Up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain…

Laos buses are very similar to Indian ones. I had booked a ‘VIP’ bus, so had the extra luxury of air/con and windows. Other than that, there’s not much difference. The horrendous mountain corkscrew road is obviously to be endured regardless, but for 7 hours in this heat the extra £1 was worth getting whatever comfort is available.

This high rise twister of a trip was not for the faint hearted. Or anyone suffering from motion sickness. I’d already had one hairy ride before we even chugged out of the bus station. The promised pick up did not appear this morning so I had to make an angry phone call to the ticket agent; a tuk tuk driver was duly dispatched with profuse apologies and drove as fast as I’ve ever seen one go to get me there in time!

Bus Station in the early morning mist

Luckily I don’t a) scare easily, though there were a few sharp intake of breath moments and b) don’t get motion sickness so was able to enjoy the spectacular scenery as much as was possible. The road was only one vehicle wide and turned continuously throwing us about the seat without respite. Up we struggled into the clouds, ears popped, down we went into the sun, up again we slowly crawled up another peak, down again inches from hundreds of feet drops into the ravine below.

The Main Road!

Views from the bus

Two hours later we finally stopped for 10 minutes in a shack with a set of eastern style disgusting loos which they had the cheek to charge for! Then off we set again for another two hours. By this time many of my fellow passengers had lost the will to live. I was exhausted from the bumping, jerking and grinding and the novelty of the view had worn off slightly!

Lunch (provided with the ticket) came at last 4 hours into the journey, I have never been so pleased to see a hot bowl of plain noodle soup, I was starving. Another two hours and the scenery changed to green rice paddies. The towering stone peaks which line the river bank at VangVieng came into view.

I’m currently recovering in a little riverside room which is mosquito central. As the floor and walls are bamboo there’s no way of keeping them out, so it’s into the net tonight. From first sight this stunning town looks amazing, it’s also a party town for backpackers, as I’m preparing for bed I can hear everyone else heading out, alas the spirit is willing but the body is exhausted!