4x4 in a Bus!

After downing a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and yogurt at 5 am, we rode to the station in town and loaded our bags. We climbed aboard our bus and found out we had the seats in the very front! All was well until people started smoking! Yes, on the bus...
I would say about 80% of the passengers smoked most of the trip.

After a smoky, but nonetheless pleasant, three or so hours on the bus, Monty called and asked us if everything was OK, and specifically "how is the road?" Other than a few rough places it had been great. But after the check point we understood what he was talking about...let's just say it was about as good as four-wheeling in a bus gets! A few places, the water went right over the road. And they would pass other buses! This proved no problem for the drivers because our bus was not just any kind of bus, but the rough and tumble WANDA COACH! these things were definitely made for these types of roads.
Our bus also apparently was the postal service as well. We picked up boxes at random places along the way.



After many hours of beautiful scenery and bumpy roads, we stopped for lunch and people would non-stop stare.











At one point, it had been about ten hours and we got on a paved, flat stretch, we figured it wouldn't be long now...
five hours later we pulled into the bus station in GH.
It had been a long day and we were ready to hit the sack. We met our friends, who took us to a little cafe and we talked about our trip a little. But the best part about it was the Tacos. Neither of us were very hungry but we got a couple of tacos to share, yummy! Then we were instructed to meet them at eight in the morning to drive to Laos.


So after a good nights sleep in a little place close by, we were off yet again. This time, in our friend's van which was much more comfy.

One of the cool things about the drive to Laos was the amount of long tunnels. Sometimes they didn't even have lights! We desperately wanted to roll down the windows, honk, and yell. Since our driver spoke very little English and we are as of yet unable to say things in Chinese like "Scream" "Honk" "no we are not dieing or crazy, just for fun!" we decided against it. ;)

We got to the boarder, left China and rode on a "Tuk tuk" to the Laos border for ten yuan.
(which is like a trike with a buggy on the back and a windshield)






Then we bought our Laos visas at one window, entered Laos (according to a stamp) at another window, walked to the other side of the building and exited Laos (according to a stamp)
We now are travelers of Asia with a visa into Laos! :) That was all we saw of Laos it looks like a bamboo forest...just like were we had just been, shhhh!






We decided that the ride in the "Tuk tuk" was overrated and walked back to the China border, where we were greeted with this sign stating WELCOME TO CHINA
In the entry building, we filled out a health form and an entry card. Chelsea, who was in front of me, was inundated with questions. I, on the other hand, was just asked if I was with her and told "very young, very beautiful!" and let through. Thanks Chelsea!
So we drove back to GH.
My next post will be about the fun we had during the week there.