There are several places in town that sell bus tickets to get to Luang Prabang, but the cheapest and most legit (in my opinion) is to buy it directly from the bus station. The bus station in Luang Namtha is a bit of a pain in the ass since it is 10kms out of town.
Luckily, Glen rented a motorbike one day to head north with our new friend Francesco and was able to swing by the bus station and grab the tickets. We opted for the overnight bus which cost us 90,000 kip each. I can’t remember what time we left (around 9ish maybe?) but we hitched a ride with a bunch of other travellers who were also taking the overnight bus after being offered opium from a little grandma (I’m good, thanks!).
Anyways, we got to the bus station Wisata di Pasuruan and got onto our “VIP” double decker bus that was a bit run down and not so bad until I noticed locals spitting all over the floor (gross!). After that, it was about 10 hours of high speed corners until we arrived in Luang Prabang at about 7am.
Overall, I’m a big fan of the overnight bus but this one was a high speed chase through windy roads and floors that were slick with spit and loogies. This was the second bus we had taken in Laos and though it got us to our destination in one piece both times, we were really spoiled for buses in other Southeast Asian countries.