Bus Trips

We have had some crackers so far - in Laos and Cambodia!
From Phonsavan to Vang Vieng we caught a public bus like we have been everywhere. This one however was one of the most uncomfortable 6 hour trips. Once there were no more seats they started filling the aisle up with plastic stools. Air con was working overtime but it was still bloody hot, we went through windy, high mountains, people were vomiting into their sick bags and my faithful companion was sick too! As it was New Year they were playing loud pop music at full blast THE WHOLE TIME! Valium did not help that day!
From Thakek to 4000 Islands has been my favourite though! It was an overnighter - we thought we'd sleep all the way with stops at appropriate hours. NO. We had a toilet stop about 7. Stopped at Savannahket at 9 for an hour. Saw a goat tied to the roof of a bus. At around 1.45 AM we stopped at a petrol station just outside of Pakse. Middle of no where. Thinking just a short stop here- people maybe change buses???? Ended up waiting there for close to 3 hours while the driver and his side kick slept on the roof! Finally get going again, then we stop at Pakse for an hour so the fuckers could have breakfast and we were sitting on the bus! Then it was only an hour til our stop! Frustrating!
From Don Dhet to Ban Lung, Cambodia was an interesting one too! We all filled out visa applications on the main land then got bussed to the border and waited an hour for our visas. So far so good. Get in our mini bus to Ban Lung - pretty comfortable bus! There was only 5 of us so we had plenty of room. I'd even stretched out and went to sleep. About an hour in we stopped in the middle of no where and were told to get out and into a van filled with bags of rice. Turns out our driver couldn't be bothered to take us all the way to our next bus so he just flagged down a van and gave them a few thousand riel to take us 20 minutes down the road! 4 of us got out and one poor girl had to stay on for a bit longer! Our next bus had 21 or 22 people on a 12 seater bus plus the standard bags of produce etc! I didn't even get a proper seat for 3 hours- was in a gap! All very funny now but not so much at the time! That trip cost $24US so we weren't to happy about the decline in comfort!
Comes with the territory right now I guess! I now have no expectations when I rock up to the bus station. . . . !