After feeding of the monks in Luang Prabang, we got on to the road at 8 am anticipating a 7 hour bus ride to our next destination, Vang Vieng. It's not really that the roads are bad - they are two lanes, are sealed and apart from short stretches of road repair are pretty smooth. It's just that they involve a lot of bends, so the vehicle never really builds up a great amount of speed, especially if it is a bus and the driver is cautious - which is preferable to reckless. The drivers do a great job of communicating with each other - slow vehicles indicating when it's safe to pass, and if possible pulling over to allow another to pass. So although one could choose to have the hackles raised on one's neck, it really seems to work pretty well!
From looking at the map, you'll see there aren't that many roads in this part of the world, but it also seems that we took a scenic route - travelling through Phou Khoun, possibly because it was incredibly scenic! This meant we were due to cover 142 miles, which Google Maps says should have taken 5.5 hours. In fact it took closer to 7.5.
The mountains after Phou Khoun took on the precipitous and dramatic features of 'karst' topography, a particular type of erosion that occurs in areas where limestone erodes through dissolution, resulting in caves and craggy looking peaks that jut out of the ground.
The quality of visibility on the way to Vang Vieng, however, was impaired by a thick haze resulting from burning the fields in preparation for planting.
We discovered that there is sometimes 'mini-terracing' on some of the steepest slopes.
Fortunately for me, I traveled this road twice - once on Saturday going to Vang Vieng and then again Sunday, returning to Phou Khoun on my way to Phonsavan, as I had decided to take a side trip of my own to visit the Plain of Jars. This allowed me the chance to see the same mountains shrouded in mist and cloud the following day.
Many villages are spread alongside the road, also.
This man was working on fishing nets, but keep in mind we are close to the top of a mountain - not sure how far he had to go to use them.
Keep in mind, as you look at these huts - this is the main road from the north to the south of Laos - the noise and exhaust must be really unpleasant.
As was the case for the Mekong River, the road provides the ability for people to move around, so houses were nestled on either side, men, women, children, farmers, livestock all wander along the sides of the road, as the bus drivers do their best to hurtle along (they hurtle because they want to get to their destination - but they don't want to hit anything either - it is a delicate balance and is helped by a lot of honking!).
That is a bit hair raising - fearing that a cow, a motorbike or child might suddenly change direction and be hit!
I enjoyed the mix of ethnicities in this woman's dress from Phou Khoun.
Housing was also 'mixed media' - no consistent style.
But a large number had satellite dishes!
Chickens grazed with pigs.
We also saw laundry hanging out in areas where the road was being worked on - I'm sure when dry they needed a wash again.
Vang Vieng itself was a disappointment for me - I knew it was a party town - mainly tubing and kayaking. Just to be clear, the environment around Vang Vieng is very beautiful, but it seemed to me that poor developmental planning has allowed tourism to create a chaos that detracts from, rather than enhancing, the natural beauty of the area.
It has attracted a lot of backpackers, a poor advertisement for the 'western' world. These are young travelers who seem to drop many of the usual rules of politeness and courtesy as a result of being far from home.
There was a nice little bridge across the river, but it was made noisy and hazardous by the motorbikes weaving in and out of the pedestrians.
This photo looks relatively peaceful, but you can't see the frenetic movement and hear the noise of the motors as many boats like this were hauling their paying customers in weaving patterns up and down the river.
We managed to just catch the sun setting.
This meant there was lots of loud music, hustle and bustle, especially now that the Chinese tourists are joining the backpackers. Drinking has resulted in many tourist deaths through drowning accidents, and Wiki says that the locals avoid the river that runs through, due to all the bad karma from the deaths. I agreed with them and was glad that my decision to go to Plain of Jars saved me from a second night there.
(P.S. Photos of the landscape and village scenes were taken either from the back of a bus or the front seat of a minivan as we were traveling. I ask forgiveness for poor quality!)
