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Published: February 20th 2008
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Vang Vieng
Wow....it all began with a bus journey. After the bus station guys refused to sell us the local priced ticket, telling us that the bus wasn't running today (even though we could see it being loaded up), the bus didn't exist (we could see it), it had sold out (I thought it didn't exist) etc etc etc. So we ended up paying for a more expensive "luxury" coach. Imagine school trip bus only loaded with all sorts of electric goods across the back four rows.
We set off on one hell of a spectacular journey, and as I am writing this at the end of our Asia experience I can def say that it was the
most spectacular road I have been on yet. It started in the lowlands by the Mae Kong river and wound it's way up through the morning mist to the top of the mountains, for 2-3 hours we wound around the mountains following another bus which left at the same time as us but was more expensive still. The photos really don't do it justice. Everyone on the bus was jumping over to whichever side the views were on and furiously taking
snaps. Soon the mist started to lift as the sun rose and you could see for miles. Really was great. The only downside was the guy sat behind us who was retching and throwing up out of the window for the first half an hour or so. Not nice.
Anyway, we made it to Vang Vieng. A really small town, just a couple of blocks big next to a disused air strip and the river. We found accomodation and went to explore. As you can see from the photos, by 3pm we were swinging in hammocks at a one of the bars in the river. I say
in the river as there is a small island, made where the river has split into two channels, accessible by bamboo bridges from the town.
We swang in the hammocks, drank a beer or two and chatted with the people nearby. Two girls from Sweden liked it so much that they had been here for 2 months 'working' in one of the bars. They spent 2-3 hours a day handing out leaflets and got their room and meals for free. We finally felt relaxed after being on the road for ages and
quietly watched the sun go down over the mountain, river and tubers floating by.
In Vang Vieng most days are passed spent relaxing by the river, sipping various flavoured teas or fruit shakes, or tubing down it. We did go tubing but it was so good we have written a separate blog for it, pictures etc to follow. In the evening on the 'mainland' all of the bars have their own tv shows, so one or two play episodes of Friends, some the simpsons or family guy, some just play movies.Whatever their gimmick they stick to it and play their shows non-stop. So we would often meet at the "Family Guy bar" for dinner and "The Friends Bar" for breakfast. Very strange to be able to watch English spoken tv in what feels like the middle of nowhere and yet for Vang Vieng it just feels right.
We met a few characters in VV, on the first night were Suzy and Dave who we first met in Chiang Mai at Loi Kratong - such a big place asia and yet you end up bumping into people all the time 😊
Next I saw a huge BMW tourer which
looked very out of place parked up next to all of the little Honda Waves so I got chatting to the owner a massive guy who looked like he could've been in the Hells Angels. Turns out he was a brit living in New Zealand but he and his wife had ridden the bike overland (and shipping it where neccessary) to England and were on their way back to New Zealand. Awesome, and the next day he was out tubing too - imagine a Hells Angel sitting in a little tube floating down a river hahaha.
The locals were pretty cool too, the kids all seemed to want pens and our water
One day we decided to get out of the town and head off on foot to see the local caves (which were very poor and really not worth the entrance fee). So after 2-3 hours of trekking along looking in a few caves we arrived at a place called the blue lagoon. Seriosly hot and sweaty it was just what we needed. A small family run place selling cold drinks and some hut type shelters for you to sit in and an awesome lagoon to swim in.
It doesn't look great in the pics but it was amazing at the time. There was a rope swing over the water, which we had to test out too 😊
Unfortunately our trip out to the caves and lagoon came after our first day tubing and Maria was a little hungover, combined with the heat and trekking we did to the caves she got a little ill. So we stayed for a few more days....just to be sure she was fully recovered of course.....nothing at all to do with the relaxing atmos, cheap beers, great food, friendly people, great weather.....
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