It is a good job that we got to the bus station nice and early. At about 7:45 there were just a few seats left on the bus! We met Ania at the bus station and bought our tickets. The 4 of us managed to sit on the back seat, but as departure time got closer, the other seats filled up and the aisle of the bus also filled up, with luggage, bags of rice and fruit and more people. And more people. People were literally sitting on strangers knees and standing in the door way. It was crazy!
Our bus was taking us to Udomxai (pronounced ooh-dom-sai) where we would change and continue on to Nong Khiew.
This was probably one of the worst bus journey’s I have taken!! The roads were super bumpy, it was super crowded and the driver played some sort of Thai Kareoke Video CD at a super loud volume! It was the most ear-piercing music I have heard and very very loud. I even put my iPod on to try and drown it out with noise cancelling earphone, but no. I could still hear it. I think by the 5th or 6th run of the same damned CD we were ready to throw it out of the window... along with the driver! There was one toilet stop on the journey, at the side of the road and some tree’s. Not so bad for guys, but I felt a bit for the girls! Still... This is Laos!
When we finally got to Udomxai, we found the bus to Nong Khiew. It was leaving in an hour, so we had time to go buy some provisions for the journey. Again, we hadn’t eaten at all and were getting rather hungry! The next bus was more like a Thai taxi.. which are trucks with 2 benches along the sides for people to sit on and an open back. A bit like a big Tuk-tuk. They are not the most comfortable of vehicles! Especially when 6 of us were wedged in on one side and 4 people on the other side taking up all the space! I had managed to blag the seat right at the back, so had a bit more room, by which I mean one foot over the back tailgate and resting on the step you use to climb in! That was a tad scary when going over the big pot-holes... I thought I was going to fall out!
The centre of the bus was again filled with bags of rice, fruit and god knows what else. This was even more uncomfortable that the bus we had before, but since the scenery
was beautiful and I had my camera handy I was more than happy. It really didn’t bother me too much that the trip was uncomfortable, bumpy and hot as I had expected this from Laos roads.
Poor Francois got the seat next to a Laos girl who was ill the whole way... yep for about 4 hours she was throwing up right next to him. I had no idea this was going on until he turned around and said to me “Just to let you know, if you feel a spray, it’s not rain, it’s the girl next to me!!” Gross!
I think she was actually sick inside the bus as well as we stopped in a small town called Pak Mong and were told to change busses. So all of us, apart from the girl who was ill and her friend (they got out there) crammed into another bus... the same type but about half the size! At least out bags got put on top, rather than by our feet and all the rice and fruit got out with the ill girl. She did look rough, poor lass. I helped unload their bags as they were pretty heavy and the driver didn’t look very interested. But that is a bad move when you are wearing a white shirt and the bas are covered in dust and, I think some of her sick. It just looked like bits of red fruit... but I am now told that is what she was throwing up. Even more gross.
As we were about to set off we saw the Chilean couple who were making the same journey, but were on a different bus to start with. We loaded them up and off we went.
This driver was a nutter! He drove so fast, swerving around the pot holes and at one point nearly had a head-on collision with a lorry coming around the bend in the other direction. First we were facing the hedge, then back towards the other hedge before we straightened out and carried on as if nothing had happened! So from here, his driving was a little scary!!
We all managed to survive and we got to Nong Khiew a couple of hours later.
Oh My God. Nong Khiew is stunning... I mean just simply stunning. We had a couple of guest houses to check out and our bags felt really heavy, but it just took us about half an hour to walk over the bridge because all 6 of us had our cameras out taking photos.
Checking in could wait, this was stunning and we couldn’t take our eyes off it.
When we finally got ourselves together we walked to the Sunset Guesthouse which we had read about. They are supposed to be really nice rooms in bungalow’s overlooking the Nam Ou. When we got there to take a look at the rooms we were not disappointed, even if it did take a bit of finding, down a small alleyway. The view from the balcony of the bungalows was simply magnificent. Stunning. Nothing else to say about it. And the rooms were fantastic. Basic wooden bungalows on stilts, but clean, with mosquito nets and a nice clean en-suit bathroom. Ania and I decided to share a twin room to keep the cost down. The bungalows were 100,000kip per night, so this came down to 50,000kip each. Oh yeah, there is about 17500kip to the pound, so we are talking about US$5 each per night! Pretty bloody good!!
All 6 of us checked in here... Francois, Lisa, Ania, Me, Sergio and Mandy (the Chilean couple). We showered up, had a Beerlao and then took a walk out to find a restaurant for a well earned meal. After probably the hardest day travelling I have had so far, the cold Beerlao and chicken curry with sticky rice was VERY welcomed! The yellow curry was fantastic, so tasty. Yellow curry is not very spicy and cooked with meat, potatoes and some vegetables. The sticky rice really is sticky and you have to pull clumps out with your fingers, roll it up into a little ball and dunk it in the curry sauce, then eat it. Good job I carry my dry disinfecting hand wash around with me!!
Nong Khiew was another small town that closes down early. So, again, we finished our dinner and headed back to the guest house. I think we were in bed by about 10:30pm!