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Day 23
This morning, we got the right tuk-tuk and bus to Kong Lo cave ,hurrah! Again it was a very bumpy ride up and down the mountains. Coco and Alysha were getting anxious because the coach were driving really close to the edge and sometimes driving over wooden bridge that looked really feeble!!
The journey took about 5 hours and once we got to Kong Lo, it literally was in the middle of nowhere!!! Gemma who had got ill again on the bus and was in a lot of pain took a look around and said " I'm not staying here! There's nothing here and this is not travelling!This is not what I signed up for!! I want the beaches!! I don't like it!" Awkward...! We were all nervous too, and it was a shock getting off the coach seeing only the shacks and dust and ONE shop! Typically, we had a little giggle and looked at each other before reminding Gemma that we would laugh about this soon enough! We found a room that is like a shed on slits and Gemma soon perked up! We had some dinner and found out more information about the caves from people around. There was no lights in the street so we had to use a flash torch to get back to our room!
Day 24
When we woke up, we walked 1km to Kong Lo cave. We arrived and saw a pretty lagoon that we decided that we were going to jump into after exploring the cave.
The cave experience was all on a boat, so after buying our tickets we had to split up, as the boats only take 3 people plus the tour guides.
We walked to the boats at the mouth of the cave and Gemma and Mischa who are claustrophobic were really nervous! It was so dark and Alysha had forgotten her flash torch which didn't help! We all boarded the shallow wooden boats - Alysha with Mischa while Coco and Gemma shared a boat with a German. The first ride wasn't that spooky as the book apparently said! We got off at one point to walk around the cave where they had installed light only 3years ago. It was rather pretty albeit a tad daunting! Then we got back on the boats to a clearing where we had a break. Then we went back again to the start - this route was slightly different, and we all agreed it was more scary because it was so dark and the boats kept narrowly missing the rocks on side and above our heads, going even faster than before!
After the 2 hour ride, we changed into our bikinis and had a refreshing dip in the clear blue water. Gemma, Alysha and Coco were sitting on a bench when a group of Chinese people approached us, and asked if they could take pictures of us, assuming that they hadn't seen girls in bikinis! They got Mischa out of the pool to come into the photo then the whole group swarmed around us so they could be in the picture too! It was so random, everyone was laughing and we were so clueless!
On the walk back to our accomadation, we realised that we all needed money and hadn't seen an ATM (it wasn't a town, just a little tiny village.....) After asking a lot of people where the nearest cashpoint was, we were informed that it was in the next town....but with no money for the bus ride, we were stranded! Between us we had few money that was enough for ONE person bus ride, or for food and a night at the hostel! So we asked the local people if they would take us to the next town for some money but they all refused! But after walking some more, we asked another man who had a car if he could take us. We had to pay 120,000 kip which we had haggled down from a high price! Mischa then suggested that we pack our bags and stay the next town as the current one was too quiet, so we packed and got a ride in the car. The next town was faaaaar! We all felt so guilty because we haggled the price to peanuts and he forced his wife to come in car who looked bored and we had a slight row about the ATM (he thinks that the ATM wouldn't accept our cards and we were adamant that it will!) We got to the town, right outside the ATM and quite clearly the sign did say that at weekends our cards would not work - only local cards and we had to wait until Monday for the bank to open! Seeing it was Saturday and we were literally poor so Mischa and Alysha had gone to the bus station to see if we could get a bus to a busier town with better ATM but was sadly informed that the next bus leaves in the morning at 7am! Feeling desperate we went to all the guesthouses asking if we could pay by card for a room but not one of them had a card machine! So we walked back to Coco and Gemma dreading telling them that we couldn't stay anywhere except maybe sleep at the bus station for a night. Gemma was not impressed at all.....Oooops!
A few people stopped by and asked what we were doing at the bus station, we tried to explain in broken English but all we got were bemused looks and laughs which didn't help at all! Eventually an english girl got off a bus and asked what we were doing, we explained our situation. This heroine, Jess (originally from Australia but lived in Manchester for the past 3 years) offered us to sleep in her room! Our faith in humanity were restored and as we followed her, the owners of her hostel stopped us! We pretended that we were only dropping off our bags! The male owner was actually quite friendly and after explaining our situation, he said there will be a bus leaving in a couple of hours going to Vientaine! We were confused yet hopeful, then Jess said "I'll buy you all dinner but I'm a veggie!" We weren't in a position to complain and any food is welcomed!! We explained that it was our own fault and should have taken money out beforehand but we assumed we would be ok as most town had ATMs! She had a similar experience and got helped out like she was helping us, so it's all good karma and we vowed we will help others if they needed it!
Whilst eating our sticky rice and egg fried vegetables we got chatting, exchanged Facebook names, travelling tips, sharing a bag of M&Ms when suddenly a big coach went past us! Alysha ran after it and asked if it was the bus we needed....it is! The conductor was shouting at us to hurry with Alysha waving to the others "It's ours! Let's GO!!" In a scramble we picked up our bags, ran towards the coach while shouting over our shoulders our thanks to Jess! It wasn't a proper bye but hopefully she'll understand and knows how much we totally appreciate for what she did for us!
