Laos forum

Thanks wanderingcat! Your second link is very encouraging; but some suggestion that there might be mudslides on any mountain roads - at least in the rainy season.

No I don't trust google maps in those sort of remote regions; but had a look at Apple maps on an iPad today and Laos is vast swathes of emptiness...

maps like GT Rider Laos map are much better, where those drawing the maps actually travel on the roads & trails.

someone just replied to another old thread with an update: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2064984

paved roads in Laos don't stay paved for long...poor quality of paving + damage from overloaded large vehicles + weather = degenerate into 'ex-paved' roads, like the current state of the Oudomxay-Pak Mong road.

Thanks everybody! This is really useful information. I guess the point is that the road has been fully paved; but there might well be delays en route. But that seems par for the course. Never mind politics, sounds like a week is a long time in Laotian roads...

I guess we'll play it by ear when we're there; but it sounds more than doable and saves us having to go back to Vientiane.

I can confirm its possible to catch a bus directly from vientiane to phonsavan via paksan and vice versa. 10 hour trip and departs once per day. Use the southern bus station in Phonsavan.

8 hours.

Yes, but it is very new. They even have a different bus station in Phonsavan now.

Hey Billy, did you see the minibus at the minibus station or catch it when you were in Phonsavan? When I went to the minibus station earlier this month (or maybe late last month), there were definitely no minibuses to Paksan listed and the drivers also indicated that there were only minibuses to LP and Vang Vieng -- Vientiane services had stopped. Would be good to know if they started them up etc.

Just back from our four weeks in Laos & Cambodia. In the end we didn't do the Plain Of Jars so can't comment on the road south from Phonsavan. To be honest travelling in Laos was generally a pain! Bad roads I kind of expected; but not people sitting on plastic chairs in the aisle because they oversell seats and refuse to put on extra buses. Too often buses sold as VIP when they are nowhere near that class. And the annoyance of being dumped at a bus station miles out of town and having to tediously negotiate with tuk-tuk drivers who wont go anyway until they've filled all seats (and some). Still the scenery around Luang Prabang and north of there was very much worth it - highly recommend getting a boat up to Nong Kwiah.