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12 November
Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng (party capital of Laos)
KIM: Up early to get some brekkie and supplies from our favourite - Scandinavian Bakery (really getting into this Laos food then ;-) and back to our guesthouse to wait for our minivan to Vang Vieng. Well, waiting was one thing... but when a tuk tuk arrived, we were worried... 6 hours in this? Thank heavens it was only transferring us to the minivan station (almost like a bus station, but just for tourists... and the three local chaps that happened to be in our minivan too). So we all piled in, luggage on the roof, windows open (thought there was aircon?) and we were on our way. Mark and I in the backseat (which as I recall was the best seats when off for hockey matches but really aren't when you have 6 hours along 200km of a road similar to that of Koel Bay). We bounced and jumped around like two dropped ping pong balls in a seat with no suspension (if that's possible). The scenery was out of this world however - Laos has absolutely amazing terrain, the mountains and rivers side by side make for some perfect photos! Which we managed to get when we had an unarranged stop coming round the bend, and almost slamming into the minivan in front of us and we landed in backed up traffic. Not going anywhere... there had been an accident up ahead and we were waiting for police. All out the van in some disgusting sweltering heat we sat on the side of the road with the little water we had left and tried not to think about the time passing. Finally, through a little forward thought, they managed to move the bus and the truck involved in the 'accident' (a minor clip of a tail light) and the minivans squeezed through and we were on our way.
Arrival in Vang Vieng... not quite! We were dropped 2km out of town and had to tuk tuk it into town. Rough guide out, we headed to Nana's Guesthouse (recommended... shouldn't be though) to snatch up the last room. Ok, beer in need after that journey... and so we headed out to discover the little place of Vang Vieng. (Safe to assume, I just had a coke). What we discovered was that we were miles away from any happenings, and so decided in the morning we'd head out to find a guesthouse closer to the action. Our dinner of hamburger (hmm.. chicken which was meant to be beef?) and carbonara (with a tomato sauce??) while watching the sunset behind the limestone mountains we were sure this was going to be a relaxed and chilled next few days...
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