Laos - Easter 2007, Luang NamTha to Luang Prabang

April 10th was a very early morning for our two Nordic travellers. We had on the previous night been advised by the staff that we would get an opportunity to catch a ride with Bicycle Bob, who was anyway going to Udomxai, where we would be able to get bus transfer to Luang Prabang. He would leave around 8, so we got up a little past 6 to pack, have breakfast and get ready. While we were enjoying our wonderful cup of Laos coffee, it started to dawn on us that no-one were particuarly stressed out by the fact that things were drawing late and we had not yet been picked up. Finally we realized there is actually an hour time difference between China and Laos, hence we were operating on an earlier time zone!! This goes to show just how relaxed Laos is, it took us two days to even have an inkling that our clocks were all wrong.

Apparently it is easy to get bus transfers from Luang NamTha to Udomxai, but after travelling the stretch in question we were very happy to have been seated in a big, comfortable 4x4 and not an old, outdated mini bus. The roads are _horrible_, and without motion sickness pills I do not think I would have been ok. However, we got to see even more of the country side, and it was lovely. The trip took about three hours but would probably be at least two hours longer by mini bus - hence it was worth the extra four or five dollars we paid compared to the bus fare.

Udomxai was not a place we would have wanted to stay, but we hung out at the airport for a short while, socializing with the staff and listening to the hundreds of roosters making a racket all around town. The distance between the airport and bus station is about 300 meters, so don't worry if you initially end up in the wrong place. With some questions we were able to locate the bus station and get on a bus.

This final leg of Laos bus transport proved to be the worst yet, in my view. The bus was horribly run down, and it was so packed with people it's a wonder no-one fell off. We did, however, make it to Luang Prabang without any major disasters. This bus ride is long, so anything you can do to start it as early as possible is good. I think we were on the bus for five hours, or even more. It would probably be one and a half, two hours on western standard roads, but there's no such thing in Laos :)