Hi there,
here we are with part two of Laos. Which is actually a chain of horrible bus rides up north. If we speak of “horrible” we rather mean totally (!) uncomfortable and long then unsafe. Maybe both, but most of the trips are safe or at least not too obvious dangerous.
Two ways to leave Tad Lo: going back to Pakse and taking a VIP sleeper to Vientiane, or going “local” across the land ;-) guess what, we went for the latter.
Next target were some huge Caves called “Kong Lor Cave”. Very recommendable, people say. Getting there from Tad Lo approximately 20h with local vehicles. So we split it up and went for Takhek, which are still 14h direction Vientiane. It was fun and exhausting at the same time. Driving 4,5 hours on the back of a truck with local people and lot of things to deliver, like 3 meter boards etc. was one stage at the very beginning. The street may not be drivable during rainy season but now it was just a dusty off-road kind of way. You do not feel your butt anymore after this. Trust me! We had good connections though and jumped on a local bus right after this. It was surprisingly not very crowded and we got some sleep. Bad thing: They through us out of the bus in Savanaketh because we were the only people in the bus. No people no bus. We got told the connection bus should leave in 20 min right away. Somehow this people are not around anymore if 20 min are over and you go to ask about the bus and then it suddenly leaves in 1,5 hours! Thanks a lot!
And to top it all, we got the worst seats in the back, a Lao lady next to us that seemed to have not taken one breath during the 4 hours!! And this bus was stopping literally every kilometer to get people in the already totally full bus. No kidding!