On the bus, realising that it's 7pm and we couldn't afford any delays because we had to get to Vientaine for 11pm to get accomdation before they all shut at 12am. The journey is 4 hours so we thought we should be ok. We were also hoping that we wouldn't get thrown off the bus because we didn't even have money to buy a ticket! Within 10 mins of being on the bus, a lady with a ticket book started to ask for money. Coco explained that we needed an ATM, she conversed with another man and thankfully they were ok with it! So now we sat back (uncomfortably) and laughed at how everything worked out in the end!
The journey was so long, the bus kept stopping for toilet and food breaks then we arrived in Vientiane at 11.45pm! We weren't sure yet if we would be able to find somewhere to sleep but before we could contemplate that, we were marched to the cash points. All of us tried our cards at one ATM and they all wouldn't work! We looked at each other in a panic, the men that worked on the bus were closing in on us and we were feeling intimidated....but we had one more ATM to try....hurraaaaah! It never felt so good having cash in our purses!
After we paid the bus conductor, he escorted us to a tuk-tuk that goes to central Vientiane. We asked him if anything would be open at this time of the night and thankfully, he knew one that would be and took us there. Phew!
When we arrived, it was a hotel not a guesthouse and they were charging way TOO much, so we couldn't stay there! We walked round in hope that our old guesthouse would be open or at least another would be!
Nothing was open, all the shutters were down on all buildings, so we sat by the main road which had benches and table, put on our mosquito face net (mozzies were all over the place) and played cards. A lots of strangers were giving us bemused looks, coming to us to chat with us and asking what the heck we were doing!!! We knew we looked a sight but there was nothing else we could do until the bus station opened in the morning!
Around half 4 in the morning, the temple gongs were beating and we saw people coming out of their houses with candelabras, food and water. Mischa and Alysha went to the nearest temple to see what was going on. They got a shock when they got to the main gate and peered round the corner to see a line of people walking towards us with incense and candles, it really looked like a cult! We knew they were getting ready to pray really, just unexpected to see a group of people walking slowly with candles and serious faces! So we watched them enter the temple, followed them in with permission and took few photos. Then Coco and Gemma joined them, they were chanting loudly and then after about an hour, the monks walked the streets to receive alms. The local people had set up a mat on their streets with food, sweets and money to give to them. The whole experience was rather inspiring and it uplifted our mood after staying awake all night!
Day 25
After watching the monks, we took a tuk-tuk to the station to get our tickets for Vang Vieng. We were returning there so we could get a bus to Vietnam as it's nearer to Vietnam than Vientaine. We also had a few days to spare as our Visas allow us to go in from 17th Feb. We boarded the 6.30am bus, but as we were the only people going to Vang Vieng, they wanted us to get off to another bus. The other bus was well grotty and we knew we were being short changed but there was nothing we could do. So we swapped buses and by now we were all getting irritated and tired and just wanted to sleep. But the bus kept stopping and allowing more people to get on, our bags were with us in the back so as the bus was getting full, people kept waking us up to move and just stare at us when they sat down. The whole thing was just silly, some of us may have had a few arguments because people were too crammed together and we couldn't move our legs...and to make it worse this bus wasn't going straight to Vang Vieng so what should have been a 3hours journey was 7hours style!
When we arrived in Vang Vieng finally, we never felt SO happy to be off that ugly bus with horrible locals!! We soon found a guesthouse, quickly sorted out our washing, dropped our bags, got summat to eat then and we spent the rest of the day sleeping by the pool. We must have been so tired because we all passed out and woke up to sunburnt skin! Oops...
We got changed then headed out for a well deserved drink!! We looked back at the last 24 hours and thought... "Wow!!! What an experience!"
Day 26, 27 and 28
We did pretty much the same stuff we did last time in Vang Vieng! But on day 27 we hired quad-bikes to explore the area more. But before we even left the shop, Gemma's quad-bike broke down! There was no more quadbikes so she had to swap with Coco who was given a motorbike (not that she was complaining...at all!) So we all set off looking for more caves to explore, passing through fields with lots of bumps which made the ride more fun for most of us. It was Gemma's first time on quad-bike, and poor thing had a bad time with the quadbike because her ones wouldn't go up hills, and it rolled over her feet! Gemma got stuck at one point, then Coco had to help her and she declared that she wasn't really enjoying this! Mischa at one point almost had her quad-bike in a lake! Then Alysha's quad-bike started playing up, the chain kept coming off and we couldn't go anywhere until Coco fetched the man who we hired them from and he drove an replacement for Alysha!
