Road to Vang Vieng

Just before leaving Luang Prabang - the street in front of my Guesthouse.

Backpacks being secured to the beauty concept carrier rack on our Hyundai Minivan.

Classic bathroom at a rest stop.

First stop at a string of restaurants high up on a mountain ridge.

Armed Lao soldier shopping by the junction in Phou Khoun.

Woman soldiers by the junction in Phou Khoun.

On the long and winding road

Controlled fire in the mountains

Vang Vieng sunset.

LEFT LUANG PRABANG before mid-morning for the 220 kilometre journey to Vang Vieng. The minivan driver made three stops along the way. The journey on a narrow highway, with numerous gravel patches, plus slower vehicles, made for a trip of over seven hours. En route we stopped on a high ridge for lunch. An hour later a passenger asked for a washroom stop in Phou Khoun. It was unattractive junction town also high up in the mountains. Saw a few soldiers in town. One was walking with a rifle in one hand and a shopping bag in the other. Back in the 90s there was still a Hmong (national minority group) insurgency up here in these mountains which included bandits stopping traffic along this highway route. This has all ended with an amnesty offered by the Lao government. Also noticed several convoys of army trucks which might, or might not, have had something to do with all this.

In the late afternoon Vang Vieng was full of young packpackers, just as I had heard and the place felt like a one big party scene. This evening patrons were congregating in bars along the crooked street, watching sitcoms like "Friends" on big screens, as the sprawled out. The open air lounges were even equiped with reclining seats for chilling. I also heard that some bars here sell so-called happy drinks that are laced with anything from marijuana through magic mushrooms to amphetamines. Because the fan in my room ran all night, it cancelled out all the party noise from outside. It would be an understatement to say that Vang Vieng was completely weird.