Life is never dull when you use the buses and sawngthaews of Thailand and Laos... something is always happening because you are joining a travelling community, taking from it and enriching it with your strangeness at the same time.
Of course, you can use public transport just because it is cheap - it costs not much more than a UK restaurant meal to travel from one end of Thailand to the other on public buses. Or you could use it because it is efficient: on time, with crews of two or three who organise and run the buses as efficiently as airliners, often even down to giving you bottled water and snacks in with the fare.
Or you may just like it. The bustle of food sellers at main bus stops, the sights and photographs you would never enjoy if you were travelling by limousine, the feeling of being part rather than observing through the distortions of the tourist bubble.
And you can combine it with other transport, including cars sometimes, to get the best of the experience in any area.
Many of our best memories come from bus journeys. One of the funniest was when we were exhausted and leeched of blood after a rainy season jaunt in a Thai jungle area and we stopped for four nights in a beautiful four-star resort at Khao Lak (later badly damaged in the tsunami). We arrived by bus... and when we went, by then friends with the Thais used to less interactive package tour sunseekers, the reception got one of the elegantly uniformed baggage staff to wheel out our beaten-up bags and wait at the bus stop with us for the bus.
In Luang Prabang, the city of temples in northern Laos, we stumbled into another amusing incident. We had rocketed 300 miles down the Mekong on a fast boat and done the last 12 miles by sawngthaew (like a tuk-tuk but bigger to seat six or eight). We were windswept and not quite looking our best (to put it mildly)... we went for a room at the Villa Santi, the best place in town, and the receptionist said $40 a night... we said OK and moved in.
The next day they revealed the receptionist had thought us backpackers and was so shocked when we said yes to $40 that he had given us a room reserved for two guests jetting in within hours. We smiled, thanked them and said we’d move out... but they let us stay and found another room for imminently expected guests.
A little later in that trip, we were on a bus on Route 13. It wasn’t long after the army had declared the road safe from bandits, but no one was really sure about that. The bus broke down on a lonely mountain road and the crew of three set about repairing the prop shaft - the bus was carrying an amazing array of spares. As we sat in the sun, part of this fabulous environment, the hypnotically beautiful sound of a hill tribe woman’s song floated down from mountainside fields high above.
Then there was the caring Thai bus crew who would not let us off their bus when we picked a doubtful destination on Phuket...
And travelling with 20 tons of cement in a truck bus out of Pakse, southern Laos, after stopping a few nights in a converted palace...
Helping mend a woman’s rice bag which had split getting it on the bus in north-east Thailand...
Taking a ride from the Vietnam border to Savannakhet in Laos with 70 people on a 40-seater already jammed with such items as a mini-tractor engine and feeling, on the rough tracks, like being with Jean-Luc during a Borg attack...
Sitting in a monsoon storm after getting off a bus at Champasak in southern Laos...
Waiting for six hours or more at bus stations where no one speaks English, and we’ve no idea whether there will be a bus going where we want to go but, all the same, being enjoyably absorbed into the travelling community Laotians...
And all the stops on the way somewhere, the colours, the bleakness, the beauty of dawn in some remote place full of hill tribe people...
If you are tempted, try it. Best to start in Thailand, which is far better organised than Laos. Pick any destination that interests you, get a bus from one of Bangkok’s big bus stations, link with other buses in other cities or towns. Be adventurous: it will all work out somehow.
It is better to take bags that can survive a bit of a pounding (definitely leave your designer matching cases at home), pack your clothes in waterproof bags before putting them into your travelling bag - they might end up on a songthaew roof sometime, or you might be on a river and the spray soak them. Just the humidity can leave everything damp if not protected.
Dress like the local town or city people, just ordinary clothes rather than ‘hotel’ or ‘beach’ specials. Thailand and Laos are friendly and safe countries, generally, so just relax and take the routine kind of precautions you would in the UK, while staying open to the friendly people you will meet. Thais rarely tell you what to do, so be sensitive to their advice; they know the local conditions and you do not.
In Laos, medical facilities are almost non-existent and you should be aware of the UXO risk in many areas (though not in major tourist areas apart from the Plain of Jars); Thailand has excellent medical facilities in cities and many towns. Good insurance is vital, just in case of illness or accident.
Make sure you travel on the same transport as local people. In Thailand, that includes aircon VIP buses (well worth the few extra bahts for long journeys; you can just turn up but it isn't a bad idea to book a few days in advance if you are worried about time). Be cautious with tourist buses: in Nong Khai, up on the Mekong in north-east Thailand, we met a couple who had spent as much on a tourist bus from Bangkok as we had spent on three weeks of travel all through the region and they had seen very little.
Just take your Lonely Planet to help you identify bus station locations and routes, and some idea of hotels. And pack your sense of humour and patience. If you smile a lot and try to communicate, you’ll have a wonderful time.
One problem is that Thai and Lao local buses are built for smaller people than many Westerners ... if you are taller than 5 feet, expect to be a bit cramped unless you can get the back seat. On air conditioned long-distance buses, there is plenty of room.
First published in VISA 69A (Oct 2006)
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