Sleeper Bus From Hell, Missing Wheels, Cambodia
Over the last 36 hours we have been attempting to go from Vientiane to Siem Reap in Cambodia. We have now made it but the events that led to us getting here were less than ideal.
We started at 5:30pm on the 20th by making sure all our bag were ready to go. We got to the bus station and checked in. No issues yet. Our bags got put on the bus and we got snacks for the journey. When it was time to board we could not believe that this was the correct bus for us. We paid for the tourist vip sleeper bus. The bus we were on had no other tourists, the beds were tiny for two people with no curtains, the bus had a lot of cracked glass and mould. We could tell that we had been put on the significantly cheaper local bus, not the one we paid for. We complained and tried using google translate to make our points. We were told if we did not go by this bus we would not get to Cambodia. Robin exclaimed ‘but this bus is shit it won’t get us there’ foreshadowing the future. We were assured that ‘all buses go’ and with that tried to settle in.
I understand that we are a novelty to people from SE Asia. They like taking photos with us. That I have little problem with if they ask and are respectful. The Laotians on the bus were unapologetically leaning over to get a photo of the two white girls on the local bus. We felt unsafe especially with only 2 other women on the bus, the rest being men.
A few hours in a harsh smell filled the cabin along with a loud clang. Something in the engine ruptured and shrapnel had shred one of the tyres. We were stuck. 3 hours pass and we still aren’t moving. When we finally start going again it’s slow and we kept stopping for a worker to pour water over the engine.
On leaving the bus at Pakse, a small travel town still 3 hours from the border, we saw that we had been driving with one less wheel!
Our connecting bus to the Lao-Cambodian border was at 9am. It was 12pm and we still had not made it. Thankfully I had managed to sort us another bus to the border with private transfer to our hotel once in Cambodia. Sounds fine. We ended up being 15 minutes out from the border being shut because of all the stops the transfer to the border made.
We met up with our driver. The private transfer was fine and we got to the hotel at 11pm on the 21st. All in all around a 30 hour trip. We ordered in food. Now to bed.
-M
