This morning I was off to Udomxai, or so I thought on my way to laung nam tha. After getting up quite early and having a quick breakfast, I headed up to the dirt road where the buses and and minivans waited for passengers... Having been told the bus would leave at 11am, I head back to wait out the remaining time and relax. Saying bye to my buddies, I headed back over the bridge to leave Nong Kiaow. Getting there the person that sat in a small bamboo hut that doubled as a ticket counter was nowhere to be found and a small line formed behind me. Upon his much later return, I was told that since I was only 1 of 3 people wanting to head west today, that I wasn't going anywhere. I knew that nothing leaves here unless there's a profit to be made, but this is the first time I came in contact with it. So van canceled due to lack of passengers and it being too late to take a boat upriver to the other place I was considering I had two options. Wait another night and try the same thing tomorrow risking the same scenario or backtrack to luang prabang and take an actual bus from an actual bus station there. Frankly I just felt like moving, so I boarded the LP bound bus and decided on a quick overnight there and onwards in the AM. In the end it turned out fine, LP being a great place anyhow and the ride was rather fun. The van was packed with a great bunch of people, one with a guitar in hand playing all sorts of tunes and a girl with a great voice singing away. Before long songs like "Wonderwall" were being sung in unison by all. Chatting while everyone drank there pre-packed beers and all sorts of antics made the ride one to remember. Arriving in LP in what felt like minutes, I was ready to go throw my bag in a room and eat. Unfortunately before the van made it into town a gut wrenching sound of a dog getting run over in the lane next to us brought silence. Only one saw, but everyone knew. A very uneasy way to end an otherwise great ride. Cutting out Udomxai I think and heading straight for laung nam tha in the morning.....