Vientiane/Best Sleeper Bus aka "Pink Paradise Barbie Sleeper Bus" Combo Post!!

We headed from Luang Prabang bright early at 8:30 am and were on our way to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos just 9 hours away.. The bus was actually decent, with a bottle of water and a snack given to us, and some nice air conditioning. We made our way through the hills and along the curving roads into the nothingness between the major cities. Laos has not developed much of its land due to unexploded bombs and land mines that can detonate at any second, and has killed numerous people. Thanks to the US and the "secret war", where plane loads of bombs were dropped every 8 minutes on a sovereign country at the tail end of the Vietnam war, Laos will be spending the next 30-40 years trying to find the rest of these bombs so hopefully one day more of their country can develop and grow.  But for now, the landscape between cities ranges from dry, dusty rice fields and deep lush jungle covered mountains. It made for a scenic route, but the excitement didn't begin until we reached just the end of Luang Prabang province.

The roads in Laos aren't the best, and at one point we went over a hole and felt something that didn't sound right.. The next thing we knew, we were pulling off at the next village and I had thought maybe we were just stopping for lunch. Oh no, it was not lunch time yet... We had messed up part of the compressor on the brake of the front left wheel... Water was spilling out everywhere, and in almost instantly the jack was out and one of our drivers crawled on the dusty ground underneath to check the damage. Paul and I knew this was going to be a while, and wondered what the mechanical experience of the bus crew was like. We walked around the village, picked up some fruit and snacks, and watched the show of these guys fixing the broken wheel.

We waited about an hour or so, watched the bus that left at 9 am drive by, saw other happy travelers making their way to their destinations, and sat roadside in the random village. After a quick lunch of whatever takeaway the driver/mechanic ate mid-fixing (good thing he had chopsticks, he was covered in dirt and dust), a new screw, and a few attempts to jimmy-rig the wheel part with an aluminum can (I wondered how long that would hold up) the wheel was repaired and we reboarded the bus.

No other hiccups occurred during this bus trip, the seats were comfortable, and we did eventually stop for some food (which was included in the ticket price). We arrived to Vientiane around 8 pm, naturally adding the 3 hours of "Lao time" you have to tack on to any transportation via road.. By now, I'm used to this, and despite having the typical breaking down of a bus (which I have read happens a lot) the trip was pretty painless. I just appreciated being treated like a human and not a piece of cargo for a change! The guys on the bus were all super friendly, and apparently great mechanics as well since we all arrived in one piece. It was sweet too, at one point we made a random stop, and one of the guys got out and did a quick prayer blessing at a roadside shrine. I think that's how all thse dinosaur buses make it from one place to another here... With the power of blessing incense!

As usual, we had to deal with tuktuk drivers and them having a much higher inflated price than what you read in the guidebook or anywhere else for that matter. By the time we arrived to the bus station, everything seemed shut and these were the only guys who could deliver us to our accomodation, so we paid their extortionate price.. After all, 2.50 per person isn't too bad really, it's the principle of knowing you are getting the tourist price that's aggravating... In the end, we made it safely to our guesthouse.. Having eaten lunch at like 4pm, we opted for a minimart dinner of yogurt and a Beerlao, and went to bed.

Vientiane is a unique capital, by that it doesn't have the hustle and bustle like other capitals we have been to.. Sure, it's got more going than Luang Prabang! but it definitely felt like a small town rather than a metropolis. We walked pretty much everywhere, and there is a long promenade along the Mekong that is perfect for walking and running. I've been wide awake at 6:15am lately, and it's just cool enough then to run right now in SE Asia... Any later than that and you're dripping with sweat after 10 minutes of walking down the street. I was happy to see that there were plenty of parks, workout areas, and running paths around the town, and also the usual people out doing their tai chi or other energizing exercises in the morning. 

