Scenic route

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The next morning was rather misty when I went out to get some bus tickets for our onward journey. We had breakfast at the same place as the day before, the “Craters” café, taking advantage of the porridge they had on offer on both occasions.

Due to demand there were two minivans going to Vang Vieng. Despite trying to arrive early, there were already lots of people waiting by the time we arrived. However, this played in our favour as I was able to get the front passenger seat and Sammy got a seat in the other van with space next to her to spread out.

I enjoyed the journey out of Phonsaven much more than the way in. For starters I could see out the window properly allowing me to appreciate the scenery and to see the bends in the mountain road before we came to them, meaning it was less sickening. I also had more leg room and was upwind of whichever passenger had not put deodorant on (although obviously not to such an extent that I didn’t notice!).

As we gained height we cleared the mist and low cloud. There were some great views over the surrounding mountains as we wound our way back towards Phou Khoum and the road south. With more time to watch I found the hilltop villages were particularly interesting, with many of the inhabitants beating plants along the side of the road to sell to the Chinese as brooms or washing clothes (etc) at the roadsides well in the midday heat. After a few hours we got to a small village with a modern looking guest house where our driver recommended we have lunch. I bought a bottle of water so I had a reason to go out onto the balcony and take some photographs of the distant hills which looked a bit like massive teeth jutting out of the landscape.

After lunch we started the long descent towards Kasi and Vang Vieng beyond. I was able to relax a bit and read my book after we cleared the last of the twisty bits and the journey went quite quickly. We arrived at Vang Vieng at about 14.30 after a five and a half hour journey. I retrieved our rucksacks and waited for Sammy to arrive. Whilst waiting I spotted a “reward offered” sign tacked to the wall of the building for a camera that someone had lost - a similar but earlier model to my own. I was a bit surprised because I didn’t think many people had bought the model given the difficulty in getting reliable online reviews.
Sammy arrived about fifteen minutes later and we headed into town to find a hostel. The town is very touristy (specifically tailored toward the backpacker end of the market) so accommodation was plentiful and relatively cheap. We got a large room in a modern guest house located a safe distance from the noisy bars for which the town is infamous.

After checking in we went out for a wander and I purchased some replacement sunglasses. We stopped for a drink in a river side café and watched the sun set behind the karst hills and then returned to the hostel to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. We booked a trip for the morning and then spent some time catching up on the internet before turning in.

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Comments

[mum]

jagged mountains
The jagged mountains look fantastic. Just like something out of Lord of the Rings. Hopefully no large spiders in the mountains!