VIP vs. Super VIP

Hannah and I had a choice upon leaving Luang Prabang. Did we want to travel to Vang Vieng, our next destination, on the "VIP" bus or the "Super VIP" bus. The Super VIP bus cost about five dollars more than the VIP bus so we decided to pinch our wallets and go with the cheaper option. Those loyal readers may recall that just a few days earlier Hannah and I paid an extra $100 to fly to Luang Prabang. Now we were trying to save $5. Mind you, we had to purchase our tickets in town and didn't actually see what the buses looked like until we got to the bus station. Do you think we made the right decision:

Here's the SUPER VIP BUS:














And here's the VIP BUS:














Our bus had no shocks. Our bus stopped in nearly every village so our driver -- I kid you not -- could pick up his groceries. Our bus picked up villagers who clearly had never ridden on a bus and were seconds away from blowing chunks the second they stepped onto the bus. Our bus had squeaky brakes. Also on our bus the driver ate his lunch while going around the deadliest turns I've ever seen, on the edge of a cliff, above the clouds:



Hannah took about a hundred pictures of the amazing scenery on the drive. Between the exercise of hitting her camera button and not having her Laos coffee for more than two hours, she was utterly exhausted.