The Journey Begins: Stray Asia through Laos

Early morning bus ride.  Waiting for our bus at the coffee shop

I heard of Stray Asia while searching for others who have bused through Laos.

Up popped this HUGE orange website called Stray Asia.  The slogan being "flexible bus network for adventurous travellers".  Well, of course, Allan and I are adventurous so this must be the bus for us.

The bus network is designed that you can hop-on and hop-off wherever you want.  Once you've hopped off, you call the company to arrange a time/date to hop back on the bus and continue your travels through Laos.  After researching the areas in Laos we wanted to go, we knew this company was the right pick for us.

Our first hop-on was in Luang Prabang.  We arrived at the meeting point for 7 am, bags in tow, and met with our first Tour Leader, Josh and our Local Guide, Chit.  They inform us that our bus is parked a ways away and to get to it we have to walk, as the bus is not allowed to park in the city.

The big orange Stray bus

After about 15 or so minutes, we wait at the spot the bus is to come get us and across the field, you can see the big orange bus in the distance.  YAY, our Stray bus is here.

The gorgeous Laos mountainside view

Oh, one other thing I should mention.  The Stray Asia tour is planned perfectly, as each day you're busing, you stop every two hours for snacks and bathroom breaks.  Also, the bus only has about 15 seats so there is never too many people and it's a great way to get to know everyone who's travelling with you.

Our first, of many, bathroom stops

We all board the bus, which is headed to Vang Vieng, or tubing capital of Laos.  Seriously, you rent a big inner tube and float down the river, all the while stopping at bars located on the riverfront to drink cheap beer and socialize with other tubers.

Fabulous view, oh, and me of course

The ride to Vang Vieng was excrutiating.  If the road had been straight it would only have taken about 3 hours.  However, since the road has more curves and drop-offs than I have ever seen before, the journey, which takes you up through the mountain villages, took about 6.5 hours.  It was really long and gravol was absolutely required to make it.

One of the main streets in Vang Vieng

Allan is ready to kayak

Vang Vieng itself is a party town.  Looking around at all the dirt roads and bars, all you can see are tourists and young tourists at that.  Allan and I opted to go kayaking instead of tubing, though we still managed to stop off at the same bars as the tubers along the way.

Our first bar stop

Our guesthouse - We loved the twin beds!

After our kayaking adventure, we went back to our little guesthouse and met up with the rest of our Stray Tour friends.  We all went out for dinner together and were given a free whiskey bucket to drink.  (Umm, by whiskey bucket I mean a 2 liter coke bottle cut in half as they have no buckets.)  We all took turns drinking whiskey from the coke bottle and man, was it strong.  We then proceeded to go to a bar called Fat Monkey.

The iconic whiskey bucket

Balloon time

This bar was awesome.  It was almost devoid of patrons aside from our group and the special of the day was laughing gas.  Seriously, I'm not kidding.  They fill up balloons with laughing gas, you suck it back and enjoy a crazy, slightly buzzzed feeling for about 15 minutes.  OH, and I got the bartender to give me his purple Fat Monkey shirt as a souvenier.  Yes, it was that kind of night.  Needless to say, we all had a great night and were none to happy about the early morning bus ride to Vientiane.

You know it's a good night when....