My experience was better than most stories that I've heard but still an interesting one to tell my friends. Be prepared for bugs, VERY rude bus attendents (segregated the foreigners from the laos obly gave us wifi to shut us up but refused water and snacks, yelled and pushed us), be on your toes at immigration otherwise you bus will just leave without you and laugh ( almost happened to the other foreign couple sitting next to us. Only had wifi til Laos border but there was a toilet on board and blankets and very loud Laos music through the speakers by 9am the next day :)