Vang Vieng and Vientiane - Laos Part 3

Vang Vieng and Vietiane

April 20^th

On the morning of the 20^th, we caught a bus to Vang Vieng – a city/town/traveller’s destination about 185 km south of Luang Prabang. If you look this distance up on google, it will tell you it only takes 2.5 hours to drive this distance. This is a lie. What they fail to take into account is that about 90% of this trip is through the mountains of Northern Laos. The roads are twisty, steep and slightly terrifying. You just need to not look down when looking out the window. Anyway, I think it took about 7 hours to reach our destination. Fortunately, our bus had a bathroom... with a hobbit sized door. It was kind of funny. The ride through the mountains itself was stunning. We drove through several very rural towns as well. They consisted of the typical bamboo houses with thatched roofs. Laos in general is a lot less developed than Thailand – there are FAR fewer big cities/urban centres, and much of the country is very rural. Which is part of why it’s so beautiful there.

Anyway we arrived in Vang Vieng in that late afternoon. For many years, the main attraction to this area was going tubing down the river. Now this was no ordinary tubing – much drugs and alcohol could be purchased along the river at the various bars and whatnot. However, after several deaths, many of these bars were shut down and the river tuning was made much tamer/safer. Unfortunately, this has caused many people to bypass Vang Vieng. I’m not even kidding. Which is a huge shame because it’s gorgeous. It was also sad because all the nice hotels that have been built not too long ago are practically empty. So we were able to stay in a really nice hotel for quite cheap. A couple of our friends paid the extra money, and got a room with a view – facing the river and the mountains. It was lovely at sunset.

That night, we went for pizza, and then visited a nearby bar. Like all of the country, things shut down around 11, so we had a fairly early night.

April 21^st

This was the day we decided to go tubing on the river – which is still a major to-do in Vang Vieng. Despite the lack of drugs. Darn. (... I’m being sarcastic. Please don’t arrest me.) We didn’t head out especially early but we still made it out. First, we went to the tubing centre to pick up our tubes and then caught  ride in a sawng-tao to the start of the tubing. When we arrived at the start, we had lunch at the non-profit restaurant/farm there. The foods was delicious. Laotian food is kind of like a mix between Thai and Vietnamese food. So, delicious. Mmmmmmmm!

Basically, tubing consists of floating on your tube for a couple hours. There are still some bars and whatnot you can stop at on the way for beer and homemade whiskey stuff. Which is VILE. Ick! At a couple of these bars, there are caves etc you can walk to. But we just wanted to float and relax. 

We got back to town around 6, returned our tubes, then went for dinner. A night a lot like the one before. Wooooot.

April 22nd

That afternoon, we had a bus/mini-van booked to take up to Vientiane, the capitol. We still had all day, so we decided to visit a local spring and cave to pass the time. We caught a sawng –tao there. On the way, we passed a heard of cattle on the road and several small farming villages.  It was very scenic.

Once we arrived, we walked by the spring/pool. It was amazingly beautiful. There were also some monk novices swimming in the pool. I wondered if they were “allowed” to do so haha. We decided to explore the cave first. This we did without a guide – with only some headlamps we rented from the people at the entrance. It was really neat to explore. You just needed to try not the think about the large hole you could have easily fallen into, or the fact that you didn’t really know the way out. But we made it eventually. After, we went for a well deserved swim in the pool. There was a huge tree with branches you could climb and jump off. One was QUITE high but I decided to jump off it. First, you had to climb a rickety bamboo ladder. Then you had to inch your way out on the wt branch – there was a bamboo railing at least. It was slightly terrifying. But the jump was quite exhilarating. I’m glad I did it! 

In the afternoon, we caught our van. Our driver was ON A MISSION and drove at top speed the entire way there. So the ride only took a couple of hours. Once we arrived in Vietiane, we found a hostel and checked in. That night, we had dinner in a local outdoor restaurant, and visited one of the nearby bars for drinks. When you looked around this bar, you quickly realised it was full of white mean with very attractive Laotian women... *ahem*. It was slightly upsetting but also interesting to watch. 

April 23^rd

In the morning, I went with a friend to the Thai embassy to sort out her new Thai visa. On the way back, we walked by the “Arch de Triomphe”, also known as Patuxai. It is modelled after the Arch in Paris. It was quite spectacular. In the afternoon, we decided to go to the public pool. There, we relaxed and swam. We also had a splashing contest/fight with some Laotian girls. And we passed the night pretty much the same way as the previous day.

April 24^th

That morning, we had breakfast at the Joma Cafe we found in Vientiane. I ordered chili again and garlic bread. I thought they would give me a couple pieces – they gave me a WHOLE LOAF. It was fantastic. A large part of the group was catching a bus to Vietnam that afternoon, so we saw them off. There were 5 of us left. Myself and another friend decided to go to the museum – it basically gave a history of Laos from the dinosaurs to present. It was quite interesting. One of the more interesting displays were some gold Buddha figures locked in a metal cage – they had been stolen in the past. It seems that artefact theft is a large problem in the country. After the museum, I wandered around Vientiane by myself for a little while and visited a couple of the local temples. 

In the evening, we decided to sit by the river for a while. One trend that developed along our travels in Laos was “Songkraning”, inspired by Songkran.  To “Songkran” someone successfully, you throw some water on the person and yell “Songkraned!” or “Songkraning!”. This had been going on for our entire time in Laos pretty much. So by the river, we had a big “Songkraning” fight. Haha. We then went back to the outdoor restaurant from the other night. Had delicious red curry. Mmmmm. And Beer Lao. The other trend we developed was peeling the label of the beer bottles (they come off quite easily and remain sticky). Then, you slap the label on someone and yell “Beer Lao’ed!”. Hehe. We’re mature. 

After dinner, we went back to that same bar. When it closed (at 11) we went back to our hotel, and sat outside on the patio. Had a nice night – we were all parting ways the next morning. And so ended my group travels in Laos – one of the highlights of my travels in SE Asia so far!