A bitter and sweet experience travelling by local bus
Curve after curve, bend after bend, brake, brake and brake again, this is the reality for much of the journey on the main route from Xieng Khuang province to Vientiane via National Road No 7.
The winding route through the mountains at elevations of more than 1,200 metres makes many passengers on the 29 seater bus get terribly car sick and some end up throwing up.
The journey on the mountainous route can be fun but it can also be terrible if you suffer from carsickness.
Children cry and vomit in their mothers’ arms while adults and the elderly also start complaining about small seats, ineffective air-conditioning and the rough gear changes by the middle aged driver.
Such an experience is not uncommon when travelling via local transport in Laos, especially on the northern roads where people are reluctant to commute due to the winding roads and steep mountainsides.
However you can make it a more pleasant journey if you relax and take in the stunning scenery when daylight allows, or comfort yourself by chatting with other locals on the bus about what the road used to be like years ago.
I did such a thing when travelling by local bus on the northern roads all the way from Xieng Khuang to Vientiane province recently.
I must admit that this was the first time for me to travel on this road, which winds its way through the mountains like a never ending snake.
Looking back, I was not only uncomfortable but also badly carsick the last time I took a bus on the mountainous northern roads.
But this time I wanted to challenge myself and see what the trip was like and find out why people suffer such terrible carsickness.
Some people chose to leave at 8:30pm so that they can sleep most of the way but I chose to take a small bus which doesn’t take quite as long.
The bus left at 6:30pm and it was expected to arrive in Vientiane province at 2:30am in the morning.
Most of the passengers will get off at the Northern Bus Terminal, while my destination stop was Vientiane province further north before the capital.
Soft music was playing to keep the passengers from getting bored. But as soon as the driver turned off the light, you could hear the passengers removing plastic bags to prepare for the inevitable carsickness they knew too well.
I had heard that the road from Vientiane province to Xieng Khuang is one of the most terrible in terms of curving and high altitude. All too soon, I soon found out this was true because people in the bus started moving left and right, back and forth as the bus jerked its way through the mountains.
While many people slept with their heads down due to long journey and bad carsickness, I actually enjoyed this crammed bus that was swinging me back and forth.
As it was dark I could not figure out how road's surrounding was like but I knew that out the window was either a cliff or a deep ravine.
I tried to ignore the sound and smell of people vomiting inside the bus or thinking about the bus careering off the mountainside.
A young man sitting next to me said he couldn’t look at the people throwing up or he was likely to vomit as well.
Some passengers said the constant braking and winding road were the main part of carsickness.
Some said the bus was too small and complained they could not straighten their legs.
“Please turn up the air-con, I am sick,” one passenger said. Meanwhile others begged “Please open the window wider, I feel uncomfortable.”
It was the middle of the night and I felt I was in the middle of nowhere; I had no idea where we were along the way.
All I knew was more than 10 people were suffering from carsickness. A man behind who asked to open the door said although the road was winding, it was much better compared to when he travelled it with his military friend.
He kept talking in the quiet bus, recalling that in the past it took him and his friends a few days or even a week to travel from Vientiane by military trucks to Xieng Khuang.
“Back then, the road was dangerous! Not only was it in very poor condition but bandits used to hide along the road. If we saw a big tree lying across the road we were instantly on guard against a potential attack,” he recalled.
The former soldier went on to tell us that he himself had been caught up in one such attack and some of his friends were wounded in the ensuing gunfight.
Back then the road was full of big trees and animals. He says it was common to see wildlife running across the road.
The trip makes me feel as if I was in the days gone by when the route was still being built and potential danger was hidden along the way.
The trip was much better than previous ones; I enjoyed not only the oral history of a man sitting behind me but also the clear night sky with thousands of stars and the cool mountain air.
Travelling by local bus is not all bad after all; it can help bring you back to earth.
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
Curve after curve, bend after bend, brake, brake and brake again, this is the reality for much of the journey on the main route from Xieng Khuang province to Vientiane via National Road No 7.
The winding route through the mountains at elevations of more than 1,200 metres makes many passengers on the 29 seater bus get terribly car sick and some end up throwing up.
The journey on the mountainous route can be fun but it can also be terrible if you suffer from carsickness.
Children cry and vomit in their mothers’ arms while adults and the elderly also start complaining about small seats, ineffective air-conditioning and the rough gear changes by the middle aged driver.
Such an experience is not uncommon when travelling via local transport in Laos, especially on the northern roads where people are reluctant to commute due to the winding roads and steep mountainsides.
However you can make it a more pleasant journey if you relax and take in the stunning scenery when daylight allows, or comfort yourself by chatting with other locals on the bus about what the road used to be like years ago.
I did such a thing when travelling by local bus on the northern roads all the way from Xieng Khuang to Vientiane province recently.
I must admit that this was the first time for me to travel on this road, which winds its way through the mountains like a never ending snake.
Looking back, I was not only uncomfortable but also badly carsick the last time I took a bus on the mountainous northern roads.
But this time I wanted to challenge myself and see what the trip was like and find out why people suffer such terrible carsickness.
Some people chose to leave at 8:30pm so that they can sleep most of the way but I chose to take a small bus which doesn’t take quite as long.
The bus left at 6:30pm and it was expected to arrive in Vientiane province at 2:30am in the morning.
Most of the passengers will get off at the Northern Bus Terminal, while my destination stop was Vientiane province further north before the capital.
Soft music was playing to keep the passengers from getting bored. But as soon as the driver turned off the light, you could hear the passengers removing plastic bags to prepare for the inevitable carsickness they knew too well.
I had heard that the road from Vientiane province to Xieng Khuang is one of the most terrible in terms of curving and high altitude. All too soon, I soon found out this was true because people in the bus started moving left and right, back and forth as the bus jerked its way through the mountains.
While many people slept with their heads down due to long journey and bad carsickness, I actually enjoyed this crammed bus that was swinging me back and forth.
As it was dark I could not figure out how road's surrounding was like but I knew that out the window was either a cliff or a deep ravine.
I tried to ignore the sound and smell of people vomiting inside the bus or thinking about the bus careering off the mountainside.
A young man sitting next to me said he couldn’t look at the people throwing up or he was likely to vomit as well.
Some passengers said the constant braking and winding road were the main part of carsickness.
Some said the bus was too small and complained they could not straighten their legs.
“Please turn up the air-con, I am sick,” one passenger said. Meanwhile others begged “Please open the window wider, I feel uncomfortable.”
It was the middle of the night and I felt I was in the middle of nowhere; I had no idea where we were along the way.
All I knew was more than 10 people were suffering from carsickness. A man behind who asked to open the door said although the road was winding, it was much better compared to when he travelled it with his military friend.
He kept talking in the quiet bus, recalling that in the past it took him and his friends a few days or even a week to travel from Vientiane by military trucks to Xieng Khuang.
“Back then, the road was dangerous! Not only was it in very poor condition but bandits used to hide along the road. If we saw a big tree lying across the road we were instantly on guard against a potential attack,” he recalled.
The former soldier went on to tell us that he himself had been caught up in one such attack and some of his friends were wounded in the ensuing gunfight.
Back then the road was full of big trees and animals. He says it was common to see wildlife running across the road.
The trip makes me feel as if I was in the days gone by when the route was still being built and potential danger was hidden along the way.
The trip was much better than previous ones; I enjoyed not only the oral history of a man sitting behind me but also the clear night sky with thousands of stars and the cool mountain air.
Travelling by local bus is not all bad after all; it can help bring you back to earth.
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
