3999 islands too go...From Vang Vieng we got on a bus to Vientiane. "Never mind the five hours bus ride, we just have to get out of this crazy place... There are too many happy people here!" Mohan summarized it quite good there, and the five hours went by like nothing. Our hopes were to get on a bus that evening and continue south in Laos, and even if we did not complain, we had hoped the bus to Pakse did not leave 15 minutes after our arrival, at least...

"I am sure there must be more to Vang Vieng..."Another roller-costar ride in a minivan took us to Vang Vieng. If Luang Prabang is a place for the older tourists, Vang Vieng is the place for the younger ones. You can easily tell of course, but one rock solid indicator is that in Vang Vieng, they don't sell fabric on the markets, but sunglasses in sharp colors, and t-shirts with the BeerLao logo printed across the chest. Anywhere in Laos you can buy a big...

"Luang Prabang"Luang Prabang is by far the most relaxed place I have been in my life, up to this point. There is nothing stressful going on there, although, 60% of the people walking down the streets around the market, are tourists. The city is dominated by French architecture, with massive Buddhist temples in between. There are heaps (All Australians say "heaps" in almost every sentence, so after traveling with Paul for a while now, I seem to...

Phonsavan to Luang PrabangWe got in the tuktuk, a moped with a cage like box qith benches inside, and we were off to the minivan station. It turned out to be a one minute ride, and we lifted the bags up to the man on the minivan roof. After aking sure thatt everything was secured under their net, we got in the minibus. I was lucky enough to get two seats, and was able to keep my legs straight. THe next six hours would turn out to be amazing, in many ways. Yes, N...

"The Plain of Jars" We arrived in Phonsavan around 2:30 PM and found a guest house right the way. We grabbed some food at a local restaurant and started looking for bus tickets to Luang Prebang. The two options we had were to go by the local bus, which would be about 8 hours, and cost 80 000 KIP, or we could get in a minivan, save two hours and pay 100 000 KIP. We ended up buying the minivan tickets. Phonsavan is a very small town. There is mainly o...