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Today we woke early feeling surprisingly refreshed despite the early hour, the bus was leaving at eight thirty and Steven wanted some breakfast first. We packed our bags up, paid and then left all before seven am. We headed next door where we sat down and ordered a breakfast of fried rice and eggs, which was as usual delicious. We finished our breakfast and headed to the the bus station, which was just over a km up a steep hill. We puffed and panted our way up before finding ourselves back at the bus station, which was already a hive of activity. We found the cashier and bought two tickets to Phonsovan, which is the capital of Xieng Khuang province. The tickets were bought with ease and we were directed to a small yellow bus and our bags were loaded. We climbed on and took a seat midway down the bus, in front of us was a young mum with a very cute son who for the next eight hours giggled and smiled at us at every opportunity while I played peek a boo with him.
Another couple of westerners climbed on and then the bus left promptly at eight thirty for yet another mammoth trek across northern Lao. The journey although long passed quickly mainly due to the amazing scenery, which we passed and my constant attempt at taking photos. The highlands of Lao are truly stunning and we passed through numerous remote villages and rice paddies. The homes were made of wood and often up high on stilts with cows or motor bikes hiding from the heat beneath... Also every house seemed to have a large traditional weaving machine outside and often a women hard at work on it. The villages were very pretty and despite the lack of pavement or roads, each house was spotless with the red coloured clay mud swept and neat. The were children playing and staring at us as we passed and men sitting around chatting and playing some sort of game with BeerLao bottle tops. The hours passed quickly as I sat back and absorbed beautiful village after village... We would be high up on the steep mountain roads where this homes sit precariously on the edge, mounted against the most stunning back drop of mountainous tree covered hills and the lush green of the paddy fields... Truly a sight to behold. This beautiful ambiance was soon shattered however by the poor girl in front who wasn't travelling very well, she started hurling up into a bag and then chucking it out the window.... Mmm only in Asia. In fact here they just throw all their rubbish out the windows, finish a drink... Chuck the bottle out, no longer hungry... Chuck your food out.
After a very fast passing of about three hours we stopped at one of the villages lower down in the Provence. Here we stopped at a small cafe right by a bridge crossing a small stream, we were given thirty mins to grab a bite to eat, stretch our legs and use the toilet... Although thirty mins soon become forty five as the driver is still tucking into his lunch. I went in search of the toilet and Steven ordered himself some noodle soup, I then headed outside and took some photos... Enjoying the fact I was stationary and not attempting the process at a great speed. Under the bridge there were children all playing in the water while a few feet past them men were fishing with nets... They may not be the richest people in the word but they sure seem happy and that's something enviable.
A short time later once everyone had finished we climbed back onto the bus and hit the road... The little boy in front climbed on and carried on giggling with us as we pulled faces and waved. His mum seemed quite pleased we were entertaining him and smiled... She then gave us some little cakes to share. The bus sped off and as the girl in front settled down for a nap her son decided he was bored and kept whining at her... We tried a little to distract him and gave him a banana to keep him busy, this worked for a short while and he was quiet again. The journey passed us by slowly as we meandered through the small and narrow roads before we finally hit the flat as we hit Muang Khan a small town about half way to Phonsavan. This new flat and relatively straight road was a welcome change and we were soon speeding along with just the odd tooting of the horn to keep us awake and after about three to four hours we finally reached our destination.
Phonsavan is a town that basically lines one very long road of about three km, we arrived at one end of the town (the end we wanted) that was littered with guesthouses and restaurants but the bus kept driving. When Steven enquired if we could get off here, the driver said 'no, at the bus station', which we thought was daft as it was a good five km out of town. Of course we knew the reason for this as its the same everywhere in Asia....tuk tuks. They purposely drop you at the station (which is always a good distance from the town) and then you have to get a tuk tuk. Its a racket that drives me insane and doesn't really help me in my dislike of them... Its the same in Luang Prabang where the power of the tuk tuk racket has ensured that the two bus stations are located out of town as well as the long boat stop, which is now five km out of town. This was previously in town but the drivers didn't like it so got it moved... Its also the reason scooters cost an extortionate one hundred and fifty thousand kip a day (forty thousand kip elsewhere) because they know that you will want to visit the waterfall 30km away.
Anyway. We could see what was going on but little we can do when the bus is moving, however literally a hundred yards further along he stopped the bus and the locals all got off... With this I jumped up and headed for the door saying 'we are getting off here' to which he looked bewildered and said 'no, bus station' to this replied (I was getting a bit fed up with tuk tuk rackets by this point... Seven months in Asia will do that to you)... 'I don't want to go to the bus station... I'm getting off here, can I have my bag'. To this I think he realised he wasn't going to win and nodded at a guy to get our bags. Steven followed me off along with the western couple. The guy then grabbed our bags dropping mine on the floor from the roof of the bus... Whatever.
As the bus pulled away there was already a tuk tuk pulling up beside us to which we just ignored and walked on. About one and a half km down the road we reached some guesthouses and went looking for rooms. Most places were quoting eighty to one hundred thousand kip so we headed off the main road where we found a place for fifty called 'Kong kao', the couple stayed but I thought we could do better and we left. Back on the main strip and across the road we found the 'Nice guesthouse' for sixty and it was nice, clean spacious room and free wifi. We settled in and checked to see if the wifi was working so we could send a message of safety home... And a birthday wish to my now 21 year old brother.
I messaged my brother and mum before chatting to my friend Lacey briefly on Skype... Giving up because the reception was awful. During this time Steven had checked out the local restaurants and scoped the area, as it was almost six by now we headed for food. We checked out the Indian and a few eateries not sure on what we wanted... Do we splurge on Indian or eat cheaply on local food. We sat in Bamboozle, a bar/restaurant and decided over a KamKhone beer. In the end we decided to try a local place with average reviews on trip advisor called 'Simmaly', on arriving we could see it was popular with the locals but noted no westerners. We sat down and Steven ordered a chicken and vegetable dish with a side portion of rice, while I ordered pork fried noodles and wow were were not disappointed. The bad reviews had stated the food was bland but I'm my option that was very far from the truth, my noodles had an almost Chinese flavour and had wonderful hints of ginger and lemon throughout a mainly soy based sauce. The portion was huge and I mean HUGE, easy shared between two. Stevens portion was also massive and I've never seen the boy smile so much... Our bill? Twenty five thousand kip (just over two pounds). We finished our meal, paid and headed back to the guesthouse where we were showered and fell into bed, falling asleep very quickly... Another early one tomorrow.
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