Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Hi,

I crossed the Boarder at Nam Soi (Sam neau) 4 weeks ago.
1) I guess you take a Minibus (Localbus) from Luang Prabang. The bus arrives at 1 in the morning. They also said to me that I'm there at 10 in the evening, but there is a Hostel at the Bus station, where you can get a room for 50000 Kip, also the only choice you have ;-). When I arrived there, there was nothing on at the bus station, I got the Busdriver to wake the people there up. He was really helpful. By the way we had no long stops with the bus and no problems, but the road to there is really bad, so expect that you need longer. We startet with 18 people inside a bus with places for 13 people for the first 10 hours.
From Sam Neau, you can get a Song Thauw (Pickuptruckbus) for about 20000 Kip to the boarder. Lasts about 2 hours and starts at 7en in the morning (watch out its the only one!).
I had luck and got a Vietnamese bus at the border, but usually there is only one regular bus going from the boarder to Hanoi. The boarder has not open 24 hours, I don't know the times but I guess 4 hours before noon and then 4 hours in the afternoon. At the Vietnamese side the road to Hanoi was broken (end of rainy season, guess now it's better but still bad) and the bus intended to wait for dayz there til the road is fixed. I met there a Thai guy who spoke lao and he told me a way to pass the broken part of the road without danger (rocks were comming down all the time). After two rivercrossings and 4km Trekking with two backpacks I was on the otherside of the broken part. From there me and ten other locals rented a pickuptruck to the next town and from there another van to get to Hanoi. All together it tooks me nearly 3 days and cost about 60USD (all the hiring and the bustickets).
Good advice take a plane from Luang Prabang, also if you have a good road and get a bus at the vietnamese side(there is for sure one going once a day, but I don't know when) it's only a good adventure, don't know if you like it that way. write me you if you crossed the boarder.

Good luck for your travel

Thomas

2

Hi!

to OP
I'll answer to your questions one by one and i hope my reply heling your trip.

---

1) How do I cross into Vietnam from Sam Neau? Are there any straight buses or flights from Sam Neau to Hanoi?
---★Xam Neua→Nam Xoi/Na Meo border→Na Meo town→Thanh Hoa---This is normal route from Xam Neua to Ha Noi.　 　
*no straight bus to Ha Noi bust straight bus to Thanh Hoa(coastal big city) avalable, every Saturday once a week.
*Xam Neua to Ha Noi--- no air flight
*local bus from Na Meo town to Thanh Hoa---daily /Dep.11:00～12:00AM/100,000VND(Rips-off price--10～20＄）

---

2) Is the Laos-Vietnam Customs at the border open 24/7?
----*24/7---???
*you ask about open/closed time ?

---

3) Arriving Sam Neau at 10pm night, will I have any problems finding for a room that late?
---It's entirely no problem. There are so many guesthauses(9～10)near the market/around former old bus atation(had disappeared), so you can find a room very easily even if you arrive bus station late at night.

Now there are 2 newly constructed bus station in Xam Neua---East & South bus station.
You arrive to South bus station 1 Km from tourist area=market area where rmany GHs are concenyrating,once there was only 1 bus station in Xam Neua but today it disappearied. The place of old bus station is in front of Post -Telecom office and both of them are along the main street, you can find many GHs around there.

• very new【Xam Neua Map】showing GHs--- ｆrom my Japanese fellow traveller's home page

http://www.geocities.jp/pimpon1993/sammeua_map/sammeua_map.htm
on the map, at right side , 【3Km】shows "East bus station(new)" from where buses leave to Vieng Xai village(famous for Caves), Lao/ Viet Nam border, Thanh Hoa-Viet Nam etc, and 【1Km】at botom on the map shows "South bus station(new)" from where buses leave to LPB , Vientiane,Phonsavan,Vieng Thon etc.

• very new【Accommodation】---ｆrom my Japanese fellow traveller's home page

http://www.geocities.jp/pimpon1993/sammeua/sammeua.htm
*on the map, opposite side of main street also have a couple of GHs

---

4) Approximate time of travel between Sam Neau to Hanoi?
---If you want to take a straight bus to Thanh Hoa, you have to wait till Saturday(not daily but once a week, and if you want to go to Thanh Hoa by local bus , you cross border to Na Meo town.
If unfortunately miss the bus to Thanh Hoa at Na Meo, you can stay at Na Meo town(=about 500m from border gate). There are 2～3 old guesthouses and 1 GH newly built with immigration office(=building)newly newly constructed together.

*Straight bus(=border crossing bus) to Thanh Hoa leaves Xam Neua 08:00AM on Saturday(once a week)

*Xam Neua→Lao border gate (no VOA at both sides)---by songtheaw 2.5～3hours/Dep.07:40AM/27,000Kip≒3＄

*from gate to gate about 200m. and VN gate to Na Meo town 300m?--I forgot.

