I should probably begin by admitting that I actually like travelling overland by bus. Yes, they’re often hot, slow, and stingy with pee breaks, but they give you a front-row seat to the chaos, charm, and occasional livestock of a country. In my opinion, it’s a far more “real” way to travel than zipping over it all in a plane.

That said, the trip from Champasak to Kampong Cham was — how can I put this delicately? — a bit of a slog.

We booked what was “advertised” (by which I mean some bloke in a bar swore blind it was a proper international bus) from Pakse, Laos, to Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Since we were staying in Champasak, we were told we didn’t need to go back to Pakse but could be picked up in Ban Lak. Convenient, we thought. Spoiler: it wasn’t.

First came the ferry across the Mekong. “Ferry” is perhaps too generous a word — what we boarded was essentially two canoes tied together with rope, supporting a wobbly wooden platform that looked more experimental than seaworthy. It somehow carried us the two kilometres across the flooded river. After this daring nautical crossing, we piled into the back of a ute for the three-kilometre ride to Ban Lak.

At Ban Lak, we were scooped up by a minivan. After a shuffle of passengers around the 4000 Islands area, we were dropped at the border. Our driver assured us he’d meet us on the Cambodian side once we’d cleared customs.

Customs itself was relatively smooth, if you ignored the colourful collection of “fees.” On the Laos side, $2 for the privilege of a stamp. On the Cambodian side, $1 for a “health check” consisting of someone glancing vaguely in your direction. $25 bought you both your visa and the official stamp. These extras all went straight into someone’s pocket, but that’s just how it works.

Once stamped and slightly poorer, we climbed into an older, wheezier minivan. The road was bone-rattling. After hours of waiting and multiple transfers, we finally rolled into Kampong Cham the following day at 5pm, feeling as if we’d been travelling for weeks.