On the way to Luang Prabang...interesting bus ride

Got home Tuesday night and organized a mini bus to Luang Prabang, with 2 other guys (Aman and Jurian) on our trek and 2 girls (Natalie and Emily) we had met the night before at the Guest House.  We boarded the ‘Bus from hell’ unaware of how our 8 hour ride would unfold (this is for Anth) -  the next 5 hours was spent going what one might consider as QUITE fast over the worst roads in history, in a van with no shock absorbers.

It was so bad that it would almost be impossible to describe, other than asking someone to try to imagine ‘spending 5 hours holding onto the bottom of your seat, so your head doesn’t hit the roof (very tiring) while also holding the handle on the van roof to stabilize and prevent you from sliding and slamming into the side of the bus. It’s impossible to sleep and every 3 seconds the axle will be given a beating by the road. Then you must breathe in dust from the unsealed sections (85%) of the roads, as well as enjoy it all through the bus on your clothes and belongings. The dust is also so prevalent in the air that your throat is dry but you can’t close the windows as the A/C doesn’t work (oh so you‘re also sweating, which then turns the dust into mud). Toilet breaks are luckily frequent because your kidneys are so jolted that they will let go of anything they have and dump it into your bladder on a regular basis (making you need to pee OFTEN) - but don’t expect toilets, you must squat/stand on the side of the road. You then eat lunch at a bus stop and enjoy the next two hours trying to ignore the fact that the driver is trying to keep himself awake while overtaking trucks and dodging scooters.’

The sinful Lao Bus

So we arrived alive but exhausted, sat in a café for a while and then sent out a convoy to find some accommodation. Eventually we found a nice place that all 6 of us could stay in. Next day we ate big breakfast had a walk around and then booked a 2 day elephant camp. As it was hot the Nam Ha River was inviting so we hired tire tubes and floated down the river, which was quite fun (riding rapids and dodging bamboo bridges) until we found ourselves at the entrance of the Mekong  River floating into oblivion (or eventually Cambodia) towards passenger river boats. We furiously paddled to the boat dock and yanked our tubes out, while also having a giggle at how funny we looked amongst the ACTUAL boats, wearing matching hats and fully clothed lying in tubes. We had to walk about 1.5 kms down the road to our original destination while being laughed at by locals and Falang alike.