Into Laos

Another very early start as we had to get to the station by 6:30 a.m. for the bus which would take us to Attapeu in Laos, an eight hour journey.  It turned out to be another of those adventures.  This bus was a 28-seater but there were many more than that waiting for it, (why were we not surprised).  That wasn't so much the problem though.  Each and every one of us had luggage and the locals had almost more stuff (boxes, tables, chairs, humongous bags full of goods and fruit to trade and, believe it or not, even a kitchen sink) than the bus could carry without any passengers.  

Many items were placed around inside the bus but the majority found its way up on top, strapped flimsily together.  About halfway through the trip, we stopped to pick up another dozen people and these were the ones who had all the chairs and tables:  four tables (with glass tops) and at least thirty folding chairs and a big flat screen TV.  By some miracle, they all fit up on top piled precariously high.

The stretch of road towards the border was fairly rough going and very dusty due to roadworks, and the driver managed it all very well while watching music DVDs on the screen in the central console.  Once we passed through into Laos, the road was very windy through a mountainous pass - I couldn't see because of the number of people crammed in but I think he concentrated more on his driving at this stage.

Anyway, we arrived in Attapeu safely, retrieved our bags from up high and found a reasonable hotel nearby.  We are now in Laos; new language, new money and a totally different feel to it.

Laos has only 6.1 million people compared to the 90 million in Vietnam so we passed by miles of jungly terrain and more miles of rubber plantations, all sparsely inhabited.  And, although there is definitely evidence of motor bikes, there are next to none in comparison to our previous experiences.

Our initial reaction is that it's a very poor country.  We did see some rather elaborate homes but, as a whole, most were mere shacks.  Prices, however, are higher than in Vietnam but that was particularly cheap in the most part.

Our plan now is to visit the Four Thousand Island region of the Mekong River for about a week before moving into Cambodia.  As it's completely non touristy here in Attapeu, we'll have to negotiate around using some more of these wonderful (ahem) local buses.