*Na Meo town→Thanh Hoa----by local bus 6～7hours/100,000VND≒6＄/but foreigners will be 100% overcharged10～15$=normal rips-off price??!!) 　

*Thanh Hoa→Ha Noi---catch express bus at passenger pick up point on NR.1 /2.5～3hours/≒3＄,
*

---

Op, I recommend you to stay at "Vieng Xai village" before crossing to Viet Nam.
*Vieng Xai village is one of the best places worth to visit in Laos, very quiet and beautiful village though famous for a sightseeing spot having many Caves.
You can make relax yourself as you are in 4000 islands in southern Laos and also can adjust your departure to Viet Nam from Xam Neua rigion.

---

***typical Route schedule XamNeua to Ha Noi(sample) ***
*Xam Neua07:00--Lao border gate10:00--Visa formalities& pasport control--Na Meo border10:30--Na Meo town11:00/12:00--Thanh Hoa18:00～19:00--Ha Noi south bus station20:30～21:00--city center(=Old Quarter)21:30

*If you don't mind "cost", Na Meo→Mai Chau→Ha Noi is very wonderful route, but it takes 2 days 1overnight at Mai Chau.

---

to tomwalt

It seems to me your trip to Ha Noi was very irregular and curious with many points even if you had some troubles on the way to Ha Noi.

Many roads lead to Ha Noi with different routes, and local people using different roads & routes from the ones we foreign tourits are nomally tracing.
So I want to ask you as below. Please answer to my questions with details for next trip of our fellow travelers including me.

*Which route did you take actually?---to Tｈａｎｈ Hoa? to Ninh Binh? to Mai Chau?　
**What citys & towns & villages did your bus pass on your route?
*Where did you stay in 3 days?---normally Xam Neua to Ha Noi is within 1day possible and with cheap price(total cost,12～16＄）
*What kind of bus did you take from Na Meo first?
*Why didn't the name of "Thanh Hoa" appear in your post?---Thanh Hoa is a coastal big city and the final destination of straigh bus from Xam Neua & local bus from Na Meo.

Thank you, good bye!

3

Hi JP_gekozy!

I took the Pickuptruck from Sam Neau to the Boarder. There I waited for about 6 hours and took a Vietnamese bus comming from the Lao side. After about half an hour dirve the road was broken and I'm sure it was the only road leading to Hanoi(There I was on the bus to Thanh Hoa, but this bus waited there for some time and then the driver decided to turn backj to the boarder). After the broken part we(other locals and one Thai speaking Lao and englisch) hired a Pickuptruck(15$rip off, but there was only the option for a Motorcycle for much more and only one person) at the otherside to the next town. It was called Quan Hoa. So I took the road via Mai Chau and Hoah Bin. In Quan Hoa I stayed one night, because some locals said that the next day a bus will come. But there was no bus, because they did'nt served the route until the road was fixed. That's why me and another 9 people which were on the way to Hanoi hired a Minibus(20$) in Quan Hoa which tooks us to Hanoi.
The time I posted was counted from Luang Prapang, sorry for the bad explanation.

I guess I had real bad luck, most of the money I spended on the hired transports. At the time I crossed the boarder, it was the only(I spoke to a lot of the locals and also the Thai man(he was trustful) found no better options) possible way to get on and I was not supposed to stay longer at the boarder or in the cities between.
So if there is no extreme situation, like a fucked road or so it may be possible to do it cheaper and faster, but anyway you should always think that there are some problems, because of the bad roads?! (I didn't)

Hope that helps you

Greets

thomas

Edited by: tomwalt

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And next time I'll watch a out more carefully what I'm writing, sorry for that.......

5

thanks tomwalt and jp_gekozy!

your info were of much help to me, guess it will be an adventure for me when i leave Luang prabang tomorrow monring for Xam Neau. I really hope the road has been fixed as I'm on a very tight schedule. From the info you guys gave, it's not much of a problem to get to the border from Sam Neau, but the real adventure starts after you cross. :)

I will write back after my successful border crossing! :)

thanks!

sonik

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to tomwalt

Thank you very much for your answer, now I understand perfectly.
I had thought you took "Na Meo-Mai Chau-Hoa Binh-Ha Noi" route.

Reverse route from Mai Chau to Na Meo border by motor bike taxi is 18～20＄ＯＫ,
but from Na Meo to Mai Chau it's very difficult with the same price because drivers at Na Meo are very tough to defeat in negotiation. Bus driver & assistant are the same. As for hired car(pick up truck) to Mai Chau, foreign travellers are asked to pay 100＄& more normally ! 　Motorbike taxi is also very high price too!　
So from Laos to Viet Nam is still slightly difficult with it's cost if no bus compare to it's reverse route from Viet Nam to Laos.

Anyway I think you enjoyed beautiful sceneries all the way to Mai Chau and your hard experience will surely become a very good memory later.

Thank you, good bye!