Background:
The last time I been to Vietnam was when I was in fifth grade (so I was 10 or 11 years old). And now being 27, it is a drastically different experience. I have small memories as a child. The few things I could remember.. hanging out with my cousin playing the Incredibles, a video game, going to the water park, strolling through the markets, and basically spending time with family. I was really excited to leave Laos and see Vietnam, my dad’s home country, as an adult.
Tim, on the other hand, was recently there in 2019. He completed a full month motorbike ride from the South of Vietnam, Saigon to the North, Ban Gioc Waterfalls (bordering Vietnam and China).
Transportation – have you hitchhiked before? Were you stuck in border town nowhere?
By 03/11/2023 – we knew we had about a month to go and just a bit more countries to squeeze in. Today is the day we took an overnight bus to Vietnam. This one of the most memorable transportation trips from our year. Such a long and short time away. Once we got the bus station, Tim and I were wondering out of the eight-ten buses lined up, “which one would be ours?” We found our bus number, lined up to enter and placed our shoes in a plastic bag (for cleanliness). Yay! We scored a newer model. The smell was new, the seats, the padding, the curtains, the individual TV screens. At this point of our year of travel we were at 11/12 months in. Tim and I knew what an amazing AND unexpected outcome we had from choosing the cheapest tier tickets. We were lucky. We were provided blankets and water. The seating allowed myself to fully extend. The lighting was more modern. There was colorful LED lighting. And most importantly, we were comfortable, which is a typically a huge hit or miss. I’ll stop explaining the bus and show you a video below.
We had one break for 30 minutes. This time was dedicated for our dinner and potty rest. The region was Pak Kading, Laos. By the time we got to the border, Khamkeuth, Laos, it was very early, could have been 5:00 AM. The border opens at 7:00 AM by 6:45-50 AM our bus driver recommended to enter the facility so we can be in line and ready to move along.
Tim and I were maybe the 10th person out of the crowd (there was no line). People were cutting and throwing their passports in front. Passport hands were forcefully out like an autograph book for a celebrity, it was wild. People were impatient, there many yelling, upset. There was definitely travel stress kicking in. Little to I know, Tim and I were going to have the most trouble.
Finally, Tim got our passports in process – to only soon find out that we should have paid for our visas online. The border patrol kept repeating visa and we kept responding “at Vietnam border.” Finally, Laos stamped us out and we walked to the Vietnam border. Once we were in line, we noticed each traveler just waltzing through. Success for them and a big L for us. And the reason being? We were not allowed visa upon arrival with being an American citizen. It truly sucked to see each and every person passing by the minute. A lot of Europeans were among us and it was a piece of cake for them to get through.
Yikes, guess we both didn’t do enough research.. I quickly found this statement online.
Notes on Vietnam Visas for Americans
To get a Vietnam visa, US citizens must have a passport that is valid for six months after their Vietnam arrival date. Also, know that American travellers can only get their Vietnam visa on arrival when arriving to Vietnam by air.
https://vietnamvisa.govt.vn/united-states-citizens/
Americans can not receive visa upon arrival and can only through air (meaning flight)
So what now? Tim and I were the only Americans on our bus. We hoped to get a pass with some extra cash. But no positive result there and our bus left us!!
We paid online for an express Visa, hoping it would be processed in four hours as the description online confirmed. We had to get stamped back into Laos and wait. Do you know what day 03/11/2023 was in Laos/Vietnam? A Sunday. Paperwork does not get processed on Sunday. With hopes that it would be processed, Tim and I waited at a cold, bare minimum shop, the border of Laos. The limit we put on ourselves was to wait until 12 PM.
tick tock goes the clock, and its twelve o’ clock
Whats the next move? Tim asks the lady at the cold shop if we could sleep on the floor. I quickly thought, “oh no.. we are going to sleep with the roaches and rats?”
Thankfully, she shook her head, “no.”
Tim shrugs with distress, “I don’t know what to do now.”
I initiated the next move. I knew we needed our asses in the nearest city and vocalized that. Tim stepped up. He walked straight out of the shop and lifted that right thumb. We hitchhiked and crazy enough, the first gentlemen/truck picked us up. Tim and I climbed into the tall truck. He was so nice and sweet to drop us off at what he considered to be his best recommendation. Tim and I, as usual, marched around in our backpacks to 2-3 different hotels for that best choice/price.
Soon after we had to find food. We ate a meal to get us through the night. I remember walking in and the people felt off. It felt strange that they got a customer and they had to cook. I remember eating rice with some kind of meat protein and Tim may have done the same or ordered soup. The game plan was to rest up and call the Vietnam government first thing in the morning.
By morning – 03/12/2023
The gentlemen on the phone was extremely upset with us. For one, he was pointing out that we should have ordered our visas at minimum, two weeks beforehand. Yes, he was right. Second thing to upset him, Tim didn’t have his accurate, full first name spelt when registering for the visa. By the end of it, we got the visa emailed. I don’t know if I would consider that lucky but the universe was a little more in our favor. Tim and I quickly got them printed. Soon after, we had our first meal of the day. Pho beef soup. It was delicious and actually had a lot of noodles. Next, my only pair of flip flops broke. I decided to purchase some croc/sanrio/slides. I like them. They made me taller and felt like it was more tolerable to avoid the dirtiness. Tim and I grabbed our backpacks and began our second round of hitchhiking.
Who will pull through?
Tim and I were walking through the city. I was getting nervous.. I knew by the end of the road we would hit no pavement, just the dirt road. We started to walk into stores and see if any one knew someone that was inexpensive. There were many rejections. Finally, one nail salon helped us find a “taxi.” Until this day, I have no idea what kind of service they were or what kind of people were they assisting? Family? Friends? Friends of family. Who knew. By the time we got to the border we made a safe pass. The driver and the group (it was like a tiny van) they were concerned about where they could get us and we could tell they wanted to get us as close to the destination as possible without steering off course of their own final stop.
By then they found a bus. One very similar to ours. By the time we were passing the border (where passengers had to cross) we met a biker. This traveler biked from Vietnam in the rain to find out that he couldn’t pass. He was getting sick from the cold and being wet. He decided to return and boarded the same bus as us. The bus driver was trying to rip us off by knowing we needed it. In the end, we both got it lowered but not ideally where we’d like the price to be.
This bus was nasty. It was the complete opposite of what we just were on. It was run down. It reeked of cigarettes. It was cold. The blankets felt scary. Could you imagine? And there were mosquitoes flying around. Terrible. I fully zipped up my Arc’teryx jacket. I put my mask on, I put my neck scarf over. I avoided everything at all cost.
Diễn Ngọc, Diễn Châu District
At first, I thought we were getting dropped off @ Vinh. The way this bus worked is we had to get dropped off and transferred to another bus. The driver dropped us off at a night restaurant. Tim ate.. an interesting soup. We don’t know if it was fish, snake or eel. Something a typical traveler would be afraid to try. An hour passed and we were concerned bout our next bus ride but the owner of the restaurant reassured us.
We finally hopped on the right bus. It was cleaner, warmer. We were back to the modern lights. We were comfortable. Thank goodness. But honestly, what time will we get there? By then Tim and I had a hostel booked. I had to cancel one and book another that had 24 hour reception. We didn’t get there until maybe 4-5 AM. But at least we were where we needed to be. We rang the doorbell and the employee was crashed on the couch. We were escorted to our room which was the top floor. Lots of stairs to climb but it was the perfect spot within the city.
Beyond Rose 
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