We had booked our minibus through the same hotel where we arrived from Vientienne so we hoped we would have a similar nice minibus to Luang Prabang….not surprisingly, this was not to be the case. We were supposed to get picked up first around 8:30 (we had requested early pickup) but we didn’t get picked up until 9 and it was a tuktuk that showed up. It was so overfull of people Michael had to stand and hang onto the back!
We were dropped off at the bus station where we proceeded to wait until 10:30 for a bus to show up (so much for a 9am departure time!) and we all got on then it drove around to pick up more cargo and get gas so we didn’t leave Vang Vieng until 10:45. The weather was horrible and rainy so we had to take the old road (safer than the new road in bad weather because of mud slides) and we were going super slow. Luckily we didn’t have anyone in the aisle and no pukers or cockroaches, it was just very long and slow. The road was also super windy (think several hours of hairpin turns) so that din’t help much either. It was supposed to be a 4 hour trip from pickup to drop off so we had planned for 5ish hours in our heads but we didn’t make it to Luang Prabang until after 6pm (9 hours!) We got dropped off outside of town so we had to get a tuktuk in the freezing rain into town then find a guesthouse. WE had thought we would get to town by 3pm so we hadn’t booked a guesthouse but since we were moving so slow we started calling ahead on the bus and found a place with a room. We showed up and it looked reasonable although pricey for a basic room ($35/night) but we figured it would be fine for one night. We put down our bags and went to find food. We walked down the road and ended up finding a great little cafe with good food including fresh salads and great wine. We felt so civilized with real wine glasses and good food! We ordered an incredible pear tart for dessert, which really hit the spot. We headed back to the hotel only to find out there was no hot water (sorry, it is cold out today so we don’t have hot water), a bird-sized wasp in the bathroom and a bed that was only slightly softer than a brick wall. Plus the internet stopped working after about 10 minutes. They did at least come spray the scary bird-wasp with bug spray for us. I thought the thing was going to sting us but it sort of just kept buzzing then fell out of the air and we smashed it. Pretty sure we breathed in a bunch of the horrible stuff too and I was glad we didn’t get sick! We sat in our cold room and played rummy before heading to bed on our brick mattress… hopefully we can find something better tomorrow!
Mera and Michael Travel 
Oh no! Better luck for the next phase of the journey I hope
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