Laos is poorer than Cambodia, at least if you consider the state of the roads. Vang Vieng isn't that far, 150km , which would normally take 2 hours, but here it takes twice as long… yes, 4 hours of rather chaotic driving to reach the destination.
The reason? The roads are not maintained, if there was ever tarmac, now it has become almost everywhere a track, red, the dust "repainting" the trees and shrubs bordering the roads, I can't even imagine this journey when it rains... If there is vague tarmac it is littered with holes which are more "shell holes" than potholes... So watch your buttocks.
A long journey… but not expensive!
For this trip, no big bus but just a mini bus (those with 12 seats), we felt a bit like we were a group of friends on a road trip since there were only young people leaving to party in Vang Vieng. We will stop once for a pee break and a snack for those who want.
The whole thing is still done at a very reasonable price, 60.000 kip or barely €5.50 (one way)... To book we went to a small agency in Vientiane not far from the Anouvong, that's where the tourist area is with most of the restaurants and guesthouses, the minibuses are considered an "express" transport, you also have VIP buses, usually cheaper and even local buses which are just converted pickups (like the "songthew" of Thailand) at only 40.000 kip.
The terminus will be in the parking lot of a rather posh hotel, I think they must be partners with the minibus we took… So we have to manage, while night has just fallen, to reach our hotel. Fortunately Vang Vieng is not very big…
We will find our hotel, the Popular View, quite easily via the map we had. After dropping off our stuff we will go to one of the many restaurants in the area to fill our bellies after this long journey, I will not fail to have a local beer, the Lao beer as I do in every country.
