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Published: September 14th 2015
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two very cute puppies we met on our first bus break stop in Laos Getting from Hanoi to Laos was going to be about a 30 hour journey on a bus with no toilet, so we always knew it was going to be tough. From word go it was a carry on, with being collected almost an hour before agreed (I had left to buy food!) and to having to follow a man on a fast moped with our bags, rather than be collected. Anyway, we got the bus eventually and was quite surprised, it was a sleeper bus and we had loads of legroom so sleeping was easy. The border was a breeze too. No dramas. Once we got to Laos the condition of the roads deteriorated quite a bit though and became very windy. We looked at our map and were really confused because the final destination was luang prabang, and you basically got to a cross road and could go north to there, or south to vang vieng - but it didnt make any sense to do it on the one trip. Our worries were confirmed when we met the crossraoad and were told to get off the bus. We were hundreds of kilometres away! We thought maybe there was a bus
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vang vieng station or a transfer bus but there was nothing. We werent up for being dumped in the middle of nowhere so Gary put his bag back on the bus and said he was going nowhere til it was sorted. About 5 mins later a mini bus came down the hill, the driver flagged it and confirmed it was going to vang vieng. HE took notes out of his pocket and paid the driver so it was then we realised this wasnt legit and that we would have indeed have been left and had to pay the money again even though we had paid the full fair. Nightmare.
The road south was long and windy but the scenery just approaching sunset was stunning. Despite being on a bus for over a day and all the dramas (and sitting on a bus withno a/c and the door wide open!) I could appreciate the beauty of the place. What felt like hours later and were still not there. Then the bus broke down about 11pm and probably took another half hour or more to get fixed. I think it was the clutch but the lads seemed to know what to do and
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starting off fresh we set off to everyones delight. Arriving to Vang Vieng after nearly 30 hours to have a shower, comfy bed, a/c and some food was an amazing feeling after the arduous journey!
VV is primarily known for its tubing, where you hire an inflatable ring and float down the river, and bars pull you in to have some drinks, and so it continues until you reach the end. We done this the next day, and had sch a good time! Were pretty tired from the day before but i am so glad we made the effort as we met lovely people and had a good time. We spent the day with 2 kiwis and an english couple and everyone was in good spirits. Personal highlights were the mud pool and the general hilarity of trying to get going in the tube. The mountains and scenery were very pretty as you can see from th e pics. Once we had finished it was dark and we were floating down the river we had to work out where to get out! There were about 12 of us holding onto each others rings for safety and it honestly felt like we were
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mud baths there for hours til we got back, 5 minutes before we were due to lose our whole deposit! Later we met the english couple for some drinks, and felt very rough the next day!
VV is an incredibly laid back place with loads of chill out bars with cushions etc so we mainly just relaxed there. We had planned to go visit the blue lagoon but it had been raining so was told little point as it would probably be brown! Our room there was one of the best wed had in Asia so enjoyed the time we had completely relaxed. Already we could see that Laos was a bit different, noone hassles you! Very chilled, laid back, but not necesarily friendly.
After a few days we decided to go onto Luang Prabang, the old capital and another UNESCO protected town. The roads were crazy but the scenery specactular. We stopped for a toilet stop and you can see from the pics how pretty it was! LP was described as being one of the nicest cities in SE Asia. To say that we were disappointed sounds harsh, it was nice enough, but in my opinion very overrated. WE
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new friends have been to much nicer places. We visited the Xuang Si waterfall with the Kiwi couple we had met and spent most of our time there with them which was nice as they were lovely people (Vets) and it was good to hacve some new company. The waterfalls were genuinely amazing (pics speak for themselveS) and going into the water was lovely, even though the fish nip your feet! We also visited a butterfly park which was nice but quite overpriced and not as good as the one in the phillipines. We were genuinely very surprised at how expensive ti was there. When it is poorer/less developed than its neighbours how can it be almost double the price? May just be tourist prices made up for us. Aside from that trip we didnt do all that much. Again cvery chilled out place, relaxed, walked throuigh markets with no hassle at all (wow!!!!). Went to a viewpoint of the city , hung out with the kiwis and ate lots of avocado based sandwiches which were amazing!
After 3 nights, we decided to head to thailand, marking 1 week in Laos. Beautiful country, amazing scenery, but the people werent very warm,
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dont often see this kind of landscape on a toilet break! and it was expensive! Temperature was much cooler which was a very nice change. Even had to wear a small jumper!
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