Laos' equivalent of the Kao San Road
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2002
1
82
129
Trip End
Sep 22, 2003
Viang Vien,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Here's a dilemma for you. You want to travel from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. Do you
a) Fly. This is obviously the more costly option. It also states on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website that you should avoid using Laos Air due to its poor safety record and poor maintenance. The planes also lack radar and so cannot land through cloud.
b) Go by Bus. The FCO website points out a number of attacks on Route 13(the road we would take) by bandits in the past few months. In fact there was an attack on a bus just last week where bandits opened fire killing 13 and injuring 30. They then doused the bus in petrol and set it alight.
You decide!
Being tight we decided on the cheaper option. I kept my swiss army knife to hand and LJ was ready with her handbag containing a brick (something her mother taught her apparently). When buying the ticket we were told that the "VIP" bus had air con and would not be stopping. About half an hour into the six hour trip they opened the door and the windows - the air con was now on! After about 3 hours the driver proceeded to stop for a pee stop in the middle of nowhere but very close to where the bus had been attacked the week before. We decided it was safer to cross our legs and stay on the bus. Shortly after we passed the wreck of the other bus which was a burnt out mess. I suspect it will be left there as a tourist attraction. The journey itself was more interesting than our boat journey as we passed through many villages where you got a good idea of how the average Laotian lives. Many have no electricity and have to collect their water from the village stand pipe. Whenever we passed a river there was always someone doing their washing and children playing in the water.
After six hours and another stop we arrived at Vang Vieng. We were greeted by a number of touts for local guesthouses and because we had no energy we let one of them whisk us off. The room was ok and cost $4 or was that 40,000 kip or maybe 160 baht. After a little rest we went out to investigate the town. Within 5 minutes we decided we didn't like it very much and within 15 minutes we decided we were leaving the next day. The small town is a typical example where travellers have ruined a beautiful location. Everything is geared to backpackers with every other building being a bar or restaurant with blaring music and western menus. There were more films on offer than at the local Odeon. The great unwashed masses had converged on Vang Vieng in abundance. We have never really seen ourselves as fitting into the backpacker mold, mainly because we tend to wash more than once a month and prefer to see some of the country we are visiting rather than just the insides of a bar. Oops there goes my honourary membership!
On a more positive note Viang Vieng does have things to offer such as tubing down the river and exploring the local caves. My lack of energy and LJ's fear of water and caves kind of put a damper on these. When you get away from the town and down towards the river the scenery is just stunning - very National Geographic. We had a drink down by river and watched a small boy of about 4 trying to make a rocket from a bamboo stick, some crushed rock and a cigarette lighter - up the revolution!
28th - Got up quite early, not long after the great unwashed had got back from their drunken night out (god I'm getting old). We headed back down towards the river and crossed on a rickety old bridge for which we had to pay a toll of 1000 kip each(6p). The alternative was to take yet another odd form of transport. This is made by taking the front end of a tractor attaching some handlebars to drive with and a trailer to carry your passengers. These are fine until you get stuck mid-stream and you have to ask your passengers to roll up their trousers and give you a push. We then strolled through the real Vang Vieng taking in the sites of people going about their daily life. Suddenly it seemed like a different, and much nicer place. After we had a late breakfast we boarded another "VIP" bus with air con (yeh right) for the bumpy journey to head for the Laos capital Vientiane.