We didnt do much caving either! The first one we went to, we had to climb through it but we were all wearing flip-flops... hardly ideal! The space was too close for Gemma who didn't want to go further, so she returned back with Coco. Alysha and Mischa did a bit more further but it got more trickier then they also returned! After all that hassle we went to the river where Tubing is, we went to the bar and one of the bar staff called Adam gave us a free bucket!! Yay! Most night, we get free buckets and shots anyway ;)
Day 29
Ŵe set off around 2pm to go to Vietnam on the sleeping bus. Again we waited for ages at the bus stop, and then we were told that we had to return to anyway to catch the sleeping bus to go to Vietnam!!! We weren't happy but at least we were not staying for a night! The first bus to our connection was a normal coach, then we all got excited about the 2nd bus because instead of chairs they have beds! (Our journey was going to take us roughly 28 hours.....) Around 7pm, we got onto our brightly lit and colourful sleeping bus, we were surprised with the amount of beds they had managed to fit in!
We got to the borderline around 1am and the office wasn't open yet so the bus stopped and we slept on the bus.
Day 30
We got off the bus at 7am to the cold rain! We all were feeling very disorientated! It was freezing so we must have been SO high up in the mountains! The staff on the bus rudely woke up Gemma by pinching her, they shouted at Alysha and Mischa when they returned to the bus to get their passports and money, it made everyone irritable.
We got to the visa office which again was full of mayhem and chaos!! The people there are like animals, scrambling over each other to get served, pushing and shoving!!! Eventually we got to the front, only to be told that the visas we ordered online back in the UK were invalid!! We were all livid because in Laos, we had asked twice if our 'visas' were acceptable before purchasing our bus tickets to Vietnam and they said yes!!! We also panicked because we knew we were unable to get visas on the borderline!
So now..... we have to go back to Vientiane, buy a visa and do the whole journey all over again!!
We arrived in Vientiane, went to where we stayed before, and thankfully they had room for us and they were able to sort out our visas as well! Seeing it was Saturday the offices were closed for the weekend, so we were not going anywhere until Monday. Great, a few night in Vientiane.....(!)
After we all showered we went out for dinner, walked through the market and then we went to a club. We were not allowed upstairs, only VIPs, but it was SO s*** that it had no music playing and very few customers. Mischa ordered a cocktail anyway then went to the toilets. On her return she announced we were at a prostitute place after seeing a poster selling the barwomen, and what entails a night at the club.....!!
Day 31
We woke up to the sun, but not wanting to spend much money we went to the Laos national swimming pool for the day. There were lots of cute local children and babies around that made us all want to adopt and return home with a baby in our arms! Imagine that - "Hi Mum and Dad, meet your granddaughter!"
After sunbathing, before we returned to our dormitories for a quick shower to go out, we tried a local snack that was made on a stall. The best way to describe - it is a chicken and mash potato cake that is deep fried. Alp Yummy!
We seriously cannot wait to get out of Laos because we were getting bored again! So we went back to the market for a bit of retail therapy and we all purchased a few bits and bobs - nothing like a dosage of shopping to lift our mood!
When we got back to th hostel we gave our passports to the owner so that we could get our visas done first thing in the morning! Alysha (who didnt have a photo for the visa) had to endure an embarrassing 'photoshoot' with the owner! He kept telling her awkwardly to push her hair back, not wanting to touch her so he was gesturing on his own head. The women staff were laughing behind him and after several takes (finding blank space on the wall was long) he did a thumbs up sign and Alysha ran upstairs cringing!
Day 32
We woke up, packed our bags with bleary eyes and checked out. We strolled around Vientaine to pass time (we were picking up our visas at 4.30pm and catching the bus to Vietnam around 6pm.)
Eventually it was all sorted, we had our visas (yay!) and was waiting for the tuk-tuk to take us to the bus station. One came and took us around the corner then we had to get off and wait for another! It didn't make sense, we were frustrated because it seems to be always us that get moved around!! We didn't want to miss our bus either and it was getting dangerously close to 6pm! Finally a taxi came for us, thinking we were going to a bus station, it took us to a garage/home where there was a burnt out coach at the front! Not looking good at all! We gave each other nervous glances, walked in and saw our bus, but people were still mending it!!! We kept asking them "this going to Hanoi? Sure sure?" they convinced us it is the right bus and all will be fine. The other people who were in our taxi gave us a nervous chuckle.....!
After they fixed the engine, the front door didn't close properly at all when we were stood by it (trying to nab the seats at the back as last time we saw they appeared to be more comfortable.) They had put other peoples bags on where we wanted to sit, but underneath at the back was still a row of bed/seats which we nabbed. About half an hour into our journey we realised our mistake we were sat with the engine behind us, not only was it hot, it was dangerous!!!! We can never win it seems!
The journey to the broaderline was the same as before, except we played Jungle Speed, played card games, read new exciting books and then we slept on the bus waiting for the office to open in the morning.....
- comments
Sunny What ! An journey girls .but u r all well which is good .xxxx