Bus from Vang Vieng to 4,000 Islands

Traveling through Southeast Asia through ground transportation can be just as much of a cultural experience and just as interesting as any sightseeing that travelers may come here for- in fact, maybe even more so. The bus ride from Vang Vieng to 4,000 Islands is deserving of its very own blog!

So, after being dropped off on the corner to wait for my bus by my Laos Masseuse from her motorbike, a minivan came to pick me up. It made its rounds to various guesthouses, and then all of the backpackers and their backpacks were unloaded at a central office. While we stood on the street for about 20 minutes or so, I listened to an American guy tell stories of his turbulent travels, an accident on a motorbike that rendered him injured, and warnings to those of us listening to 'be careful' in Cambodia, because a friend of his just got kidnapped and held for ransom for two weeks. He said 'Don't let me scare you- I'm sure it will be fine- but my friend just got kidnapped, so be careful.'

Next we are all loaded onto yet another minivan, which takes us to the Vang Vieng bus station. From there, we get out and load ourselves onto a regular bus which will take us from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. This ride was relatively uneventful, and I just read and chatted with other travelers occasionally.

Three or four hours later, we arrived at the Vientiane bus station where we had to wait for about an hour and a half until our 'VIP Sleeper Bus' was to arrive. I ate two bowls of beef noodle soup with two girls from Germany and Austria, and then we boarded our sleeper bus.

It looked pretty nice, and so far, we were all one to a bed, which, would be quite comfortable for one, but would be quite a tight squeeze for two. We all wondered out loud if we might be paired up with strangers, and talked about the potential awkwardness of that, as we were to be sleeping overnight on this bus, but it seemed that all was well and we were on our way. The Scottish guy in the bunk next to mine offered me a Valium, which, I have never taken but I accepted it for 'just in case' the ride turned out to be quite rough.

About 20 minutes later, we stop again, apparently at ANOTHER Vientiane Bus Station, where, our questions and ponderings were answered- indeed, we were to share our bunks. A woman was being shown to my bed, and she and I exchanged worried looks and expressions of discomfort but also politeness. We tried asking the Laos agent if more people were getting on and we could go to separate locations, but, he didn't understand, and just kept pointing for her to get on the bed with me.

We squished in, facing eachother so that when we eventually went to lay down, our feet would be next to each other's heads so as to not be quite so intimate. She seemed nice enough, and we smiled awkwardly, not really exchanging many words. The bus sat there for quite a while, and after I ran out to the shop to buy some last minute snacks, she and I began talking. Sharing the bunk with this woman turned out to be the best thing that could have happened!

My bunkmate is named Lies (pronounced 'Lease' and is from Belgium). When I asked her of her travel plans, she informed me that she was coming to the 4,000 Islands to spend 4 weeks teaching english, setting up a library with 300 books that she bought in Luang Probang from Big Brother Mouse (another volunteer English and book program) from money that she raised herself, as well as trying to implement a sustainable English Class Volunteer Project. I was immediately impressed, curious, and very enthusiastic to hear all about it, and I felt deep pangs in my chest and belly of wanting to be doing something just like this.

I have had an amazing three months so far of travels in Southeast Asia, but I was starting in the past week to hit a point of feeling disheartened and directionless, feeling tired but with energy that needed engaging, and lonely but antisocial, and my plans ahead seemed vague and I did not know what my intention was anymore. Part of my massive busy-ness and athletic activities and wearing-myself-out in Vang Vieng I think is a reflection of htis inner state of mine - I was wanting to accomplish something, to find something, to use up my energy, but was succeeding only in wearing myself out and coming back to the same feeling of directionlessness (and, seeing and experiencing amazing things, but I am talking about my inner landscape here. . .)

Anyhow, Lies was endlessly interesting to talk to, and beyond talking about her project and intentions in the 4,000 Islands, we talked about anything and everything for hours, into the wee hours of the night as the rest of the bus was asleep in the darkness of the night bus. We finally turned in (and turned over) to sleep around 11 or 12pm, and the next time I was awake was about 7am, and I woke to Lies handing me the handwipes that were distributed to us special VIP passengers a bit ago, and informing me that we had been stuck for the past two hours since 5 in the morning, and hadn't gone anywhere.

