April 14 We should have paid attention to the omens from the previous day and just turned back; not us though, we just had to keep going :) We got to bus station a little early (thankfully) and got some of the last real seats on the bus-actually a large minivan. Just our luck though that the van (with a capacity of 15 people) had extra seats that flipped down in the aisles so I got to ride shoulder to shoulder with a huge Dutch guy. As we're going along the misty road we stop to pick up a bunch of local hill tribe people: picture full on garb and bags upon bags upon bags upon bags of goods and wares that were all piled on top and inside the bus. You couldn't help but smile, but then you realized how tired you were and how loud they talked and laughed at 5am!
We made it to the Vietnam checkpoint with no trouble and did all the necessary stamping and whatnot. We walked through and were met by our van to continue the trek to the Laos border check. As we were scaling a dusty dirt road up the side of a mountain we stoppe
d. The drivers told everyone to get out (well we inferred that's what they said as all the locals made their way.) Unsure as to what was going on, we grabbed our carry-on bags and followed suit--turning around was a worrying sight as our van was parked with our backpacks on top. In the end we found out that we had to stop because they were doing construction on the dirt road (we assumed they were putting in some effort to make it travelworthy for those who decided it was a better idea to make the land passage.) So here we were, vagabonds roaming the mountains of Laos and literally walking across the border.
d. The drivers told everyone to get out (well we inferred that's what they said as all the locals made their way.) Unsure as to what was going on, we grabbed our carry-on bags and followed suit--turning around was a worrying sight as our van was parked with our backpacks on top. In the end we found out that we had to stop because they were doing construction on the dirt road (we assumed they were putting in some effort to make it travelworthy for those who decided it was a better idea to make the land passage.) So here we were, vagabonds roaming the mountains of Laos and literally walking across the border.The Lao border was a bit slow in processing information, which didn't matter because we had to wait a couple hours anyhow until the construction guys took a break. It also 
didn't help that they wanted US $ to pay for the visa and if you used any other form of currency they gave you a horrible exchange rate. Somehow we, the 4 Americans, had the least amount of American currency between us. Finally our van pulled over the mountain (with our bags!) and we began the treacherous journey to Muang Khoa. What would have taken a couple hours on a paved road took over 5 as we meandered our way through jungles, small villages, and every other sort of terrain you could imagine. It was an unbelievably beautiful trek that was tarnished by the conditions on the van.
didn't help that they wanted US $ to pay for the visa and if you used any other form of currency they gave you a horrible exchange rate. Somehow we, the 4 Americans, had the least amount of American currency between us. Finally our van pulled over the mountain (with our bags!) and we began the treacherous journey to Muang Khoa. What would have taken a couple hours on a paved road took over 5 as we meandered our way through jungles, small villages, and every other sort of terrain you could imagine. It was an unbelievably beautiful trek that was tarnished by the conditions on the van. Here we were on an overcrowded bus (sitting 5 and even 6 across a normally 4 person span) without air conditioning. To make matters more uncomfortable for about 93% of the time we were NOT able to have the windows open. As it was dry season the dust from the gravel/dirt roads was unbelievable and would envelop the bus the second we went faster than a slow crawl. We would sit and pray for some reason to slow down (usually another car that needed to pass, a shallow river that we needed to ford, small children running through the streets) so we could have some form of relief from the eternal, suffocating sauna. Emily literally sat with her fingers on the window and would throw it open at the first sign of dust dissipation. Despite the window closing efforts, dust had infiltrated to the point that everyone on the van was breathing through a scarf, t-shirt, mask, etc. to avoid coughing up a lung from over inhalation. Imagine being put in an oven and then having your face dipped in a pile of sand and told to breathe--for 5 hours. Misery loves company and we had plenty of it!
Finally...FINALLY we reached Muang Khoa. Well, sort of. We were dropped off o
n a road on one side of a river and Muang Khoa was on the other side of the river-and there was no bridge; therefore, we had to pay a small, shallow, dugout boat to motor us across. We were all quite the sight when we deboarded. We were all Covered in dust to the point that one man looked like he was made of clay and the rest of us looked like we had aged about 70 years with dull, graying hair and caked on dirt that accentuated our wrinkles. It was pretty hysterical and nice to have a good laugh after our experience!
n a road on one side of a river and Muang Khoa was on the other side of the river-and there was no bridge; therefore, we had to pay a small, shallow, dugout boat to motor us across. We were all quite the sight when we deboarded. We were all Covered in dust to the point that one man looked like he was made of clay and the rest of us looked like we had aged about 70 years with dull, graying hair and caked on dirt that accentuated our wrinkles. It was pretty hysterical and nice to have a good laugh after our experience! 
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