Ok, bit behind on this, I'll crack on with a few posts...
We left the hedonism of Vang Vieng as well as our new chums Julia and Cody behind on a VIP bus with bigger seats, more leg room and luscious air-con. Well, that's what we booked. What we got was a minivan, a slightly bigger version of a people carrier but with smaller seats. We also got a driver who frankly, even by South East Asia (SEA) standards, was a bit of a nutter. We were the last two on the minivan so we had the dubious honour of the fold down seats. Jo had to ride side saddle as the chair in front was broken and came back too far but couldn't be adjusted. The broken chair also swayed about as if it were on strings giving the impression to the lucky chap in it felt like they were on a boat on heavy seas. I was that lucky chap.
The drive to Vietiane, Laos' capitol, is a straight forward affair compared the roller coaster, heart in your mouth, adrenaline in your pants kind of ride that the mountains and landslides of Northern Laos offer. That said, we'd only been driving in the city ten minutes when our driver didn't see a lady who was a vision in pink on a moped as we joined a major carriageway and she went over. Three lanes over. She was fine except for a bumped elbow and no doubt shattered nerves. Our driver's first response though was to check his van for damage before helping the poor woman. Anyway, we made it. We later chatted to a few other peeps who had come up the same day as us on the real VIP bus and by the sounds of it our trip wasn't too bad. The air-con had broken down on both buses and they turned into saunas. Not nice.
Vientiane is a strange little city and has a population of only around 200,000. Given 85% of Laos population lives in rural areas, that's not too surprising. There's not a massive amount to do there but like anywhere in SEA, there's always a temple or ten to be had. You can always wave to Thailand on the other side of the Mekong that separates the two countries. We bump into Martin and Stephanie who are headed in the same direction as us in terms of their next few days and compare notes. One meal of note was the Laos Hot Pot which basically a terracotta pot atop hot charcoals in a plant pot. Into this goes stock and then you are given a plate of meat and a plate of vegetables. Everyone seemed to be doing it differently so we winged the lot into the pot and let it boil for a bit before trying it. It was awesome. We also had some more Laap which is a spicy minced meat salad and it can have quite the kick.
We also hired bikes and rode to the bus station to check out prices for our next part of the trip which turned out to be quite the odyssey. Cycling is something we've done in a number of places out here and it's really not that dissimilar to the UK. There are clear signs that indicate rules of the road along with traffic lights and lane discipline markers. The similarity with blighty ends there as for all of the signage, it's largely ignored and anything goes. Even going the same way on the same side of the road seems to be optional. Another difference is that everyone is very aware of everyone else and the speeds involved are a lot slower which makes for a greater feeling of safety than that in Britain. Sounds crazy I know but it works. Most of the time.
We decide on a sleeper bus as we'd not tried one yet and it was a damned sight cheaper than flying to Pakse which was our original plan. Martin and Stephanie are also doing the same. We arrive at the bus station in the evening and the place is buzzing with people and neon as all the sleeper buses are pimped out. The bus double beds were a cramped single but the bus was half full, ever the optimist, so we could spread out and get a bed each. We set off at eight and I had a great couple of hours listening to Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier talk rubbish in a SModcast on my iPod watching the incredible lightening off in the distance and decided to get some sleep. Imagine, if you will, you are lying in a cozy human being sized shoebox with a pillow and blanket trying to doze off. Now take that box you are lying in and shake it. A lot. For 10 hours. We eventually dropped off for about twenty minutes and then we stopped and the bus lights went on. All in all I think we slept for a few hours before arriving at half six in Pakse. We decide, along with M&S that we'll soldier on and do the last three hours down to the 4000 islands which is where want to get to for a few days of relaxing.
It's a VIP bus, no really it is this time, and it has the added bonus of a screen at the front showing Thai or Laos karaoke DVDs. You wouldn't think the bus had a decent sound system but it does. iPods it is then. We stop at a terrace of shacks where the driver can get some breakfast and Martin and I witness what looks like a big wasp like creature that is sat on some strips of beef drying in the sun. It cuts a chunk of beef off a little bigger than a pea and then flies off with it. We were amazed by this as it just didn't seem possible that this thing would be able to carry it's bovine bonus.
Slept through second half of the bus journey and arrived at the boat stop. We then cross the Mekong again to our first of the 4000 Islands, Don Khong.
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