Alan's Charlie Brown Vortex

Sometimes travel includes beautiful bays, captivating cities, and lovely landscapes, complete with smooth running transportation and energy-filled bodies. Sometimes, however, travel includes other, um, variables. Here's a quick recap of two days that included not-so-great travel experiences.

Upon our return from Halong Bay (thanks, again, to all who donated to help us have that great experience) we checked back into our hostel and went out in search of dinner. We had enjoyed some tasty food from a food stall/street restaurant a few nights before and decided to try a similar place. The food was tasty, but within a couple of hours of returning to the hostel, we were both feeling fairly queazy, and by 9:00 pm, we had both experienced the various effects that accompany food poisoning. We'll spare you all the details, but it was a rough night for both of us, and for the other eight people sharing our dorm room/bathroom. There was also a fairly drunk young woman who came in, lay down to sleep in three different beds before finally passing out...in the wrong bed. That was an interesting interchange when the guy whose bed she was in returned at 2:00 in the morning.  But, I digress.

We had to be up early to catch a flight to Vientiane, Laos. The shuttle ride to the airport was fairly uneventful, but we took turns needing breaks as we worked our way through check-in, security, and boarding the flight. Alan actually sat on the ground as we waited in line to go through passport control. The long and short of it is that once we arrived at our hostel in Vientiane at noon or so, we both crawled into our bunks and passed out. Gracyn rallied us to get out and find something to eat around 5:30, and we were back in bed by 7:30 where we both stayed until the next morning.

As an aside, what is up with the person sharing a room with 10 other people who decides the air conditioning is too chilly and then turns it off? That happened a couple of times during our time there, once in the heat of the afternoon. Seriously, just turn it down a couple of degrees. Oy!!

We both woke up the next day feeling better, if not exactly 100%. We had a pleasant day exploring Vientiane and then caught a 2:00 (but really 2:45) bus to Vang Vieng that was supposed to arrive by 6:00 pm. All was going smoothly until 4:30 or so when the bus pulled over, we were asked to get out, and eventually told that another bus would arrive in "One hour" to take us the rest of the way. Sure, there was a food stand across the street, but after our recent 24 hours, there was no way we were going to eat anything there, and we weren't exactly ready for a big bottle of Laobeer. In the end, the bus arrived after two hours, we TOWED the other bus for a few miles, and then we slowly made our way to Vang Vieng, arriving around 11:00 pm.

So, while much of out trip is wonderful and amazing, there's a little look into 48 hours we're glad to leave behind.

Stay tuned for stories of Vang Vieng where we escaped Alan's Charlie Brown Vortex and things took a turn for the better.