88: Phonsavan to Vang Vieng
After one day and a bit in Phonsavan which was enough to see the Plain of Jars I’m moved on to Vang Vieng. Phonsavan is not worth hanging around since there is really nothing here other than the Plain of Jars, a few caves and hotsprings apparently.
The town itself is a no-frills smalltown stretched out over a large area. Wide roads and a few houses dotted along the road. The main road has a few restaurants, one internet cafe (with one 56k modem access that serves all 8 PCs) and some hotels/guesthouses. I took the local “VIP” bus (VIP means aircon and more comfortable seats). The price is virtually the same $6.5 vs $7 plus you get a free bottle of water and a cookie 🙂
The other difference that I noticed when we were about to leave was the fact that VIP busses get two armed guards (soldiers by the looks of it:-) The area from route 13/7 junction to Phonsavan and also a stretch from the Junction towards Vang Vieng is known for trouble due to Hmon Guerillia activities that attacked people a while back. It has been quiet for a few years now though and I was told it was safe to travel here so I was surprised to see the guards getting on.
I was expecting an 11h bus trip but much to my surprise someone told be that it was only about 7h, hooray!
I had to backtrack part of the route that I came from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan (the Route 7 stretch) and then continue on Route 13 further down south.
The drive was rather pleasant partly because the seats were better but also because I was again amazed by the scenery. The route drives mostly along the ridges of the many limestone mountains but there is also a lot of up and down and a lot of windy roads… Some people struggled with travel sickness, especially the locals it seemed.
There were a few stops for toilet breaks and a 30min lunch break next to a street restaurant.
We reached Vang Vieng around 14:00 which left plenty of time to find accomodation.
The bus stopped next to the “airport” (a runway of loose pebbles which by the looks of it hardly ever has a plane land here). I had to cross the runway to get to the town. It took about 2 mins from the bus dropoff point to reach the “town” 🙂
Vang Vieng has one and a half main roads if you like. The first road that I reached after the runway was the mainroad running parallel to it. the second one is a bit further down (2 mins) which also rund parallel to it and to a small river. There was a Guesthouse on the road that lead from main road 1 to 2, $4 per night for fan room with own bathroom. Not bad and although I walked down to the other main road to see what else was there I soon returned and took a room at this guesthouse. It was too hot to walk around with backpack plus the place was actually quite ok in terms of being clean and beign close to the center..
I had arrived in Vang Vieng and was happy, looking forward to exploring the city and do some trekking in the area. At this stage I was unaware that I would already leave this place the next morning..
Tags: Laos, Luang Prabang, RTW 2005/2006
saschas
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