|
With the opening of Route 9 through Laos, a road trip to Vietnam is a breeze - well almost.
My travel companion, a can of lager in his hand and a pained expression on his face, is the first to ask the question on all our minds.
"How far to the next town, man?" Thang, the Vietnamese guide, leans forward for a quick word with the Vietnamese bus driver.
"About four cans of beer at the speed of, say, 20km per can," comes the cheerful reply.
Hearing the collective groan, the driver obligingly pulls over and we quickly relieve ourselves behind the bushes.
Welcome to Route 9, Laos' newly constructed highway. The road is straight and well paved. Motorists will enjoy plenty of rustic countryside, water buffaloes and even the occasional abandoned tank. What they won't see is traffic, service stations or speed cameras.
And distance is apparently measured in the number of beers you can drink on the road.
Earlier this January afternoon, we crossed the brand new Thailand-Laos Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River from the northeastern province of Mukdahan for our road trip to Vietnam.
Prior to the opening of the bridge, there was a great deal of hype about motorists driving their own cars for a roadtrip through Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
But the three countries have not reached agreement on left- and right-hand drive. And as Vietnam has yet to give permission for Thailand's right-hand-drive cars to use its roads, we had to organise two buses to transport us during our 3-day journey.
Part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a complex maze of truck routes and small paths running through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, Route 9 was used to provide manpower and material to the Viet Cong during the Indochina War in the 1970s.
Stretching East-West across Central Laos, this 250km strip has Thailand at one end and the Vietnamese border at the other. The trip used to be a nightmare and took two days.
Today, you travel comfortably from Mukdahan to Lao Bao in five hours. Leave Mukdahan early in the morning and, in theory, you could be in the old capital of Hue in time for lunch.
Except that border officials have other ideas. We arrive at the Laos-Vietnam border around 5pm and spend almost as much time there as we had on the road, watching in frustration as Vietnamese came in from Laos with piglets, bananas and other farm produce.
Later that night, we leave behind sleepy Laos and enter a relatively more bustling Vietnam. There are a few small service stations although they won't let us use their facilities unless we buy gas.
We finally arrive at Hue, Vietnam's imperial capital between 1802 and 1945, and see our first traffic light for 400km.
Central Vietnam has been hit by a storm, and the following morning we brave the rain for a quick visit to Hue's Royal Palace.
On sunny days, the royal complex must be a splendid sight with its citadels, distinct perimeter walls, the defensive fort, the Imperial Enclosure and the forbidden Purple City. In the rain, it looks dull and grey.
The downpour continues as we head south to Danang but the inclement weather isn't keeping the farmers from working in their fields. In Vietnam, we are told, farmers plant rice four times a year.
We arrive in Danang in the afternoon. Occupied by French in the colonial days and used as an American Air base during the Civil War, Danang is now an important seaport mid way between the North and South.
With its long pristine coastline, it's also rapidly becoming one of Southeast Asia's premier beach destinations. We don't stop but continue on to Hoi An, a lovely old town to the south.
This ancient seaport is now a laid-back town, and famous among backpackers for its small Chinese shophouses, colourful paper lamps and photocopied bestsellers. It's usually teeming with tourists but the rain is keeping most people inside the cafes drinking Vietnamese beer.
We make it back to Danang for dinner, and suddenly realise we are not the only Thais in the country.
In the capital, Hanoi, the Thai national football team is playing its away game against Vietnam in the ASEAN Cup semi-final.
The restaurant starts to empty when the Vietnamese striker misses a penalty and with their team already one down in the first half, we sneak out without having dessert.
The next morning, the bus takes us to Danang Airport for our return flight to Thailand with PB Air.
During our two days on the road, we've enjoyed various kinds of beer and tucked into authentic local dishes using our fingers, forks and spoons and chopsticks.
We've seen rustic life and laid-back Laos. We've also admired the hardworking Vietnamese and witnessed the developments in their country. And more importantly, we've travelled--250km along Laos' Route 9 and 200km on Vietnam's Highway 1--on a roadtrip of real discovery.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
