THE bus trip – Savanakhet to Tha Kheak

THE bus trip – Savanakhet to Tha Kheak

This particular journey is deserving of its own entry in the blog. It seems that we may have allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security as far as the “local bus network” is concerned. As we had been out “bush” for the previous two days, we were keen to get to Tha Kheak, seeing as it was only 180kms and 2hrs away it seemed it would be okay to catch the 6pm bus to Tha Kheak. The fare was 25，000 kip each and apparently the bus sitting at the depot at 1700 when we arrived was in fact the 1800 bus bound for Vientiane， via Tha Kheak。

As it is customary to get on board and claim your seats， apparently in the local bus they don't allocate seating。 Realizing this at half past we handed our packs to the conductor， who after much discussion with his peers， dragged them up the aisle of the bus and put them in the back seats。Claiming the last available， “together” seats。 It was a trial because of the two tonne of sugar which was not only in the aisle of the bus but in between every seat。 In the aisle the bags were stacked two high， so even the locals had to duck to get to their seats。 So we were climbing on sugar bags to our seats， with our relatively large knees literally at eye level。
There was of course the roof of the bus stacked high with freight， bags and a motorcycle （who knows HOW they got that up there）。 The waiting passengers were quite happily munching on fried chicken， fish， frog and possibly rat on bamboo skewers， boiled eggs seem to be a local favorite （also on skewers）。 When I sat down opposite everyone else （I was the lucky one who got to share）， I placed my bag on the floor， when I went to get something out， I startled everyone with a scream。 There was a gecko on my bag。 Okay， I’m not scared of them， it just startled me。 It quite quickly made its getaway， before I could get a decent photo。

Leaving the usual 15 minutes late， immediately beset us with the usual discussion of why the people in front of used should not recline their seats， and the locals here seem have a thing about HORRIBLE karaoke， Music Videos （boy meets girl， they fall in love， girl casts boy asunder， they fall in love again， happily ever after）not only this but they have to have it up FULL BORE it‘s terrible screechy whiny stuff。 It seemed that we were the only one that were not enjoying with fervor this modern form of torture。

We are saved after 3 - 4 ks， 6-7 stops， 45 minutes later the karaoke STOPS。Only to be replaced by a more horrible， apparently very humorous pantomime show even louder， with a drum roll for each of the several hundred “laughter points”。 Once again we seemed to the only ones not enjoying it， even though we tried to laugh along with the drum rolls。 Some it was so bad that it was funny， but I think we may have missed the main gist of the humor。 The show was played out in a high pitched screeching stage voice， worse than Dame Edna （apologies to the Dame Edna fans）。 Must confess， it is the first time we have seen and Laotian transvestite dwarf “comedian”。 Several stops later， about 2040， we stopped， but not yet at Tha Kheak， we were about 30kms short。

Where？ Don‘t know it， was dark and dusty， and rather quiet。 We stopped for 10 minutes and there was a lot of movement on the roof of the bus。 A new， and especially awful comedy began， after 20 minutes it became apparent that we were loading some furniture， some furniture， some furniture， and some furniture。 After 1hr and 20 minutes of furniture loading， the already top-heavy bus grew from 1 m to 2。4 meters above the top of the bus。 Several stops later and one Karaoke DVD fresh passengers on and passengers off。And at 2220 we arrived at THA KHEAK, four and a half hours into our “2 hour” trip.

Quite surprisingly it was a very busy place having previously had visions of a palm hut in a rice paddy, where we negotiated a Tuk-Tuk to take us to a guest house. When we looked askence and questioned the veracity of his Tuk-Tuk, i.e. size and capacity. He assured “all good, all good”. Well, this poor Tuk-Tuk was clearly not designed for the most moderate grade with the 500 or so kilograms that we provided. Crawling up one hill we would have been faster on foot, but then we squealed our way back down with bodgy brakes. Anyway, finally we arrived at the accommodation tired, dirty and deaf, from that horrible horrible bus trip, quite willing to take anything that was offered. However we were lucky that this place was quite clean, comfortable, pleasing place. We tumbled through the showers and onto the rock hard beds. Oh well what we learnt we can add to our experience bank.