Vang Vieng


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Asia » Laos » North
April 2nd 2011
Published: April 2nd 2011
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The journey to Vang Vieng was pretty painless. The main stint was in a really comfortable sleeper bus and before that we'd had a 5 hour stop in Pakse. Having said that, after 24 hours of travelling we weren't really onit. We caught up on some sleep in the cheapest place I think I'll ever stay (3quid for a double with ensuite hot shower) and had a few drinks that night. Vang Vieng is unashamedly completely geared towards backpackers. Bars play series of Family Guy and friends all day while people lay around on cushions drinking Beer Lao and 'happy shakes' where you can add the drug of your choice. Tubing is the big attraction though and that's what we were there for. In short, you rent a tractor tyre inner tube and float down the river stopping off at various bars on the way. The surroundings are also spectacular and we later met some people who stayed there for 2 weeks and only went tubing once so there are lot's of outdoor activities and if I went back I think I would spend 2 weeks there. Anyway, tubing. After a few family guy episodes with breakfast (one of the stereotypes of Laos is how laid back it is, this includes waiting about an hour for a sandwich) we jumped in a Tuk Tuk and headed for the river. Despite the name, the vast majority of people don't bother renting a tube, including us. The main reason is that it's a 3km float back to town and the bars stop after the first km so it's easier to just swim to the next bar. When we arrived it was like a uni freshers week in a nicer setting. Everyone had paint on their faces, writing on their shirts, there was music blaring out and people were well on their way to getting hammered. We got a couple of wristbands which allowed us to get free shots of Lao whiskey which you could pretty much grab whenever you wanted. We spent a fair bit of time in the first bar. Each bar has something fun to chuck you in the river. This one was a big trapeze swing which I went on after some Dutch courage. We also went on a zip wire and a pretty painful slide. We met an English couple and played drinking games with them and got a lift on their tubes to the next bar where I made the mistake of getting a second whiskey bucket (with a mixer otherwise I'd be dead). We met the girls from Hayley's course who we met at the full moon party which I guess isn't that big a coincidence since we're firmly on the backpacker trail. After that it gets hazy but here's the gist. We went to a couple more bars and did zip wire and slide etc. We spoke to some people we met including an Irish guy who was obsessed with Martin O'Neill. We attempted to get a Tuk Tuk back but our dry bag got nicked which included about $15 and Hayley's skirt. I remember chasing and shouting at some Lao children who are the hot favourites (if it wasn't them then I feel a bit bad) but to be honest it's pretty hazy. We then walked through somewhere muddy for a while and ended up going into a restaurant full of Lao saying 'where's Vang Vieng, we have no money' which makes me cringe lol. Anyway, we got a lift back from a presumably nice man in a truck and that was us done at about 7pm. The next day I had gotten away with it and probably could've gone again but Hayley wasn't so lucky. We spent the day recovering in the bars trying to piece together what we'd done. After all this the conclusion was despite getting our money nicked, tubing was one of the funnest things we'd done and we wished we had time to come back (we actually planned to on the way back from Luang Prabang until we saw it was 23c and raining compared to the 32c a few days before). Anyway the next day we headed to Luang Prabang.

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15th April 2011

birthday
Granny and Grandad wish you a very happy birthday michael for the 17th. Keep well. love granny and grandad x

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