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May 5th 2007

Published: May 5th 2007

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ORourkesaroundaus

Andy and Jason

Phonsavan - Vang Vieng
Jason & Kirstyn O Another long bus journey from Phonsavan to Vang Vieng. What a surprise was awaiting us in Vang Vieng. The best way to describe this place is kind of like Disney Land on drugs.....with absolutely amazing scenery!!! When we arrived they were celebrating the Rocket Festival so there was plenty of action in the skies and plenty of intoxicated locals out partying later that night.

Vang Vieng is situated on Nam Ou (River) with huge Kaarst peaks surrounding flat planes. It is a very very beautiful area. The backpacker scene has really taken off here and many people visit Laos to come here only. We only stayed three nights but many people never leave! The main attraction here for most tourists is hiring a tube to travel down the river. You pay four dollars and a Tuk Tuk takes you and lots of tubes upstream several kilometres where you sit in and float down. Along the way are bars made out of bamboo huts with people using long sticks to pull you in to their bar.

At the bars there are also huge swings and zip lines. We only did it once and had a great time.....very very touristy

A Misty Vang Vieng

Strange place, beautiful backdrop

and bizarre but a fun experience all the same. It gets a bit dangerous towards the end as you start to brave the really high swings with a gut full of beer Laos to help! There was even a mud volley ball court at one of the bars.

We also hired motorbikes in Vang Vieng and rode out to some of the caves around the area. We explored one large cave which was lovely during the cool of the day. No monkeys at the entrance so Kirstyn was safe. Andy and Nicola (our travelling buds) also hired bikes that day and were very unfortunate with two punctures in the same tube! We got it repaired the first time in a little village (Andy trying to tell the man he had a flat tyre using sign language - quite a sight!) and then had to replace the whole tube after about another 5km. Luckily that night we were able to enjoy a lovely meal in one of the many restaurants and enjoyed trying items from the "Happy Menu".

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