Pia wakes up in the middle of the night in the
Villa Maydou Boutique Hotel in
Luang Prabang, Laos from
a stomach ache.
We therefore sleep very badly.
We wonder if it wouldn't be better to stay in Luang Prabang, but Pia eventually wants to
travel further.
We ask if the reception has imodium, they don't but they buy it for us and it seems to help.
At half past eight we had a little breakfast, we checked out and the driver of the bus is
waiting.
When we leave Luang Prabang after 45 minutes, there are twelve people with luggage in a
Toyota bus; it is very full and there is plenty of luggage everywhere, under the seats, in
the back, between the seats and even on a chair.
The ride will take approximately five hours.
The road, two lanes, only passes through mountainous areas.
That means a lot of turns and slopes, sometimes very steep.
And the road is bad, and sometimes the road is being worked on.
About halfway, after driving up in second gear for more than half an hour, we are in the
clouds.
Dozens of trucks with train tracks are parked along the road.
Here we stop for a short sanitary break.
If the driver wants to continue, the road turns out to be blocked, a few stubborn truck
drivers do not want to give each other right of way and that causes problems on a narrow
road where you cannot pass each other.
The problem is solved and there is a ride of about nine kilometers downhill with a gradient
of more than 10%, the driver continues to drive in second gear.
We are in Vang Vieng at
half past two.
When all passengers and all luggage are unloaded, we walk to our hotel, the
Amari Vang Vieng Hotel in a few minutes.
We check in and we are satisfied with our room.
Pia is feeling a little better, despite the long and tiring ride in a van, and she wants
something to eat, rice soup or something.
We sit down at a small restaurant, Oh La La Restaurant & Bar, where we eat something; it
tastes ok.
We walk around the neighborhood and look around.
Vang Vieng is actually very small, you have seen it all in one day.
And it is very quiet.
We have a drink at Phubarn Café along the banks of the river and go to sleep reasonably on time.
Written on: 2020-02-07
Disclaimer
We tell what we have done and experienced during a trip and we also tell what we think about it; no more and no less.
This is not a travel guide, nor is it advice to visit a place or not.
There are other sites for that.
Our opinion about places where we have eaten, drunk or slept is not intended as a (positive or negative) assessment,
there are other sites for that.
It is our view of the situation at a certain moment and that view is influenced by our mood,
the weather and many other factors.