I woke up at 6.30 which was surprising but it was cold from the air con so that was probably why. I got up before 7, showered and went downstairs. I went out and got some cash and came back and had breakfast where they had bread, tomato, cucumber and bananas laid out so I ate that. A couple had some eggs served but they handed in a voucher and I didn't have one. When I finished however I saw that the voucher was something you fill in to request your choice so I chose the omelette which was good. I packed up and waited around for the bus which was supposed to come at 8.30 onwards. There was a minibus at 8.20 but it picked up another woman and didn't want me. Another woman joined me in waiting and I overheard a girl say she was going to Hanoi so I asked her about the visa and she was planning to get one on arrival at the border by bus which is exactly what I would love to do so I asked if she could email me if it worked. Around 9.20 a pickup took me to the minivan and by 9.45 we were off with a few French, a German and maybe some Japanese on board. There was a fair bit of space and I took the front seat for the view which was ok for a bit although the road was not great and we had some cows in road arlier and how German before roadworks. The German said his embassy had strongly recommended not to take this road at night. We stopped for the first time before 11 for a toilet break and then the roads went up more and we lost visibility before stopping at a misty mountain top which is the junction to the east where a girl was looking to get to Hanoi. We bought various foods there, myself some cakes and headed on and the mist cleared but I napped a bit before we stopped at 1.45 and the driver had his lunch (free?) and I got some sticky rice. There was another van which stopped as well and a guy on a bike called Will who goes by the name super cycling man. (His website says he's 38 so that could almost be me from 1 year ago) He had come from Luang Prabang and was cycling across the world from England and had gone pretty far to get here through China and most likely Russia before that. I went back to the van and my bag wasn't in the front seat. Crap! I was worried but then I checked the other van and I'd put it there bymistake. We moved on and there were roadworks going on with a steamroller making a stretch laid but not tarmacced flat and then a crane ripping up a section of road. At 3.15 we stopped briefly for the driver to do something. We were supposed to have arrived by 2pm and we were still a fair distance away. It was a long journey and I finished children of Dune the 3rd book and started game of thrones which begins almost exactly like the TV series before we arrived soon after 4pm and the tuk tuks in the bus station wanted 15,000 kip per person which isn't bad. I'd seen a few guesthouses on the way to town and I was not in a rush now to get to the Vietnam consulate so I walked. The first place wanted 150 which is quite a bit more than I'd been paying. The road meanwhile went from good to bad to good to bad etc and I was kind of regretting not taking the ride but then it was good the rest of the way. I arrived near the hill and yhere was ahostel with rooms for 50k and then another with the same price but they had a high rating. Still there were 2 places round the corner so I left my suitcase but then found some wifi at a cafe and the agoda rate for the place was around 50k and the cheap places were a fair distance away. It was almost 5pm and I wanted to climb the hill so I went back to my suitcase and got a bottom bunk there. I was out the door soon enough and made it to the hill where entrance was 20k. I wasn't sure and went to see the cave first which was rubbish and I decided to go up as it was the first thing on the list of the wikitravel page. There were a few statues on the way and it looked like it could be good but at the top there were loads of people there for sunset, the temple was crap and the stupa was a bit small. The view was ok but not that good as Luang Prabang doesn't gave that many obviously noticeable landmarks. I went vack down before sunset and tried to visit some temples but most were shut. I walked to the UNESCO plaque but it wasn't there and the staircase to the bridge had collapsed so I decided not to cross the river. I walked along it instead back towards the hostel and there was a section of collapsed pavement, some kind of subsidence problem. The river was a bit low but might be deep enough to swim a bit but not to float downstream on which would have been nice. I found an internet place but they were western run and wanted 12k per hour. I walked around a bit along the river for sunset and I couldn't really see why this place was special, at least Hoi an had stood out a bit. I went to a supermarket and got confused buying peanuts and bought 72g instead of 85g which was the same price but at least I had lots of packets. The water was overpriced as well but they hadn't labelled it so I'd assumed it would be ok. Back at the hostel I left some things and took other things and headed out again. I wandered a bit more and found an internet shop for 6k an hour so I got some more done and researched crossing to Vietnam without a visa by land and nowhere did anyone say they'd done it. I went back, read a bit and went to sleep at 11.
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