01/22/14 - 01/26/14

It's 1am and I cannot sleep. It is not because I am not tired, it is because I am very uncomfortable and a little uneasy. The discomfort comes from the fact that the bus I am riding has about an inch of legroom. The person in front of me, has already leaned back their chair once, crashing into my knees. The unease comes from the inexperience of the driver in driving a manual transmission. As soon as we left Luang Prabang, Laos, I could tell that something wasn't right, because the driver had a very hard time getting the bus into gear. Everytime he switched gears, the bus would lurch and slow down while he wrestled with the gear shift and it seemed like minutes would pass, before he got it into gear. I kept waiting for the bus to stall and for us to be stranded in the middle of nowhere. The waiting finally ended about 1:30am.

I have been on many buses, trains and airplanes throughout this trip of, but so far the buses in Laos have been the worst. The buses in Cambodia weren't always on time, but they were, at least, slightly comfortable. Not compared to Western standards, but I didn't mind them. However, the buses in Laos were basically never on-time and they seemed to built only for the comfort of a child! I am not a tall person, but I had absolutely no legroom on any of the buses I was on. The first bus, from Vientiane to Luang Prabang was only late by an hour or two, so that wasn't that big of a deal, but I had the most uncomfortable seat. My legs had just enough room for my knees to be pressed against the back of the chair in front of me, basically giving no way to really get comfortable. I had to basically sit in the same position for the 10 hour bus trip.

However, the absolutely stunning views of Laos made up for it. The bus drove along a winding road into the mountains with gorgeous views into the valleys. We drove through tiny little villages with small houses that sat precariously on the edge of the mountain sides. I was a little jealous of the people in the villages because of the staggering views that they had just outside their back doors. I have seen many beautiful natural scenes in my travels and the views in the mountains of Laos definitely ranks up there with some of the most gorgeous I have ever seen.

After 10 hours on the uncomfortable bus, I finally arrived in Luang Prabang, which is a pretty city on the Mekong River, that is well known for its many temples and monasteries. It's a touristy city, but that is because of the beauty and atmosphere of the city. It's a small, compact city and one just has to cross the river to get to the countryside. While there, I checked out all of the beautiful temples and climbed the central hill for some wonderful views over the countryside and the mighty Mekong. I took a tour on the Mekong to see a sacred cave that held thousands of Buddha statues and also took us too one of the many waterfalls around the area. The waterfall was stunning and was surrounded by many pools and some great hiking trails and strangely, a bear preserve. I, also, rented a bike and crossed to the other side of the Mekong and took a bike ride through the countryside. Along the dirt roads, I rode through small little villages with children waving hello to me and farmers working out in the fields. It was a little slice of the rural life of Laos.

However, the most interesting part of my time in Luang Prabang was the early morning monk walk. Every morning, at around 6am, hundreds of Buddhist monks in brights orange or maroon robes walk the streets collecting food and alms from the local people. It's a surreal experience to watch the lines of monks, in the early morning twilight, filter by the many townspeople providing their daily sustenance. I kept my distance of the parade of monks out of respect, but there were many tourists who almost got right in the monks faces with cameras as they strolled down the roads.

After fours days in Luang Prabang, it was time for me to return to Vientiane. I would have liked to stay a little longer, because it was a very pretty town, with interesting sights and surprisingly good restaurants, but I had to return to Vientiane and pick up my passport. And so, I booked a trip on a night bus back to Vientiane, which had turned into its own adventure.

It was 1:30am and the bus had broken down. No one knew what was going on, and after sitting on the side of the road for a half hour, people started to filter off of the bus and stand on the side of the road. We were in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere and so it was pitch dark outside and quite cold. One person actually built a fire on the side of the road to keep warm. We waited around for another hour or so until another bus came by. However, this bus was full and wouldn't take any more people on it, and so they took off, leaving all of us still stranded. Finally, another hour or so later two more local buses came along, so everyone squeezed onto the buses and we were back on our way. On my bus, there were just enough seats for us all, but we had all of our luggage piled up in the aisles, so it was a bit of an adventure climbing over everything if anyone had to get off the bus. I tried to sleep, but it wasn't very comfortable and I was a little worried that this bus would break down, also. Which it did, about 15 minutes from our destination! Again, we sat on the side of the road waiting for them to fix this bus. Finally, since we were so close to Vientiane, a tuk-tuk came and we were able to get rides into town. All in all, a bus ride that was supposed to take 10 hours, took 15 hours and so I was exhausted when I finally arrived into Vientiane.