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We were up early today to catch the 'VIP' bus upto Vang Vieng, and were quite dissapointed with the ramshackle bus that awaited us. Luckily for us, the weather was pretty chilly and so the lack of air con did not prove to be much of a problem! As they strapped our luggage onto the roof of the bus, much to our dismay, we got on to find Jonathon from the previous night already on board. With everyone on board, including a man with a hen on a lead in front of us, we set of into the dense fog and steep hills beyond.
After a few stops on the roadside, so the driver could 'water the plants' as it were, it became pretty clear that we would not have any other option but to join the locals who didn't even wander away from the bus as they squatted on the roadside. With me and Al getting increasingly desperate, we agreed to brave it at the next stop.
Pulling over to the side of a dirt road, we wandered a little further up the road to a makeshift shop selling bottles of water. Getting there we realised that this mud hut was actually their home, with the windowsill being used at the shopfront, they led us through their bedroom/kitchen/lounge to a small woben shack behind, where we could use their facilities for a small fee. Arriving at the hole in the ground, we were happy to pay nonetheless, as not only did they need the money more than we did nut the wicker screen protected our modesty!!
A couple of hours later, we arrived in a desolate car park in Vang Vieng, a Unicef supported village.
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