The time had finally come to leave Vietnam behind and embark on the next major chapter of our backpacking journey: crossing the border into Laos. Our long, overland expedition began at a busy bus terminal in Vietnam. We were traveling on a cross-country sleeper bus, a vehicle completely different from the regular seats we were used to. The interior was packed with narrow bunk beds arranged in tight rows. Some beds were designed for single passengers, while others were double beds meant for two people to share.
I ended up getting assigned to one of the double beds, and my travel partner for this extremely long ride was my friend, Althaf. The space was incredibly cramped. We had to figure out how to arrange our limbs and our small carry-on bags so we wouldn't constantly bump into each other. At exactly 5:00 PM, the massive bus engine roared to life, and we slowly rolled out of the terminal, officially beginning our journey to Laos. To kill time and distract myself from the tight space, I immediately pulled out my phone, put my earphones in, and started watching a movie I had smartly downloaded at the accommodation beforehand. I finished the first movie, felt my eyelids getting heavy from the gentle rocking of the bus, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
The Night Halt: A Desperate Search for Water I woke up a few hours later, right around 9:45 PM. The bus had come to a complete stop, and the engine was idling. We had arrived at a nighttime rest area. The air conditioning inside the bus had dried out my throat, and I woke up feeling unbelievably thirsty.
Along with several other friends, I groggily climbed out of my bunk and stepped off the bus into the cool night air to stretch my legs and hunt for water. Fortunately, since we hadn't crossed the border yet, the local vendors still accepted Vietnamese Dong. Using the last bits of cash I had readily available, I quickly bought two 500ml bottles of mineral water. Chugging that cold water felt like absolute salvation. By 10:00 PM, the driver honked the horn, signaling us to get back on board. The bus merged back onto the dark highway, and I settled back into my tight bunk with Althaf. I watched another movie to pass the time until around 1:00 AM before finally surrendering to exhaustion and falling back into a deep sleep.
The Immigration Ordeal and the Circle K Survival Stash My sleep was cut short at 6:00 AM when the bus abruptly stopped, and the cabin lights were flicked on. We had arrived at the Vietnam-Laos border immigration checkpoint. We were instructed to grab our documents, get off the bus, and process our exit and entry stamps.
I thought crossing a land border would be a quick process, but I was entirely wrong. It was an incredibly slow, bureaucratic nightmare. We had to stand in long lines, manually fill out our personal data on various arrival cards, and wait for the officials to process a bus full of passengers. The entire ordeal dragged on for four agonizing hours.
During this massive delay, my stomach started demanding breakfast. However, I was faced with a major problem: my wallet was completely empty. I had spent all my remaining cash the night before on the bread and snacks at Circle K. Scraping together whatever small change I had left, I could only afford to buy a small bottle of Nutriboost milk. To survive the morning, I relied entirely on the bread I had strategically bought in Hanoi, rationing my bites and shamelessly begging my friends for a few small tastes of their food. That Circle K stash practically saved my life. By 10:00 AM, our passports were finally stamped, we were officially in Laos, and the bus resumed its journey.
The Currency Trap and the 24-Hour Hunger Once the bus started moving again, there was nothing else to do but sleep. I slept through the entire afternoon, finally forcing my eyes open at around 1:30 PM because my body was literally sick and tired of lying down. I was completely restless. To fight the boredom, I sat up as much as the low ceiling allowed and started chatting with the other guys who were also awake, talking about how desperately we wanted a real meal.
At 5:00 PM, the bus pulled into another rest stop. My stomach growled aggressively, assuming we could finally eat. But when we stepped off the bus, a harsh reality hit us: we were deep inside Laos now, and the food stalls exclusively accepted Lao Kip. Because we had just crossed the border, none of us had exchanged our money yet. We stood there staring at the warm, delicious local food being cooked, completely unable to buy a single thing. It was absolute torture. By this point, it had been roughly 24 hours since we had eaten a proper, heavy meal with rice. The intense hunger pangs made the rest of the evening bus ride feel twice as long. We just had to sit there in silence, drinking our leftover water and enduring the starvation.
Midnight Arrival and the Brutal Final Trek The bus rolled through the dark, unfamiliar roads of Laos for hours on end. Finally, at 11:50 PM—almost 31 hours after we first boarded—we arrived at our designated drop-off point. We stumbled out of the sleeper bus, our bodies stiff and aching from lying down for so long.
But the journey wasn't over. We transferred into a regular local bus that drove us closer to our actual destination, finally dropping us off at 12:30 AM right in front of a small, dark alleyway. The regular bus couldn't fit into the narrow street, which meant we had to cover the rest of the distance on foot.
Walking down that alley at nearly 1:00 AM was a massive physical and mental test. I was carrying two heavily packed bags, and the straps were digging painfully into my tired shoulders. Every step felt incredibly heavy, and the walk to the accommodation seemed much further than it actually was. When we finally pushed open the doors of our new accommodation just before 1:00 AM, a collective sigh of relief echoed through the group. We were operating purely on autopilot. We quickly unpacked our essentials, took basic showers to wash off the grime of a 30-hour bus ride, and finally collapsed into our actual beds at around 2:00 AM.
Resuming the Routine in a New Country Despite going to sleep at 2:00 AM, our discipline did not waver. Just a few hours later, as dawn broke over Laos, we woke up as usual to perform our Fajr prayers. We sat together in our new, unfamiliar room, reciting our morning Dzikir, followed by our daily halaqah.
Once the spiritual routine was complete, the schedule finally loosened up. That morning, Group 1 was assigned to cooking duty, which meant the rest of us were officially off the hook and had free time. Many of my friends immediately crawled back into bed to catch up on their heavily depleted sleep. But I couldn't. Adrenaline and curiosity were keeping me awake. Instead of sleeping, I walked out to the front yard of the accommodation. I just stood there, taking deep breaths of the crisp morning air, looking at the unfamiliar architecture and the quiet streets, letting the reality sink in: I am actually in Laos.
The Great Supermarket Discovery At 7:30 AM, Group 1 finally called us in, and we eagerly devoured our breakfast. It was our first real meal in over a day, and every single bite tasted like a masterpiece.
By 8:15 AM, our mentors announced that we were allowed to explore the area around our accommodation. Eager to stretch our legs and see the city in daylight, a group of about eight of us banded together and set off on a walk. We had no specific destination in mind; we just kept walking continuously, observing the local shops, the morning traffic, and the distinct vibe of the Lao people.
After a long, non-stop walk, our aimless exploration finally paid off. We stumbled upon a surprisingly large local supermarket. After the trauma of almost starving on the bus and having no local currency, finding a massive grocery store felt like striking gold. We rushed inside and immediately started hunting for supplies. We bought stacks of instant noodles, snacks, and emergency provisions. Walking back to the accommodation with our hands full of plastic bags gave us an immense sense of security. The brutal journey from Vietnam was completely behind us, and we were now fully stocked, recharged, and ready to conquer our first actual day in Laos.