The rows and rows of waiting trucks and the grey drizzling rain was the signal that we had finally got to the Vietnamese border and had to leave the bus. The usual haphazard "checking out" proceedure from Laos and same again to check in on the Vietnamese side. It's good to see that some things are consistent ... they rip you off at the northern Vietnamese borders as well as the one in Cambodia. I asked the stewardess from our bus what the 30 dong was for ... she just looked at the floor and shook her head.
The bus continued through the wet. Stopped off at a roadside restaurant to get some food. No menu ... our Vientnamese dictionary wasn't getting us anywhere. We were finally led into the kitchen to point out what we wanted, though after being in the kitchen we decided that we didn't want anything.
We finally found out the reason for out slow progress as the bus stopped again and the driver jumped off the bus and, with some not inconsiderable haste, dashed towards a hedge while the toilet paper waved behind him like the streamer from a kite. It's not just us then.
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