The Road to Vang Vieng

We didn't stay long in Vientiane. After all, there's so much more of the country to see! Early on our second day in Laos, we were picked up at our hostel by an employee from the bus company driving an electric golf cart, which zipped us through Vientiane to the waiting coach.

We had booked two tickets direct from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, a popular backpacker's haven between Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

At 9:00 am, we set off, driving smoothly through Vientiane.
 

Soon, however, we left the city, and the quality of the roads took a noticible turn. Route 13 is the national highway of Laos, and considered by far to be the best road in the country. That didn't mean much, though. As we left the city, the bus slowed to a crawl, having to creep around the potholes in the muddy road.

It was a long, bumpy trip. When repairs do happen, they rarely last through a single rainy season. Parts of the road were unpaved, and there were times when the bus had to move carefully around huge muddy puddles. Laos is a very rural country with poor infrastructure, and the roads will only get worse as we get farther away from the capital.

Though the trip was supposed to take three hours, it ended up taking nearly six. We expected that, though!

We stopped halfway between Vientiane and Vang Vieng at a rest stop, the kind that you find all over Southeast Asia. These stops always have a relatively clean toilet, a coffee shop, a mini mart, and some sort of restaurant.

I picked up a "khao ji", the Laotian version of a Vietnamese banh mi baguette sandwich. 

Honestly though, the ride wasn't all that bad! I was comfortable the whole way, even though it got pretty bumpy at the end. In the afternoon, there we were in the big muddy field that is the Vang Vieng bus station. Vang Vieng is a small town - really just three roads - and we just had a few minutes to walk to the next guest house.

So far, it's a quiet, relaxing town surrounded by beautiful mountains. In the past, Vang Vieng was something of a part destination, though that's changed in recent years. I'll be looking forward to enjoying the nature for the next few days. After that, it'll be on to Luang Prabang!