Southern Laos

The sleeping Bus
I arrived back in the capital of Vientiane, and although I just got off a four and a half hour bus ride, I heard you could get down to the south of Laos by and overnight bus with beds on it. So I made some enquires and sure enough, such a bus exists so I bought a ticket to Pakse which is about 11 hours away. I get to the bus station at 8pm and blow me down there are buses with only beds on it and no seats. After a bit of confusion about what bus I was on, I finally got on board and was shown to my bed by a bus hostess. Now you have to picture walking on to a bus and bunk beds either side with the entire back section taken up by 4 beds on top and 4 on the bottom. It was hilarious, until I found out what happens. The beds are about the size of a small single bed and then I found out it sleeps two. Now if you’re a couple then fair enough but I was alone so they gave me my own bed. I couldn’t of been happier as I lay down with two pillows, two blankets, air con on my face, going very well. The bus took off and I was wrapped that I had it all to myself. Twenty mins into the trip this local guy from Lao appears and indicates through gestures that he wants to get into the bed with me. So I move over and as he was quite small he sort of just rolled over and went to sleep. Now I don’t know about you but having a complete stranger from another country in your bed for the next ten and a half hours didn’t exactly thrill me. Not only that the lights on the bus were out and I couldn’t even see what this bloke looked like. If I had to describe him in a line up, it would be small, dark hair and he was from Laos. What happened next was even more alarming. As I was trying to get to sleep, his left leg kept on crossing over mine and I was pushing it back then another 5 mins this would happen again. He then rolled over and he slept with both hands behind his head. Every time I moved, his elbow would go into my ear. What I thought was going to be the best bus trip ever was turning into a nightmare. At one stage he tried to cross his feet over mine and now I was so wide awake, the concept of the “Sleeping Bus” was starting to become a dumb idea. As it turned out the bus stopped at about 2.30am for a break. When I got back on, my sleeping partner was nowhere to be seen. I felt a bit shallow as he didn’t write or send a card- I miss him. LOL.