If we had a Beerlao for every email we've received from travellers who've been scammed while crossing the border between Vietnam and Laos, we'd be able to have a very big party. There are several different scams you might encounter, and plenty of lies you'll be told that won't necessarily cost you money but will most certainly piss you off.

Among the most common is the '12-hour' bus between Vientiane and Hanoi, which is in fact a 20- to 24-hour trip including several hours spent waiting for the border to open. Once across the border (mainly at Nam Phao/Cau Treo but also Dansavanh/Lao Bao) another com­mon scam involves the suddenly rising price. You'll know this one when your bus stops and demands an extra, say, US$20 each to continue. This one also applies to local transport from the border further into Vietnam, be it by motorbike, public bus, truck or - the worst - tourist-oriented minibuses.

The nastiest part about these scams is you can't do much to avoid them, no matter how many questions you ask or assurances you seek. The best thing to do is just go with the flow and hope your crossing is trouble free, as many are. If you do come across a problem, try to keep a smile on your face (yes, we know it's hard) and get the best result - usually paying a lower amount. As attractive as it might sound, venting your frustrations through your fists makes matters much worse.

Alternatively you could tell the scammers where to go and hope for the best. And as we discovered years ago (these scams have been running forever), sometimes it will pay off. For: us, it happened on Rte 8 coming from Vinh to Cau Treo. Our minibus stopped halfway up the; Annamite range and the driver demanded more money. We refused, got out and the driver left. No sooner had we asked ourselves "what now?' than a truck loaded up with bags of cement lumbered over the hill and stopped. To the border?' I asked. 'Yes, yes, no problem,' came the smiling reply even after I'd shown him we only had 1300d between us. Sitting atop the truck as we wound our way slowly up through the cloud forests was fantastic and almost as good as the gesture itself, which had restored some of our faith in humanity. We had the last laugh as well, when we found our greedy driver at the border trying to rip off a Canadian couple. We enjoyed telling them: 'don’t, whatever you do, go with that guy.