Through a haze of bus-sleep, I stumbled off the bus in my pajama pants with tootbrush, toothpaste and toilet paper in hand, and went searching for a toilet. We were stopped in front of someone's land and home, where they were letting us trudge back and forth to the hut-covered hole in the ground that was the toilet. I got myself refreshed for the day, and came back smiling, amused at the mini-commune that had been formed in a short period of time of the travelers- people sitting next to the bus on the street, reading, chatting, playing the ukelele and singing, pacing- you name it- as two or three bus drivers/staff worked on the right front wheel of the bus.

After about 40 minutes or so, we were on the road again, and went for quite some time. During this time, I asked Lies if she would possibly want or need some help with her project, and she said absolutely. Inside of a few minutes, our conversation turned into what 'we' would be doing for 'our' project, and also the details of how I could extend my visa and also cancel the flights I had made for a few days later to Thailand- it was quite exciting, and it felt so very right!

After about an hour of discussing details and plans, an English guy named Richard walked up to our bunk and said to Lies 'There is a car outside if you want a seat in it to take us the rest of the way to Pakse'. Apparently, when we were stuck for hours on the side of the road, he had called to get a private car sent by his work, and it wound up meeting us an hour further in our travels. Liese asked if I could come as well, and he said 'Sure!'

So, Lies and I quickly gathered our stuff, and jumped off the bus without haste. We jumped into the hired car, and off we went, speeding down the road, leaving the bus behind in our dust. We were excited at our good fortune, not knowing how long the bus ride would have wound up being, going at a very slow pace, as well as the fact that it might have broken down again (apparently that morning was the second breakdown, though I slept through the first).

We made it to Pakse just a bit later, and Richard was kind enough to take us to the tourist office so I could ask about visa extension, and then wait while we went to the bank to take out a large sum of kip and US dollars, as there is no ATM on the Island of Don Det where we were going, and now I might be staying there for another 2-4 weeks for this project!

Just as we were being taken back to the bus station to find a bus the rest of the way to the islands (another 2 or 3 hours away), we see our first bus pull up, and we realize we can still make our minivan connection with the rest of the passengers. We all get loaded into another minibus where we are taken 5 minutes down the road to the main office, where they tell us 'You have to leave tomorrow. You missed the only minivan that goes to the islands today.' This made for many angry passengers, and after they refunded our money for the minivan portion of the all-inclusive VIP bus ticket, we stepped outside (10 of us) and negotiated with the minibus driver who had taken us to the office, and paid him 70,000kip each to take us the rest of the way to the 4,000 islands.

In the minivan, there was a tv, where the driver put on 'The Scorpions Live in Concert' and the 10 of us rocked out silently. 10 minutes from the pier, we stopped for the sake of Lies, and the library project to drop off her ENORMOUS and HEAVY massive suitcase of books for the project, for the Laos contact who we were to meet with the next day. His name is Mr. Sai, and he was very kind. He arrived on motorbike, and the minibus driver helped us to lift the suitcase of books onto the back of his bike, and strap it around his waist.

It was quite the scene, and I was laughing and snapping photos of it throughout. We made plans with Mr. Sai for the next day to meet at the Pier at 1pm to further discuss plans for the project, and got back into the van. We went the rest of the way to the pier, and paid 15,000 for a slow motorboat across the river to Don Det, one of the two main islands in the 4,000 Islands, found the guesthouse Lies had been planning on, and were happy to have arrived after 26 hours of travel on the road (the same amount of time it took me to fly from America to Thailand when I first left the states 3 months ago!)

We were incredibly tired, but happy, and ready for a good meal and a long night's sleep. The next day we would have our first meeting with Mr. Sai, and the project would begin! I can not believe my good fortune. :)