Over the Hills and Far Away

The next part of our journey was truly a tongue-twister - Viv goes to Vientiane via Vang Vieng.

We left Luang Prabang on a VIP coach for the twelve hour journey to Vientiane, Laos' capital city, and were fortunate in being allocated the front seats upstairs on the bus.

The trip was a scenic roller coaster ride; up, up, into, and round and round the mountains for mile after mile. The villages of the ethnic tribes cling to the sides and into the folds of the hills, the thickly forested jungle rolls up and away to distant horizons, and it is not difficult to believe that tigers and wild elephants still roam those dark secret places where no man has ever trod. Traffic was heavy on the road, and our bus scattered smaller vehicles aside as we bumped and clattered our way along what is surely one of the finest road journeys in Indochina.

These mountains were surprisingly heavily populated; the roadsides were crowded with villagers unconcernedly living their lives, as always in Asia, out of doors. Hard-working women cooking, weaving, gathering fuel and crops; bare-bottomed children playing in the mud; hens, ducks, dogs, and pot-bellied pigs fussing over their broods; men smoking, chatting, and drinking coffee - everything more or less as it has been for generations.

The karst scenery was just breathtaking; even from the bus window we managed to grab a few photos that demonstrate its magnificence. From the roadside across to these awesome limestone escarpments huge swathes of strawberry blonde pampas grass swayed in the breeze, intermingled with green bamboo and brightly coloured wild flowers.


Even a blurred snap through a smeary bus window gives a hint of how good this scenery could be.

After seven hours on the bus we broke our journey by staying in Vang Vieng for a couple of days.

Vang Vieng, a pleasant enough town set beautifully on a river below more dramatic karst outcrops, is a magnet for hordes of young backpackers who spend their days tubing and kayaking on the river, and caving and climbing in the mountains, before partying loudly all night long in the many bars and clubs. The noise was not a problem - it was easy enough to escape the din simply by strolling along the riverbank and along the rural footpaths, or dip into one of the quieter outlying bars for a civilized drink.

Brian has an inexplicable and disturbing fascination with primitive barber shops.

Me, I just can't get enough Buddha images - I'm compelled to look at them all.

This is a pretty courtyard at the most ancient temple in Vientiane. We met up with Chris and Enrique again in Vientiane on December 31st, and spent another copule of days with them, happily celebrating the New Year, before we continued our travels in opposite directions.