Getting from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang by bus. It’s a long ride, but an incredible one.
If you boarded your bus, took your assigned seat and looked up to see this over your head, would you be worried?
You’d be right to be. We had the seats with the built-in internal rain. Every time we climbed a hill ( and there were many), at a particular angle, water from the air-conditioning system gave us a free shower.
The bus to Luang Prabang
It wasn’t so bad, we kept our hats on and learned to predict when the rain would start, all electronic devices stayed dry.
10am, time to be picked up by shuttle from the centre of Vang Vieng for the ride to the bus station, it’s a little way out of town. We were on time, dripping already in the heat, lugging over-sized backpacks. The shuttle bus wasn’t. But no worries, she’ll be right, as they say in Australia. An hour later we arrived at Vang Vieng bus station, loaded our bags and took our seats. Time to go? Not quite, we sat on the bus for an hour of so while a man with nail clippers fiddled with the engine. It was pretty hot on the bus, they did eventually turn the air-con on. Unfortunately the air-con did very little for us at the back, maybe a slight breeze.
Still smiling on the hot, stationery Luang Prabang bus while nail-clipper-guy fiddled.
We’re tight budget travellers, so we saved a few bucks by booking three seats between the four of us. That worked out OK, we weren’t too squashed, just hot, and sometimes wet. There were a few ants, too and some flies and the odd mosquito, but nothing too devastating.
No, actually, it was fine. Nobody was bus-sick, nobody had a melt down, nobody was busting for the toilet. The bus stopped a couple of times for refreshment stops.
I really quite enjoy long travel days and being forced to do nothing, trains are my favourite, like the train to Kanchanaburi or The Trans Siberian, but buses are OK by me too. The kids are absolutely fine on buses and trains. We normally have a no computer games rule, they read, but we broke it this time. It was so hot as we waited for nail-clipper-guy to stop fiddling that I let them have the tablets.
I like to just look out of the window, looking into people’s lives for a brief moment. The bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang passes through some incredible mountain scenery as the road twists and turns. For most of the way the road is lined with wooden homes and market stalls and all the life that goes with them.
Women sell surplus produce from their farms, children play in the dust at the roadside, chasing plump puppies or harassed chickens. I couldn’t imagine a Western mother relaxed enough to allow her babies to play almost on the road, maybe they learn early how to be road safe, maybe there are tragic accidents.
Yes, there were toilets.
At the second refreshment stop we walked into the home of the shop owners. A simple home with a million dollar view.
We are so privileged to be able to see into people’s lives like this.
A simple Laos home on our journey
with a million dollar view
It makes me question my anxiety over Dengue and Malaria, these people have almost zero protection from mosquitos, we should be fine in our air conditioned guest house, shouldn’t we?
You don’t have to take the VIP bus to Luang Prabang, there are mini buses for about the same price. I’ve heard they are even more vomit-inducing as the road snakes its way around the mountains. Last time we were here we took the local bus, not much different to the VIP, other than the little plastic stools in the aisles, they really like to pack them in here!
In a few days we’ll be leaving lovely Luang Prabang and heading back along the same road, probably by local bus to save money. I’m not looking forward to it particularly, but I’m not dreading it either. There were a few white-knuckle screechy brake moments and a lot of landslides, it’s wet season here. But if I shut my eyes for the worst bits and keep watching the world go by the nine or so hours will pass painlessly. I hope we’re not sitting in the shower seats this time.
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