Sackarinh G-house, Luang Prabang, Day 1

It's time to go. After the last journey, being crammed onto a minibus with live birds and hardly any room to move, it is safe to say we aren't really looking forward to this one. We eat a breakfast just over the road from the bungalow, which is enormous. I eat enough rice to keep me full for about five days, and Amy jealously looks on as she eats her muesli and fruit.
There are five us from the bungalows waiting for this bus, including one German who was on our bus from Vientiane, which is rather a coincidence. When the bus turns up a worried driver gets out of the front and starts debating something with the owner. He holds up five fingers and points at us and the bus, indicating we can't get on. My immediate thought is we are going to have to wait until tomorrow, or find another way of getting there. Instead, we are told to wait fifteen minutes. It is explained to us that they booked every seat on the bus out, but didn't expect anyone's bags to take up room. To put it bluntly, our seats were taken by rucksacks.
The next minibus arrives, and the blacked out windows offer no clue as to how busy it is. As the door is opened all five of us marvel upon a gloriously clean and empty minibus. We sit down and enjoy the leg room and comfort that this stroke of luck has gifted us. After a nervous ten minutes as we drove around the town hoping no-one else would get in, we leave. The air-con is good, and we have room to spread out all our things and relax. What's not to like!
After some annoyingly long food and toilet stops, at one of which Amy asks for a non-spicy Papaya salad and gets served molten lava on a plate, we start to slowly climb a mountain. We edge higher and higher as the road seems to get thinner and thinner. It's rather worrying as the giant drops over the side are not fenced off or anything. The views are great for a while, but soon mist descends, leaving nothing but an eerie greyness outside the window. It's pretty spooky, and then we stop. In front of us we can make out the red brake lights of other travellers, and our driver gets out, leaving us on a hill in the hopefully safe hands of a handbrake. It doesn't help our nerves when the first thing the driver does is scurry around grabbing rocks to put behind the wheels to stop them moving. He wanders off, locking the door behind him and leaving us wondering how long we will be on top of this mountain.
After a quiet five minutes, he miraculously appears from the mist like a stars in your eyes contestant, and starts the engine. It feels good to have a brake ready and not a handbrake, and we slowly but surely make our way past some roadworks, and over the peak.
it is pushing 5 hours when we stop again for the drivers to clean their vans in a petrol station, despite their being an hour of travelling along a muddy road left. Eventually, we set off for the final time. An hour later we arrive in Luang Prabang and complete the journey that would have been pretty unbearable if it wasn't for the empty minibus.
We are dropped off half a mile from our hotel, and start to walk there in the cold air. It is already dark, and we have to push our way through the night market to reach our hotel. It is a very frustrating walk, as the small alleys at the market don't leave much room, especially when most people stop to stare at stalls and leave you standing behind them motionless, unable to squeeze past.
When we complete our long trip, we arrive to a surprisingly nice and cosy guesthouse. We drop our bags off and head to the restaurant that is literally on our doorstep. It's cheap and cheerful, and fills up our bellies that haven't eaten properly since breakfast. We go for a wander around the lovely streets of the old quarter of Luang Prabang. It is now a UNESCO World heritage site, and it is clear to see why, as temples almost number the same as cafes. It is a great place, where time seems to move at half the speed of normal life. Despite the hectic day, we feel relaxed. It is as if the whole place is one big spa, and everyone in it should be wandering the streets in white robes sipping a mojito wearing slippers. It is so chilled out that we can't wait to spend some time here in the light of day, and our mind is already drifting to the thought of booking more nights!Meer informatie