Vang Vieng

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We Left for Vang Vieng on the 2nd and stayed till the 6th July. We had to wait ages for the mini bus at Luang Prabang and after a short break down (thankfully) we ended up arriving at 8.30pm. The scenery was again stunning with the clouds misting over the mountains followed by a spectacular sunset, so good we had to have a photography break at the request of one of the guys on the bus! The only problem was the state of the roads. The poor quality road material used to build the roads here mean that large pot holes occur frequently, in some places the roads just become like dirt tracks. Coupled with the insane overtaking and humendous drops on one side, it made Alton Towers seem like a walk in the park!

Our first full day in the town we participated in the 'tubing' tradition that thrives there. We were driven (via a tube station) to a part of the river where the locals have built bars all down its sides. They take you across the river to the first bar where it feels like you've ended up on a european 18-30s piss up. Buckets (literally) of alchohol!

Once sufficiently drunk you float down the river in your tube (rubber ring) to the next bar. They collect you in by throwing a bottle attached to a piece of rope near you which you grab onto and they drag you in! This continues till the bars run out or until you cant drink anymore then you just float down the river until your lucky enough to be able to get out! A fun day but not something I'd do again in a hurry!

The 2nd day was more chilled out. We got a Tuktuk to the 'Blue Lagoon' which after a couple of rainy days wasn't so blue but lovely still. Here we lounged around and swam. Jordan jumed in from the top of a tree which was pretty high! Butterflies and Dragonflies land on you which is cool and there's loads of fish in there. There is also a cave not far up the cliff which is a steep walk to get to but pretty impressive!

On our final day here we hired a guide to take us rock climbing. We did half a day which was more than enough especially as Jord was in shoes two sizes too small. Our guide was lovely and made us both feel really at ease and safe. The walk up to the rock face was pretty intense and we started climbing probably already 60m up with a lovely view of Vang Vieng. The 1st climb was physically tough on both us but the limestone is brilliant for climbing loads of holds and good for practising on. The 2nd climb was more mentally challenging and required leaning back onto these huge overhangs and pushing forward into tiny crevasses! After just two we were both puffed out and Jordan had cut his knee so we left it at that.

All in all a nice place but only if you escape the crazy bars and get out into the countryside!

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