“Our overnight bus journey was a bit of a roller coaster ride.”
It was quite a surreal experience lying on a bed with the lights down and watching a Laos fast moving film at high volume on the overhead TV until the early hours.
We too felt as though we were fast moving, as at times the bus seemed to be swaying as it hurtled along the bumpy roads. This was one of several occasions when I thought “am I going to survive this trip?” Survive it we did, to be deposited in the dark at the bus station around 5.30am several kilometres outside the city.
This is what independent travelling is all about! The local tuk-tuk taxis were waiting for us and at 5.30am there was no bargaining on how much the fare was to take us into the city. As we drove through the eerily quiet streets we saw the young monks in their saffron robes collecting alms from ladies kneeling at the roadside with their offerings.
Vientiane is the capital of Laos and is a modest and gentle place. We enjoyed it very much and spent our time visiting temples, cycling around the city and out into the countryside alongside the Mekong. The French influence still shows in the many coffee shops, patisseries and restaurants that we sampled, however the prices reflect its status.
For a capital city it was very friendly and not as frenetic as other capitals we ahve visited.
In contrast, Vang Vieng which was a 5 hour bus journey north from Vientiane was not our sort of place. It is set in the most amazing karst scenery and offers caving, tubing and other watersports. However, the place has become a victim of its own success as a tourist destination and attracts mainly young backpackers and a lot of ‘drop outs’.
Drugs are apparently easily available and many places serve them in drinks and ‘happy’ pizzas. Most of the bars and cafes that straggle the main street show DVDs and repeat TV programs of ‘Friends’ and the ‘Simpsons’ all through the day and provide couches for customers to lie on rather than chairs.
Considering ourselves normal (and mature!), we felt a bit out of place and went off cycling the next day, exploring the spectacular countryside. Two nights was enough for us and the next day we wandered over to the disused airstrip that is now the bus station and caught the bus to Luang Prabang.
