What's the Karst?

---

It was an early start so that we could have a big breakfast before catching our minibus. We were the first ones on the bus and it was rapidly filled with late 20's Anericans. It was only 120 miles to Vang Vieng, but progress was quite slow. Sometimes the road was metalled, other times it was dirt and one time, as we went over a mountain pass, the road had simply been washed away. This was the hairiest moment of the whole trip as the minibus went along the very edge of the road, less than a foot away was a massive drop to the valley floor below. All we could do was cross our fingers as stopping the van could have been disastrous. The scenery on our five hour trip was spectacular, very mountainous and then hillocky down in the valleys, limestone spires shooting up, some thin blades of rock. It was the first time we've encountered army roadblock and all they would do is open the side door, check we were all white, sat Sabidee and we'd be on our way. It was probably the quietest main road that we'd been on and there are significantly less motorbikes here vs Indonesia and this is an indication of the level of poverty in the country.
Vang Vieng used to be a druggy hangout and it was cleaned up by the Goverment in 2012, with many bars being forcibly closed down by the government, much to the relief of the locals. The town is ringed by some amazing green craggy peaks (Karst Mountains), just like they'd walked straight out of a Chinese silk painting.
Hotel Riverside Boutique was on the River Song and the kids burnt some energy in the pool. The monsoons came on in style and it was a proper 'heavens opening'. Ed and I walked up to the Main Street to buy tickets for our trip to the capital, Vientiane, tomorrow. We got quite wet, despite the golf umbrella which we huddled underneath.
We had our first drinks welcome hour of the entire trip and we made full use of it with some Mai Tai's, Margheritas and Punch.
It was an unusual sight to see a group of locals park their 4x4's in the river and then sit down in the river with beers and loud music from their cars.
To top the night off, Cas took Ed and Hat for a quick dip in the dark, even though the pool was closed...

---