Lost in Vacation: Vientiane and Southern Laos or The Tuk Tuk Diaries

Still having an argument with my weaker self how the night before the stronger one could have slipped away that easily, we embarked a crappy bus for a bouncy, karaoke-infested and (in Stevies case) crampy bus drive to Vientiane. Knowing that the Laotian Capital City isn't known for its stunning beauty and that the weather forecast for Vietnams beaches was looking grim, we spontaneously decided to change our plans: In order not to waste more than one day on Vientiane we didn't stay for the night, but rather took the "VIP" night bus to Savanaket. We assigned the spare night we thus gained in our tight schedule, together with some cushion days still left from our trip so far, to a non-planned 2-day-excursion to Southern Lao.

The wannabe Champs-Elysees (or Parisian pomp road, as Stevie cowardly put it ;)) of Vientiane. According to a sign attached to it "even less impressive from a close range"...

Kids playing soccer in front of the Stupa (the latter to be seen at Stevies blog entry)

Wa' a lo' o Bu'as!

Looking back, I don't know what the hell came over me to take part in this extra tour, already knowing that my batteries are of a different stamp than Peters (a.k.a. the Duracell bunny). At the end, the price for some admittedly nice experiences in Southern Lao for me was high: The transport-to-rest-ration of the 96 hours after leaving Vang Vieng was almost even and our temper was boiling.

2 out of 3 of my worst nights in SEA took place in these 3 days. Adding to the frustration felt for having to leave beloved Lao, we also had another exhaustive border crossing between Lao and Vietnam: Forced to take a local night bus (these three words can give every Lao tourist the creeps) to Hue, we had to sleep between coal sacks in the back of the bus (still coughing up black loogies the next day), people were stepping over and on us, and bugs (amongst others a giant caterpillar) came crawling up our legs...

But still, the side trip to Southern Lao had some great experiences in stock for us, apart from receiving my first Lao Body Massage - not to be confused with the Thai Sexy Massage...