It has been a while since our last installment, and it is not because we don’t
like documenting our story, but more so that it’s just that little bit hard
dragging ourselves away from the beautiful scenery and weather to sit at the
computer for a few hours! I think most people would feel the same.
From Hanoi we departed by bus en route to Lao and Vientiane. Not only was it a
bus, but it was a sleeper bus, a whole 20 hour trip is what we had ahead of us.
There a few young travelers with us. We all waited patiently as everyone
boarded and were told to wait, and wait, and wait. What we were actually
waiting for was for all the seats at the front of the bus to fill up so ‘us’
westerners could occupy the seats at the back... nearest the horrendously
smelling toilet. The most disturbing part was that we actually all got used to
the smell some hours into the trip.
We settled in and slept most of the way. When we awoke we were at the
boarder of Vietnam and Laos and in a half sleep daze, converted money and got
our passports stamped then walked the few hundred meters to the Lao border to
purchase our Visa’s. Another few hours of mountain passes and narrow roads,
which seemed inches from the edge of treacherous cliffs, and we were in the
capital Vientiane.
The following evening after exploring the capital city and ordering a
barbequed frog by the Mekong for dinner (Yes Tess the ‘Veggie’ also indulged,
as they were “ugly creatures anyway, and deserved to be eaten”) we set off on
another over night bus bound for Luang Prabang. This was one of the most uncomfortable,
sleepless, bumpy bus rides yet. It didn’t help that Laotian karaoke was blaring
well into the night (well past 10pm), then began blaring when we arrived at the
wee hour of 5am… just what we wanted…
After door knocking for an hour trying to wake up any sleeping guesthouse
owner, we ended up getting a room across the road from the Mekong and slept
until noon. That night we came to two choices for dinner… Angus: Nice looking
cheap restaurant and Tess: Veggie Buffet. The decision was made for the buffet,
which was ironically had a meat BBQ adjacent. Tess woke early that morning complaining
of dizziness and nausea which eventuated into violent vomiting and diarrhea. I
thought I had evaded this bug to only later to find myself either stuck in the bathroom
or in the fetal position in bed. This lasted for a few days after, and we thank
gastro-stop, dry biscuits, and the Lao beer company for producing the many
bottles of water we consumed over that period. We hired a motorbike and
ventured out to one of the waterfalls in the area after we had started to feel
better. When I saw a straight of road and started to increase speed I would
feel this sharp pinching in my stomach from my passenger, and very stern words
saying to slow down or let her off. In the true interests of both Tess’ fear of
me exceeding 50km/h and the pinching of my stomach I kept it to a slow pace the
rest of the way. The waterfalls themselves were an amazing spectacle of clear
blue/green water, a beautiful sight for us who had been locked in the room for
the better part of two days.
We headed to Vang Vieng the following day on a mini bus that was just as
uncomfortable as the trip up. Some kids from Perth were also on our bus that we
later met up with on our second day when we went tubing. The town itself was
very touristy (think Laos’ equivalent to Kuta Bali) so we enjoyed exploring the
islands and river a few kilometers out from the main town including some
amazing caves and villages.
On our second day we surrendered to the infamous tubing experience that we
had heard so many stories (good and bad) about. In a nut shell it is a
progressive party down the river, in which you hire a tractor tube and float
down the river stopping at platforms on the banks with bars, loud music, rope
swings, slides, and diving boards. Lets just say we never quite made it to the
end of the river spending far too long at each designated bar rather than
floating in our tubes. That night; dinner and then the sunset bar with the
Perth crew, lying in hammocks by the fire consuming “said” shakes, which made
for a fun and interesting night.
Now back in Vientiane waiting for our bus transfer back to the coast of
Vietnam (Hoi An) where we’re looking forward to the sight of the ocean after
being land locked for so long. Our movements post Hoi An are to go south and
across the border into Cambodia, so our next reporting’s will probably be from
there.
Love A&T
