They call Laos `The Land of a Million Elephants` well for every elephant there is at least one mountain. I had thought that my bus journeys in the Philippines would probably be the worst that I would encounter during my travels, however Laos really does take bus journeys to a whole new level , literally.Because every bus journey so far has being a case of will it/ won`t it make it up the mountain and when it does eventually reach the thing you might as well be flying. When you cannot even see out the window with the cloud and fog and you know 100% that fog lights werent even invented when the bus was made.Of course all this makes for some fantastic scenery, but even this becomes boring after the 3rd hour into a 10 hour bus journey. And for whatever reason every bus journey so far is ate least 10 hrs. Firstly they fill the buses with people, then fill the aisles with the usually rice, rattan and other random items, then out come the plastic stools to fit more people between the seats on the aisles on top of everything . On a recent journey our 2 tyres blew out and the bus quickly filled with a mixture of dust and smoke, after we all got out it was discovered that the bus only had 1 spare tyre, so we had to wait for another bus to come along and lend us another spare which they did very reluctantly. (Pictures coming soon) There are no trains in Laos and flights are too expensive. A VIP Bus means that you get a bottle of water and a face towel. So after 25 hours of bone crushing bum numbing, listening to Laos/Chinese hip hop & ballads all the way bus journeys I`v shelled out $20 for a sleeper bus to my next destination a 16 hr journey down south.
I had a great stay in some villages along the way, where all you see is dogs, chickens and children running around. The locals are all very friendly and they teach you Laos while you teach them some english and the food is improving. The main towns are a different story where they are just after your dollars, I was disappointed with Luang Prabang where everything is quoted in dollars and it is nothing more than a tourist trap. Vientiane is just a functioning Capital without any charm so I am really looking forward to my journey down south and the Four Thousand Islands.
