Who says you can't Tuk-Tuk to Vientiane

As It has been quite some time since my last post on here, now seems to be an apt time to get up to date. As I write it is 2 o clock in the morning and I am 7 hours into a 30 hour bus journey from the Laos capital, Vientiane to the Vietnamese city, Hanoi.

Laos has been quite a culture shock for me after coming from its somewhat 'glitzy', tourist friendly neighbour, Thailand. And it is quite evident that the ever growing influx of westerners travelling to the country has affected the native population substantially. Guesthouses have sprouted in most towns and villages and some of the native population have become hostile to the tourists that come, abuse local traditions and generally destroy the culture, which was the reason why people travelled to Laos in the first place. Although this is rare it is nonetheless apparent, however at the same time, very easy to escape and avoid.

After the Gibbon Experience we booked ourselves onto what is well known as one of the 'must-do' things when in Laos, a slow boat down the Mekong River. Having studied Geography at A-Level and now going on to university to read Geography, I was marvelling at the 'interlocking spurs' and the other river features that littered the landscape, it soon became obvious that I was on my own in finding this interesting!

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We reached Luang Prabang after a 2 day trip along the Mekong river, stopping off at a very small fishing village, Pak Beng, along the way. Luang Prabang is a very laid back town and the slow pace definitely helps to deal with the heat. Throughout the day Monks wander in and out of the streets and temples that saturate the city, holding umbrellas to ward off the intensity of the mid-day sun. At night however, the city comes alive as the night Market opens. It is a complete assault on the senses with the smells from the food stalls, the beauty of the local textile work, the tastes from the spice filled Lao food and the noise of the bustling marketplace.

From Luang Prabang we made our way to Phonsovan, the sights of the famous 'Plain of Jars'.

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The trip was another uncomfortable mini van ride, winding around the precarious sheer cliff tops of the mountainous north, cutting every corner at extremely high speed - the views however made up for the uncomfortable journey. The day after our arrival in Phonsovan we rented Push-Bikes and went for a day of sightseeing. As most people bypass this trip it seemed that we were the only westerners for quite some way and had the place to ourselves. The jar sights were incredible, the ancient burial grounds for the cremated remains of former kings/emperors, some jars bring as high as 1. 50m and 1m wide. As with the large blocks used to make the pyramids, the transportation of the stone giants some two and a half thousand years ago would have been quite a feat.

Vang Vieng was our next stop along our route and this is well known for it's backpacker party scene. Everyday at around 2 o clock hundreds of people head up the river to the first bar and make their way back to the town following the bars and floating down the river on a rubber tube. The bars are littered with slides, rope swings, zip lines and lots of games on shore, beer pong and flip cup being the favourites.

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At night the bars in the town open and the partying continues until the early morning. Although this an absolutely awesome week, the partying soon caught up with us and after 6 nights in the town, on the 7th day with a last minute call we decided to leave. However, by the time we decided we had to leave all the buses for that day had already left so we left with one option, tuk-tuk. With all the English bar owners laughing at us for it we set off on the 4 and a half hour drive south to the capital, Vientiane. Originally we thought that we would have the tuk-tuk to ourselves, but as monks are allowed free rides as they please we soon had several others travelling with us. Although possibly not the best way to travel, the time flew by and it was definitely worth it to get out of Vang Vieng and on to our next destination.

Vientiane is probably one of Asia's most modest capital city's however definitely worth visiting. The city itself is unmistakably influenced by it's years French colonialism and has a noticeably european layout, squares lined with quaint café's and rows of French shop fronts. A brilliant place to visit and a complete dichotomy of the places we had visited prior to Vientiane.

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We spent 2 days in Vientiane and when we had sorted our visas for Vietnam we then started our 30 hour bus journey. A journey that we had very low expectations as the people we had spoken to that had formerly taken the same route had described it as 30 hours of hell. It was. Our first thoughts of the bus were great, large amount of leg room, chairs that would recline almost horizontally and we had an iPod loaded with 16 hours worth of films, what can go wrong?! About 30 minutes into the journey the driver decided that he wanted to listen to some of his favourite Vietnamese dance tracks at max volume, thus stopping me watching 'semi-pro' because of the noise, this lasted until about 2 in the morning when the driver stopped so that he could sleep for a few hours. As the engine stopped so did the air con and the temperature soared. This meant that I then spent the rest of the night outside a Lao restaurant in the middle of nowhere for the next 4 hours. Just as we got going again at 5 in the morning, air con now switched on, I thought I would finally be able to get a bit of shut-eye. This was not the case, the driver again decided that he wanted to blare out the latest Vietnamese dance tunes. This was pretty much the same for the rest of the journey and the relief of getting off the bus was incredible.

Despite the journey, from what we have seen thus far, the journey was entirely worth it as Hanoi is absolutely awesome. A city filled with many wandering backstreets and alleys, centred by an impressive lake which is lined with fancy café's and restaurants. A great night life and many great attractions which keeps us busy as we saunter around the city in the heat of the day.

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