Birthday Bus II

Adrienne's birthday beer
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Don't worry, the title isn't advertising for some crap movie sequel - it was Adrienne's birthday instead. Yay! Like Sean's birthday, we celebrated in style: first a tuk-tuk from Muang Sing to Louang Nam Tha (breaking down numerous times, thrown in for free), then a bus from Louang Nam Tha to Oudomxai. In total about 8 hours of travel time on a bus. We only stopped in Louang Nam Tha long enough to get a bus ticket (K32,000) and some food from the market, as well as catch up with Kate, James and Maurice who had taken the later bus from Muang Sing.

Read the name - kind of funny!
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Luckily we secured seats in the bus an hour before it left (put our day bags on the seats) because it was a bloody awful ride. 4 hours stuck in seats made for Oompah Loompahs and sweat cascading down our backs. At least we weren't one of the Westerners stuck with four others in the back seats made for five Lao people, or sitting on a plastic chair in the aisle. The only good part was meeting Gabez and Matt, who became our travelling partners for over a week.

...four industrial sized boxes of condoms...

It's a one horse town
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Our guide book described Oudomxai as a transport hub and sex tourism centre for the Chinese, which probably explains the four industrial sized boxes of condoms in our hotel. The hotel cost us K30,000 (with some bargaining) though we can't remember its name. It's located directly opposite the bus station, perfect for us as this was just a stopover to Louang Prabang.

We celebrated Adrienne's birthday in style, with a chocolate swiss roll and a beer.

We got the first bus in the morning to Louang Prabang and found out that there are two good features of Oudomxai: firstly the coffee at the terminal is spectacular and cheap (K3,000); secondly the sugar coated baked rolls. BTW, don't try to find ice cream because there isn't any, just get a whole watermelon instead (K2,000).

He-Sean to the rescue!!!
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We had the same issue with the bus: oopmah loomah designers. Adrienne had her knees around her ears and you don't want to know what was around Sean's ears. The funniest part was the Buddhist monk trying on Sean's prescription sunglasses not knowing Sean is so blind.