Last Days of Laos

I didn't do too much with my last few days in Laos. I went to the Attapeu, from where I would take a bus to Vietnam, a day early from Pakse. For the first 2 hours, the bus went excrutiatingly slow, never more than 40km, but more like 20km. Then we picked up a bit of speed and felt like we were on our way. Then all of a sudden, a shotgun blast rang out. At least that's what it sounded like. The front tire exploded, the bus slowed and everybody embraced themselves but we weren't going that fast and the driver slowed down and pulled over. The guy beside me was still in his ready-to-crash pose, bracing himself after we stopped. I told him I think we're fine now. The tire and tube were shredded. Pieces of the tire were scattered all over the road. I kicked the bigger pieces off the road, no one else was going to do this. It took about an hour to fix the tire.
We arrived in Attapeu after over 7 hours. It should have taken about 4 hours or so. I took a room at Phoutavong guesthouse. It was a great and large room with satellite TV and almost the best value I've had in Laos since Luang Nam Tha, the first town I slept in. Attapeu is off most travellers radars and I could tell. There were no restaurant with english menus and almost nothing set up for the foreigner. I ended up eating noodles under the front of someone's house. I watched movies for hours that night. It had been over a month, since I left Vientiane, that I had seen a flick and I was jonesing!

I didn't do too much the next day. I ate spring rolls and pepsi in the market for breakfast. There's no American breakfast here! I checked around for prices for the bus to Vietnam too. I found a place selling the same ticket for $6 less than my guesthouse. That night I looked around for a few restaurants in the guidebook but they weren't there or the map was wrong. I didn't like Attapeu very much.

Feb. 1
I left Attapeu at noon. I was in a large van with 14 other Vietnamese men. It was comfortable and air conditioned. The 120km road to the border was smooth and freshly carved out of the jungle. There was hardly anything but forest the whole way. The road was really, really winding. The driver drove really fast too, making it quite a ride. We arrived at the border 2 hours later. The border was dead. Hardly any people or traffic. I had not met one sinle person who had crossed this border or was going to. I got my 'used' stamp on my passport and was officially out of Laos. I really enjoyed Laos, even though the wildlife situation is a little disappointing. I had been from one mellow country to the next but I think Vietnam will be different.....