Thankful to be leaving Phonsavan, we headed to the bus station (once again, out of town). Despite being told that the 10.30am bus often doesn't run, it was there waiting and we got tickets to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, an 11 hour journey away.
To say it was a tortuous 11 hours would be a slight understatement. We thought we were in for a good journey when we left the bus station but as we stopped for diesel 3 minutes down the road (there was too much sitting about to be done at the bus station to sort this out before leaving of course) a tuk-tuk full of festival-goers arrived and the bus quickly filled right up. As usual the route was circuitous and mountainous and this clearly did not sit well with some of our passengers, having overdosed on Beerlao and rice whisky the night before. Without going into too much detail, we were very glad to be getting off the bus in Vientiane at the end of our 11 hour trip (though we should mention that the scenery around Vang Vieng was absolutely stunning).
After the usual shenanigans with the tuk-tuk drivers, by which point our nerves were somewhat frayed, we arrived at a lovely hotel in the centre of Vientiane. We dropped our stuff in the room and headed for food as we were both starving, having not wanted to eat much on the bus. Unfortunately, even in the capital, things close pretty early and by this time it was 9.45pm. Therefore our sustenance consisted of a take-away pizza, but man did it taste good!!!
We then had a couple of days in Vientiane and enjoyed one of the most laid-back capitals we have ever visited. Vientiane has a very obvious French influence, and in parts is reminiscent of Paris (particularly the knock-off Arc De Triomphe). The advantages over Paris are that it is hotter, cheaper and there are fewer French people!
As part of our relaxation in Vientiane, we headed to a lovely temple (Wat) on the outskirts of the city, in a forested location. It was very peaceful and they had a herbal sauna and offered traditional Lao massages. John partook of the herbal sauna, which was possibly the hottest, steamiest saune in the world, interestingly the herbal element had a distinctive aroma of a "special herb". Thoroughly relaxed by this we both then had a massage. JH: As my first massage in SE Asia, I feel it was slightly remiss of Sarah not to tell me that the masseur would attempt to break bones and dislocate joints. That said, we both felt very relaxed afterwards.
We are headed further south tonight, on the night bus to Pakse. We are told by the travel agent that it has proper beds, air-con etc......but this is Laos so we will see!!
