I feel under my seat
for the lever to recline my chair. Bingo! The chair back reclines
and I breathe deeply whilst staring contently outside the window
remembering the great times that Vang Vieng delivered. A few days of
relaxation, beer, kayaking, beer, trekking, beer, caving, beer and
throwing ourselves into the river a number of different ways. This
bus is only half full and is really quite pleasant as we have two
seats each and have wonderful air conditioning blowing strongly.
We're off to Luang Probang, our last destination in Laos before
heading over to Thailand.
The bus journey was
going extremely well, we stopped once for something to eat and drink
after an hour or so on the road. As soon as we got back on the road,
I slipped into a sleep only to be woken up again later by the bus
stopping and people began getting off. I was disorientated for a
while and thought, why are we stopping again so soon. Tom said to
me, “We've got to get off, the bus is broken down.”. I seriously
thought he was taking the piss as the last few journeys have resulted
in many breakdowns. I laughed it off and followed them off the bus,
across the road into a small roadside café. By the way people were
acting I suddenly realised he was in fact telling me the truth.
Questions were beginning to be asked, “What's happened? Why are we
broken down?” The driver informed us that due to the steep
gradients, the bus wasn't able to climb them with the air
conditioning on. Tom fired out a simple solution of “Well, why
don't you turn the air conditioning off?”. The driver dismissed
this and said that he did not know how to and if it was possible.
Ridiculous.
No matter, a big bus
was hailed down and we squeezed onto there, thankfully they had
enough seats for all of us. I believe they concocted this story
about breaking down as they didn't want to take a half full bus to
Luang Probang. It really didn't bother me though as it's Laos,
there's nothing to worry about in Laos. This new bus, although
air-conditioned and comfortable enough, was a rougher ride as we sat
on the top deck well above the road. Underneath us was the driver
and the storage room for luggage. The twists and turns through the
mountains had us continually swaying from side to side and hanging
on. The views, however, were breathtaking.
Finally we arrived in
Luang Probang early evening and headed to the Spicy Laos hostel. As
today is my birthday, strange to have a birthday and spending most of
it on a bus, we headed out for a meal and a few drinks. Luang
Probang's famous night market was in full swing by the time we got
down town on our way to find a restaurant. What a fantastic little
market it is too, it takes you around 10 minutes to get through
walking at a steady pace and dodging hanging objects.
Tom disappeared
following our meal for a while only to return with a present for my
from them. It was an 'In the tubing, Vang Vieng' t-shirt.
Brilliantly ironic. I had been commenting on how I wouldn't get one
of these because everyone seems to pick one up on their way through
Laos but now I had one and I was determined to wear it. We headed
back to the hostel, changed into my new t-shirt and then headed to
the bowling alley, which is a popular hangout for travellers as it's
one of the only places open and selling drink until late.
The following morning I
wake following one of the worst night's sleep I have had since
embarking on my trip. The dorm room was a sweat room. The two fans
that rotated on the ceiling did not even touch us. A layer of thick
sweat enveloped my entire body and my thoughts went back to Mongolia
in an effort to cool down. A well needed shower was required,
carried out and I headed downstairs for some breakfast.
 | |
| Night Market, Luang Probang |
Nicky was already down
there, sitting outside on one of the stone stools taking with another
guy. I walked up to them and introduced myself to the new person
sitting at the table. “How are you? I'm Andy.”. “I'm Mike,
nice to....” He paused and inquisitively stared into my eyes. It
didn't bother me as I was doing the same thing as my brain was
processing memories from long ago into the forefront of my mind. “I
know you!” Mike said. “And I know you!” I returned confirming
our previous acquaintance. It was Mike Curtis, a guy that I had been
at school with for many years, although he was in the year above us,
we used to hang out. I had not seen him in many many years, not
since we left school. What a small world it certainly is. I'm the
other side of the world in Laos and I meet an old friend.
Following the Meeting
Mike, we headed back to the swimming pool we had found the previous
day for a nice refreshing swim. As it had rained, the road leading
towards the swimming pool was muddy and my flip flops were
continuously getting stuck in the mud. We got there though, finally
getting to a swimming pool, something that I had wanted to jump in
for a very long time and I was not disappointed. Jumping into the
cool water of the pool and floating around was a magnificent relief
and as they say, good things come to those that wait! It wasn't
fantastic catching up with Mike and finding out that he was now a
stand up comedian, something I definitely would not have pictured
many years ago.
Luang Probang is a very
beautiful city in the North West of Laos and kind of reminds me a
little like Hoi An in Vietnam. It's relaxed, plenty of restaurants,
night market full of wonderful things and food markets with all kinds
of delicious food to choose from. It's a shame that we're leaving so
soon but Nicky and Tom had to get a move on as their flight from
Singapore to Darwin was rapidly approaching and we thought it was
just time to move on and into Thailand, a land full of promise and
punctuality. So we had our final meal in Luang Probang with Mike and
grabbed a bus to Hua Xia, the border town between the two countries.
There is an option to take a boat up the Mekong to the border
crossing, but we weighed up our options, deliberated over cost and
time factors and came to the conclusion that we would just hop on the
night bus. We finished our meal and headed briskly back to the
hostel and as soon as we got there the sangthaew was already there to
pick us up... early!
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