The presidential palace is located in Vientiane, as well as other government building monstrosities. Seriously, some of these buildings are ridiculous in size and grandeur, for a country with so much poverty and a population around 7 million. It made me question the integrity of the communist system here.. There is also an "Arc d'triumphe" style building in the middle of a park, but according to the sign, the Lao people don't think much of it..

Make sure you don't pass a grass, by the way.

 Cool random wat in the middle of a roundabout.

Our second day in Vientiane we headed 25 km outside the city to a place called "Buddha Park". We had our first public bus experience to the dropoff point, and from there you have the joy of haggling prices with beloved tuktuk drivers. The public bus was amazing! Air conditioning, comfortable seats, and the driver even played the radio. I sat next to a sweet old lady, and though we had no chance of making conversation due to language barriers, she gave me a Halls mint and a nice big smile. What a nice lady. Paul was somewhere at the back of the bus, as there weren't 2 seats together. Luckily when we arrived to the dropoff point, there was a load of other western tourists who were making their way to Buddha park so we all shared a jumbo tuktuk (after 5 minutes haggling the price down to 6000 kip per person, of course).

We rode down a bumpy dirt road for about 10 minutes and then arrived to a large fenced area with hundreds of old Buddhist and Hindi statues all over the place. It as built by a priest-shaman who blended Hinduism and Buddhism together back in the 1950s. There are tons of crazy looking statues, and they all appear to be really, really old...but they aren't. There wasn't much explanation behind the statues or the purpose of the park, since one had to buy the book to find anything out. Wikipedia gave me all the info I needed, and the sculptures, whether old or not, made for some cool photos.

We walked around the park and snapped some pictures. It was a scorcher, so we didn't stay too long, but long enough to make friends with an English couple from Nottingham, and we strolled around the statues with them. Then we all headed back to the bus stop in the tuktuk and made our way back to the city... We had a sleeper bus to catch! We decided to head to the 4,000 Islands, which is in the Mekong of southern Laos.. According to the tour agency, we would leave at 8:30 pm and arrive to Pakse early the next morning, from where we would get a minibus and a boat to Don Det.

I vowed that this would be the last sleeper bus we take, unless it's absolutely necessary, after the fiasco with the Bus from Hell. We were picked up in a jumbo, along with 20 other western tourists, and made our way to the VIP Bus station. Yes, we were adamant with the booking agent to be sure we at least got "VIP" and that yes there is a bathroom on board. Ah, we were so glad when we arrived to the bus and found Pink Paradise Barbie Sleeper Bus! We named it that because of the beautiful pink decor that lined the walls of the bus. The Angry Birds micro fleece blanket was an added bonus. But really, this bus was the best so far... No reclining seats, just beds the whole way down the aisle! Wow, Laos!

 Somehow we both managed to fit in this space along with our little backpacks and travel guitar.. For the first couple hours, we chatted with our new friends we made from jumbo ride to the bus station. We passed around a plastic water bottle filled with "LaoLao"' (the local rice whisky) which is a good way to start any long bus ride, shared stories from our travels, and settled down to sleep at around 11:30. We had a pretty good group of people from all over..Germany, Italy, and Holland. Most of the group were heading to the same place, so we vowed to all stick together.

The great thing about the Pink Paradise Barbie Sleeper Bus was that we were actually able to sleep! I woke up around 7 am when we stopped at a random place to let someone off, and actually felt refreshed- which was the first time that's happened with our bus experiences. The bus was clean, quiet, and the people were respectful. If anything, we were the loud ones that night.. But we made sure to be quiet so not to disturb the locals on the bus. Ah, the pink paradise sleeping bus... That's a winner!

We arrived to Pakse around 8:30 and 20 minutes later we were whisked away by a minivan to another bus, which was not paradise... No AC and lots of broken seats. We endured 3 hours of the old bus and finally made it to Kamphong, where we would be taken by a boat to the island Don Det. 4000 Islands will be my next post.... And Don Det is quite an interesting one of these 4000... Not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure, but unique to day the least. 

Until next time!

MC