It was time to leave Vietnam and spend the next month going down memory lane back towards Bangkok. Our journey into Southern Laos started early with the alarm going off at 5am, we just had time for breakfast on Cafe on Thu Wheels where we saw a guy having a breakfast of bread, two coffees and two festival beers, a little early but each to their own.
It was supposed to be a direct bus from Hue to Savannakhet and even though we booked it through Sinh Tourist we wouldn’t be travelling on the brand new sleeper buses. We set off on an old rickety bus but at least it was empty and we had plenty of room. However about an hour from the border it was time to get on our second and what would be the final bus of the day. I think part of us had forgotten about Laos travel but we quickly remembered. The bus was in pieces but at least we had a seat because it was by far the busiest bus we have been on so far. All the bags were at the back of the bus with people walking all over them and sitting on them with the aisles full of plastic seats. The bus was packed with people and it was back to people lying all over us, it was going to be a long day. People wanted as much space as possible for themselves so tried to palm us off with their entire luggage. We are far too tall for these buses! It wasn’t long until the infamous sick bags were out with the locals throwing up right next to us and then swinging the bags past our faces as they tried to throw the bags out of the window onto the side of the road. It’s still amazes us that the sides of the beautiful roads must be full of sick bags. Even though the bus was as busy as it was it didn’t stop the driver pulling over to pick up even more people, surely it was unsafe and we suddenly realised that it was actually against the law as every time we past police stops all the people crammed on the bus with no seat ducked for cover. On one occasion the driver paid off officials.
Arriving at the Vietnam border one of our new guests on the bus turned out to be the black market bank where everyone was changing Dong to Kip. Crossing the border in to Laos wasn’t a problem and the bus didn’t leave us this time. After paying 10,000 Dong each to leave Vietnam our new 30 day visa cost $35 each which is a little pricey as we will probably only be here for a week but it’s the only option. He did try for $41 but we explained we had been before and knew the price and he was quick to give us the correct price. So its $35, a bit of paperwork and 1 passport photo each. Happy to be back in Laos (PDR – Please Don’t Rush) and there isn’t a chance, everything suddenly slows down. It is by far the most laid back country in South East Asia. Crammed back into the bus with our luggage still on board we still had six hours to go as we had to travel the full width of the country. Do you know what, when you are on these bus journeys, it’s not always fun but it’s the transport and not as bad as they first seem. People say its part of the experience and I agree but maybe the novelty is wearing off now, we have done these on far too many occasions. We have never been laughed at, poked, elbowed or kicked as much in our lives and with numb asses we finally climbed off the bus in Savannakhet where a waiting Tuk – Tuk driver wanted to take us to the bus station or a tour of town but we declined, crossing the street to Souannavong Guesthouse for 60,000 Kip per night. Bang on our budget we made sure that we had a TV for the Champions League Final the following evening.
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| Crossing the Vietnam/Laos Border |
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Savannakhet was all about taking in the quaint historic streets of the old town set on the Mekong River where once again we could see Thailand across the water.
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| Back in Laos looking at Thailand |
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| Tuk-Tuk parked up for lunch alongside the Mekong River |
The town had a mix of French colonial and Russian grey block buildings that reminded us that we were back in Laos. We had a feeling it was out of season in Laos as it was like a ghost town. It was so quiet it was a little eyrie and a lot of things were closed including the Savannakhet Provincial Museum, the Wat Sainyaphum and the Dinosaur Museum which I was pretty excited about seeing, something a little different.
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| Downtown Savannakhet-Ghost Town |
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| The BeerLao sign looks as old as the crumbling building... |
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| St Joseph's Catholic Church |
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| Dinosaur Museum |
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| Wat Sainyaphum |
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| Everything Closed. Not a Happy Bunny |
It was still lovely taking in the old buildings and laid back way of life and we had some pretty good food, seafood noodles, stew like noodles as well as a little hangout called ilounge cafe which was owned by a Canadian guy called Dave who served up a good breakfast. With the town being in shut down mode it was a great place to relax and get back into drinking BeerLao and to finally sample LaneXang.
LANEXANG, LAGER, LAOS, 5.5%ABV, 640ML BTL
LaneXang Lager is another beer brewed and bottled by Lao Brewery Co. It is a specially brewed beer with a mix of imported malt and locally grown rice. It was launched in April 2008 and the name means Million Elephants. It was also the former name of an historic Lao Kingdom, 1354-1707. Following its launch LaneXang gained popularity among local drinkers even though it was relatively hard to find in the early stages. It now seems to be even harder to come across and some local insight has informed me that it is pretty much non-existent at the moment. The owner of i-Lounge Cafe who sold the beer in good quantity can’t come by any of the beer from the brewery at the moment. He is not even sure if it is still being produced. The thought being that amongst local Laos’s beer drinkers the beer of choice is still only BeerLao. So our sampling being his last bottle might have been extremely lucky.
The beer is a deep golden colour with a good frothy head and the ingredients bring out a unique aroma. It is medium bodied and has a fuller flavour with a smooth finish.
With being less of a session beer a slightly stronger than its counterparts LaneXang goes really well with authentic Lao cuisine.
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| LaneXang Lager-Maybe the last bottle ever! |
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| A house made of Cake...Different from the normal local architecture |
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| Some writing helped along with the return of BeerLao |
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| Seafood Noodles, Delicious |
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| More BeerLao. Don't worry served with ice but non-added. Namkhong Beer ice bucket is a little worrying from a beer company though!!! |
We were on quite a tight schedule to get back to Bangkok in three and a bit weeks where we will be leaving South East Asia after seven and a half months. On the last night I chose to watch the Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United instead of having a good night’s sleep. The game finished at 4am and I wish I had decided to sleep like Kate had. Barcelona were worthy 3 – 1 winners and it looks like back to the drawing board for Fergie and the boys. They were mesmerized and truly outclassed.
'According to the traffic police department 3,557 bad accidents occured across the country in the six month period from October of last year to April of this year. The accidents resulted in 507 deaths and damage amounting to 23 Billion Kip. Traffic police said motorists disobeying traffic regulations, drink driving and a lack of knowledge about road rules are the primary causes of accidents' Vientiene Times, Laos, 25th May 2001.
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| Kate & The Vientiene Times |
The following morning after not much sleep we checked out early and headed to the bus station. It was time for another local bus this time south to Pakse. We usually like to sit near the front but ended up near the back but it was ok as it had huge sliding windows if Kate needed to climb out for any reason. It was another arduous journey on the public transport, luckily nobody was being sick and the roads were actually quite straight. We were the only foreigners on the bus and a little girl was quite fascinated by us. Again too tall for the buses the journey wasn’t too bad apart from knocking myself out on the hanging fans. It’s just a shame it takes six hours to travel 220km. This would be the last of our long Laos bus journeys as we were getting closer to the Cambodian border.
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| Welcome to the crazy bus. People selling BBQ chicken etc...Now look up. The bloody fans I knocked myself out on |
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| She was fascinated by these two strange looking people with Backpacks? |
Hi Guys!
ReplyDeleteIt is Dave from Savannakhet iLounge. Thanks for the mention! Hope all is well, and that you are enjoying the final stages of your trip!
Hope to see you again on your next trip!
Travel safe, but have fun!
Dave and Joy