Sunday 1st July - Vang Vieng
I left Luang Prabang a day ahead of my friends as I was ready to move on and I wanted to get into Vietnam soon.
I took the minivan down as it was meant to be quicker than the government bus and I thought it would Be more comfortable as well. I ended up sitting in the middle seat in the front, which was quite uncomfortable and it had no headrest so sleeping meant bashing my head on the driver or the guy next to me, who switched seats halfway through so I could take some photos out of the window.
I got talking to him as we were travelling and swapped a few stories. We also got talking to another guy called Gordon. When we arrived in Vang Vieng Malcolm, Gordon and I headed to a guesthouse that had been recommended to me by a couple of guys I met in Luang Prabang. The guesthouse was called Babylon and it was probably the nicest guesthouse that I have stayed in yet. We got a triple room to save a couple of dollars, which meant 2 of us were sharing a double, but that was no big deal. We're all friends here!
We got told that the guesthouse was closing the next day as the owners father had died and they had to be in Vientiane to sort out the funeral. Later we were told that we could stay there, but they would operate with a skeleton staff and certain services, like food wouldn't be available. Fine by us. That also meant that we were the only people in the guesthouse for our whole time there! There was a room of hot English girls next to us when we first arrived, but they moved out the morning after. Boo.
Vang Vieng is a very bizarre town. Only a few years ago it was a small market town similar to those in Northern Laos. Now, it is THE place for outdoor pursuits in Laos. It offers everything from tubing to kayaking, to rafting, to climbing to caving to hiking and much more.
I had heard a lot about the tubing and had been looking forward to it since I arrived in Laos.
The town itself is like nothing I have seen before. It has been unfairly compared to the Khau San road in Bangkok, but I think that is a bit harsh. The whole town is full of restaurant / bars that have chilled put tables with cushions around then that you can just kick back and chill for hours before you realise just how long you have been there! And the ALL play Friends (yep, the TV show) at full volume! Well, apart from the one that just plays The Simpsons! It is the weirdest thing walking around with Friends playing in every bar. There tag line is "Come and enjoy a beer with friends". Cheesy.
If you find the right bars, then you can sample the local treats, such as Happy Pizza, Happy Shakes, Happy Garlic Bread, Mushroom Shakes and Opium Tea amongst other things!
I met up with a couple of girls I had met a couple of times before, Laura (Canadian) and Renata (Brazilian) and the 5 of us went tubing on our second afternoon. It didn't disappoint. You literally have a rubber tube and float down the Mekong. There are no rapids, or difficult bits of river, so floating is quite relaxing and peaceful. Lovely. Oh yeah, there are about 10 bars on the way down serving our beloved Beerlao and playing loud music! Party time! Each stop has a rope swing or a flying fox (rope swing that looks like a trapeze). Some are about 2 stories high as well! It was such a fun day and you get to meet so many people from the town that will be out in the bars later that evening. We were a touch late leaving the last bar, so it was quite dark by the time we got back!
Laos has a midnight curfew, which we had come across previously, but Vang Vieng was know to have a couple of bars open late for those that made it. Unfortunately, while we were there the police were cracking down on violations of the curfew and the bars all got closed at midnight. The curfew is lightly enforced for individuals and tourists, but business owners can get hit hard. So we headed back to our room with some beers and continued the party there! We also had an Aussie called Dave and another aussie called Georgie. I haven't played Chinese Whispers since school but it was hilarious!
Renata left the day after, which was sad as I quite liked hanging out with her, but she is doing a similar route, so I’m sure we'll meet up again sometime.
My friends from Chiang Mai / Luang Prabang (François, Lisa, John, Laura, Jo, Amelia and Eddy) arrived the night I was tubing, so it was great to see them in the bars later.
After tubing we decided it would be a good idea to go see a cave and a blue lagoon where we could swim. Originally we were planning on push bikes, but I convinced everyone that scooters would be a better option. Most people had never ridden a scooter before and I had john on the back as they only had 5 scooters for 6 of us. Oh dear! The roads were not particularly great! In fact the were loose stones or mud, complete with hills, potholes, puddles and all manner of bad terrain. Then the heavens opened up!
We found the caves but couldn't get the bikes all the way up, so a scouting party went to check them out. Apparently they weren't worth the 20 minute hike, so we continued to the lagoon. This was very nice and swimming in the cool water was very refreshing.
After a bit more partying we had a day kayaking. We kayaked to a cave where you pull yourself through on a rubber ring. The group before us were in there for about an hour and there were sections that they had to crawl through and it sounded great, but a lot of waiting around for us. When we got in the cave w had about 20 minutes. Nothing like the previous group. My guide told me it was because we wouldn't have had time to finish the kayaking before it gets dark and someone else was told the water was rising so we couldn't go in as deep. Probably both were true.
Back in the kayaks we hit some rapids, barely level 1's) and I was trying a standing wave, where you turn around on 2 waves and sit on top of them without paddling. I nearly got it a couple of times.
Along the river we came to the section of the Mekong used by the tubers and Laura and I stopped at the second bar where she had befriended the owner. A few shots of Lao Lao (Lao Whisky) were swiftly handed to us before we left to join our group down river at one of the larger bars.
A few beer laos later and we were floating home. Most of the group went off ahead but Laura, me, 2 of the guides and a Laos couple just linked our kayaks up and floated back singing Laos songs and banging out boats as drums. It was an awesome experience.
Apparently our "drums" could be heard all the down river!
The next day we all planned to have a chilled day with no alcohol as the last few days excess had taken it's toll. I was meant to be tubing with my friends from Chiang Mai, but that would have meant more drinking. Instead, Laura had heard of a cave about 1Km from town with some nice swimming so we started to walk there. We also acquired 4 new people that had just arrived at her guesthouse.
As we were walking down the road we came across a street party. As we walked past one of the locals grabbed us and pulled us into the party. It turned out to be our guide from kayaking the day before. They poured us beerlao and asked us to join in the dancing. The women kept walking around pouring everyone small cups of beer, including us. It would have been rude to decline. I thought we would only be there 5 minutes before heading off to swim. Our 4 new friends left pretty soon after, leaving Laura, Gordon and myself at the party. 6 hours later we were still dancing with and talking to the locals. They were so welcoming and hospitable, it was so kind for them to invite us to their special day. We each put some money into a gift for the bride and groom, which was received very well. It was so nice to have this kind of experience. To really spend time with real Lao people and experience their real world was worth so much more than you can get from a paid for tourist activity. The Lao people throughout have been some of the most friendly people I have ever come across. Not bad for one of, if not the, most un-developed nations in the world. Apparently other backpackers kept walking past the party taking photos of us!! They were jealous, we were having a ball.
At one point when we were dancing a woman grabbed me and pushed me and, I presume, her daughter together to dance. We danced for a while and she was pretty hot! She said her house is nearby and asked if I wanted to go see it! I was drunk, she was hot and asking me to go back with her! I couldn't work out if it would be more disrespectful to accept or decline.... So I politely declined the offer! Anyway, it's illegal to sleep with a Lao woman unless you are married to her!!
We left the party early evening, thanked our hosts, and offered to email the photos to them.
After that I had an early night!
The rest of our time in Vang Vieng was a bit more relaxed in the days and not quite as hard in the evenings. We stayed for about 5 nights in total, but were ready to leave. For some reason, halfway through the week the mood changed a bit in the town. Everyone we had met on our first day tubing seemed to have moved on and the place just felt quite a bit quieter. Time to leave Vang Vieng and Lao altogether.
Gordon and myself booked a bus straight to Vientiane airport and a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. A few of our friends would also be just a couple of days behind us.