Every now and then on a tour you have
to spend a whole day getting from one place to another. Normally this
will involve either a very long distance by plane, or perhaps two
connecting flights, or one flight and a drive, or sometimes, such as
this day in Laos you get into a mini-bus and drive, and drive, and
drive.
We'd been told that the journey from
Labang Prabang to Phonsavanh would take about 6-7 hours. And that
seemed okay. I hadn't looked at a map to check the distance but I
figured we'd be passing through mountains and the distance would be
formidable. Only one of those proved to be correct.
The roads around Labang Prabang are
generally not too bad and as we were driving on the main Laos
north-south road I had every expectation that it would be in
reasonable condition. The climb up into the mountains in the first
section was certainly spectacular with some great views. Slow but
understandably so.
And then it just got worse. I've been
on some dodgy Australian bush roads in my time but nothing like this:
potholes, edge drop-aways, boulders, you-name-it. I don't think the
driver ever got into top gear.
We stopped once for a drink and finally
got to the main junction on the route – where the road branches to
either Phonsavanh or Vientiane – after 4 hours. We'd only covered
140 kilometres, and we were just on half-way. I asked if the next
section was better. “Yes”, was the reply, “but more twisty.”
Hardly a high endorsement.
As it turned out.
About an hour after our lunch stop we
hit a queue of about four or five mini-vans stopped on the road with
people milling around. A landslide had dropped a large load of soil
onto the road and two mechanical diggers were working to clear it.
They did a great job but it still took them over an hour. And about an
hour after that the road did improve and did become straighter. Top
gear was achieved.
In the end we pulled into Phonsavanh at
about 5:15, a good 60-90 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. We had
been planning to make one tourist stop outside town at the Plain of Jars, but that was put off for another day.
We did get to visit the Mine Action Group (MAG) office to learn about their work clearing the leftover
Unexploded Ordinance from the Vietnam War. We also watched a
harrowing documentary which was very affecting. We donated some
Australian currency and I bought a T-shirt. And I may well add them
to my monthly charity donations as the work they do clearing the
mines and unexploded cluster bombs is absolutely vital for the future
development of the country and the well-being of its people.
Our hotel was situated a little out of
town so after checking in and having a quiet drink in our room we
utilised the hotel restaurant and went to bed early.
The bed was as hard as a rock. And I
think my kidneys were still vibrating from the drive.
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