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Published: March 18th 2008
Tubing with a Beer Lao!
My feet aren't this big in real life - it's just the perspective!(Catherine)
After getting off the beaten track in Northern Laos, we got well and truly back on it in Vang Vieng - the most touristy place in the country! Apparently, it's a town you either love or hate and luckily we loved it. It's really relaxing and full of bars where you can lounge around on cushions, eat, drink and watch back-to-back episodes of Friends - it was like being a student again!
We decided to counter-balance all the lazing around by hiring bikes for a day and cycling to one of the many caves in the region. It was a really interesting, if somewhat bumpy, ride. Vang Vieng is in a great location, surrounded by dramatic limestone peaks, and you don't have to venture far to leave the touristy bit behind. The cave itself was HUGE and definitely the most impressive we've seen so far. We were allowed to wander around on our own which seemed a bit dangerous as there were lots of fallen rocks and tunnels to get lost in! Thankfully we made it out in one piece.
We also spent a fun afternoon tubing, which basically involves sitting in a big rubber ring and
Blue Lagoon
This pretty lagoon was near the cave we visited. floating down the river. You are driven by tuk tuk to the start of the course and left to float back at your own speed. There are loads of bamboo bars along the way where you can stop for a drink (or get a takeaway beer to enjoy from the comfort of your tube!) so it took quite a while to get back into town! Matt also managed to lose his wedding ring along the way! Luckily it was just a cheap silver one we bought to replace the real one that he lost last year, but I'm starting to think he's trying to tell me something!
One interesting thing we noticed while in Vang Vieng was that lots of the restaurants serve 'happy' food - normal food laced with magic mushrooms or marijuana! You could get happy pizzas, pancakes, fruit shakes, tea... the list went on. The funniest thing was that in the 'happy' restaurants you were given two menus, one with normal food and one with happy food which was discreetly handed to you upside-down!
After Vang Vieng headed to the capital, Vientiane, to get our Vietnam visas (an amazingly quick process - we were in
Waiting for Breakfast
This little roadside cafe sold lovely food at really cheap prices. and out of the Embassy in less than 10 minutes!). Vientiane is a strange city. It's really quiet and the tourist amenities are based around the river front so it seems more like a seaside resort than a capital city. We decided to forego a day's sightseeing to sunbathe by the pool in a posh hotel. Well, there are only so many temples you can see!
Our next stop was Phonsavan to visit the Plain of Jars, three sites that are scattered with huge stone jars. They are at least 2,500 years old but nobody knows where they came from or what they're for. There are several theories for their use which include collecting rain water and holding people's ashes. The area was heavily bombed during the 60s so we also saw some massive craters and an abandoned Russian tank. We weren't allowed to walk around the sites on our own in case we accidentally wandered into an uncleared area - there are still vast quantities of unexploded bombs, rockets, grenades, mortar shells and landmines in Laos, which is the most heavily bombed nation in the world. All three jar sites were in picturesque locations so, along with the
history and the mystery, it was a really interesting day out.
We've thoroughly enjoyed our time in Laos but now our visas are running out (and we're running behind schedule!) so it's time to move on to Vietnam. We've been warned that it is nowhere near as relaxing a country to travel through, so we must prepare ourselves for lots of noise, plenty of traffic, unbearable hassle and sneeky scams. Bring it on!!!
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Charlotte
non-member comment
Hmmmm you both look very 'happy' in all these photos!! :) xxx