If you google the journey time between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang, it will tell you around 4 hours.
For the love of Buddha, do not believe that before you get on the bus.
In a 4x4 with strong gears, good uphill speeds and a skilled driver who is familiar with the roads, 4 hours might just be realistic. For a bus? Double it. At least.
With that in mind we were prepared for a 7-8 hour journey (I think it took a bit over 9 in the end) and kept ourselves occupied as much as is ever possible on those long bus rides, enjoying the stunning views out the windows and occasionally waving back to kids when passing rural communities. A few card games, some music on our ipods, conversations about everything and anything we could think of, and a brief attempt at reading that the bumpy roads soon put an end to.
After the first 2 or 3 hours, I started to feel myself getting a little bit queasy, a little lethargic and just generally feeling unwell. With each hour that passed I got progressively worse, to the point where I was barely able to lift my backpack when we finally arrived. Once we did I was dying to just find a bed for the night, then get a proper meal to regain a little bit of strength after surviving on nothing more than oreos and pringles (the long distance bus ride staples for so many backpackers) since the morning.
We found a gorgeous little guesthouse with affordable twin rooms, and in anticipation of likely being bedridden for the next day or two I agreed to split the cost 60/40 to get a more expensive room with a TV.
I summoned all the strength I had left to walk with Kye the 5 minutes to the night market, and sampled a few different dishes from a huge pick and point food stall. I felt better for it, but was well and truly exhausted. The night market looked great but I was in no condition to take a wander through so instead went straight back to bed, stopping only to buy bottled water and ibuprofen on the way.
As expected, I felt like dogshit the next morning. My temperature was through the roof and I was too weak and lethargic to move further than from bed to bathroom. I gave Kye some cash and asked him to pick me up some breakfast, gatorade, and fruit from the market when he went out to eat. Bedridden and wondering if I could have contracted dengue fever, I was a little worried about my condition in case it was something bad, but at the same time very, very glad that it had at least happened while I was travelling with someone else, who could pick up supplies for me while he was out and about. Maybe my illness was karma for laughing at Kye’s plastic bag wrapped foot when we went tubing.
For the next 2 days, water, sports drinks, fried rice, the BBC World News channel and Wimbledon tennis tournament on tv were my best friends. I didn’t leave the room once, recruiting poor Kye to bring back whatever food or drink I needed, and trying to plan my days post recovery through him telling me about all the great stuff he’d been doing each day while I was stuck in that small room.
Thanks to my illness, our time travelling together ended a couple of days earlier than we had planned. By the time I felt better enough to at least go outside and see a bit of Luang Prabang, Kye had already done all he wanted to there and moved on to wherever was next. I was comfortable in the room we’d been sharing and didn’t fancy packing up and moving for the sake of a few dollars, so stayed and used the second bed for my backpack.
Luang Prabang, sickness aside, was without a doubt my highlight for Laos. I’d have loved to have spent some more time in the country and got out to some lesser visited spots further south, but just didn’t have the time to work it into my journey with the one definitive date I had planned to be in a certain place - Hanoi, for a football match - rapidly approaching.
Luang Prabang is a pretty town, and deserves its reputation as a favourite amongst western tourists. It retains its charm in spite of the large crowds of foreign faces milling around, photographing temples and monks at almost every turn.
I didn’t venture far on my first day out of my sickbed, sticking to the main town and just temple hopping the day away, taking shelter in the shade and sitting down to rest at far more regular intervals than I might normally. I also ventured down to the riverfront to check out the view, and treated myself to a massage to take care of the muscles that had been so achy while I was sick.
I still wasn’t anywhere close to 100%, so went to bed pretty early after another dinner at the night market.
First thing the next morning I booked a night bus to take me to the border and back through to Chiang Mai in Thailand. I then left my backpack with the guesthouse, and found a songthaew that was going to the Kuang Si waterfalls, just under an hour away from the town centre.
I’d seen plenty of photos of the falls on travel blogs and social media and was really excited to go see them for myself. During a quick trip to New Zealand a few months prior, I was absolutely blown away by the bright turquoise water in parts of the south island, and this promised to be just as stunning, only much warmer.
Though a fair bit better than the day before, I still wasn’t feeling close to my best. Spending a few hours in such a stunning bit of nature was certainly didn’t hinder my recovery.
Unlike in New Zealand, where I only really saw the water through a bus window, I was able to dip my feet in, wander around the falls and pools, climb up to the top to admire the view of all the action below, and really appreciate just how other worldly it all was up close.
There were a bunch of local kids and backpackers swimming in the pools and jumping in after swinging on ropes attached to trees, but I really still didn’t have the energy for that. I stayed at the top of the falls for a while, enjoying the comparative serenity while watching life below. After walking back down I found a comfortable spot to sit alongside the pools, just trying to wrap my head around how water could possibly be so bright, sparkly and clear.
I could’ve sat there longer but didn’t want to be rushing to make the night bus in a few hours time, so started making my way down to the bottom of the hill to catch a ride back into town.
I was glad I did leave earlier too, as I soon discovered a sun bear rescue facility with enclosures alongside much of the walkway from the falls down towards the car park and bus stops.
The smallest species of bear, sun bears are native to much of south east Asia, and for depressing reasons that I’m not entirely across, are often horrendously mistreated, kept in cramped, disgusting conditions and farmed for their bile.
The sanctuary had some information written up about their plight for visitors to read as they made their way down, with healthy, playful bears climbing around the enclosures behind. I made my way down slowly, watching the animals and trying to educate myself a little by reading everything on offer.
I was pleased to see an organisation doing such great work, especially in a spot with so much tourist traffic, meaning a lot of people educated and a lot of donations flowing through.
Once I’d finished watching and reading about the bears, I got myself into a songthaew for the trip back into the town. I had one last meal at the night market before walking through all of the stalls selling artworks and clothes that I’d probably have bought if I thought I had enough room in my backpack.
I went back to the guesthouse, collected my backpack, and waited for the night bus to collect me for the long journey back into Thailand.