When researching my trip to LP we found that the ways to get to LP from Houay Xai were boat...fast or slow and thats your choice.
I never remember hearing that by road was an option?
When I arrived in Houay Xai we were all ushered to a little bar and our passports were taken off us by a nice little Lao fella.
We were addressed as a group and told that the journey to the half way point Pak Beng was 8-9hrs and the onward journey would be a further 10hrs a total of about 5hrs longer than advertised. He also went on to paint a picture of Pak Beng to be a lawless hell hole!
He then offered us 2 alternatives...public bus 10hrs and private bus 6hrs. Which he stated were on very good roads.
Now, im not so daft as to not spot an obvious ploy to sell bus tickets, and did allow for some artistic licence but due to being delicate after some bad food in Bkok we opted for the private bus.
For the first 2-3 hrs the roads are unbelievably windy but actually quite good,also the scenery is beautiful...from there it went downhill.
The roads stay just as windy but the bumps become more and more frequent. After a quick stop at the 5 1\2hr mark we asked ';how long?'; expecting an hour maybe 2, ';4 hours';
Basically the journey became an 11hr bone rattling white knuckle rollercoaster from hell. We arrived at 1130pm after the curfew, where the next part of the scam is to take you to the only hotel you can get in which is way overpriced...but what choice do you have?
Even for the hardcore sleepers out there, you simply cannot sleep this journey. It gets dark, the driver gets tired and it gets more and more dangerous.
At one point in the middle of nowhere 2 men appeared in the dark and tried to flag our driver down, one in plain clothes the 2nd in camo gear both carrying guns! The driver didnt stop and they may have been legit, but who knows?
Another point, when you get through immigration various trip coordinators keep taking your passport and and passing them around, leaving them on tables and generally being blazhay with your life-line! At no point do they really need them, they are just using them to count heads! If i could go back I would refuse to give it up.
The only plus was we did wake up the next morning in the fantastic LP and the main group will have been setting off from Pak beng.
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