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Published: August 22nd 2006
Trekking through the rice paddies
Stopping to enjoy the view on the way to Loup Cave - can you believe these colours?The bus ride from Vientiane to Vang Vieng was fairly uneventful, although there was some strange wired contraption at our feet that got suspiciously warm during the ride. It is really amazing that it took us 4 hours to travel the 160 km distance. The Laos countryside is just as beautiful as the Vietnamese. Bright green, hilly, wonderful twisty roads, small towns full of people waving to us as we drove by.
Vang Vieng is a tiny town right on the banks of the Nam Song River. There's nothing Lao about it. It's a complete tourist spot with some of the worst "Western" food we've eaten in Asia but it has its charms. For example, most of the restaurants have sofa-type seating where you can lie back, drink beer and watch Simpsons and Friends reruns for hours. As seems to be our modus operandi on this trip, we decided to splurge a bit on our accommodations based on a recommendation from John and Aine. Our rustic bungalow faces the water and the view of the mist covered mountains from our veranda is breathtaking. On our way home from dinner late last night, we had one of the best moments of
our trip. As we entered the grounds of the hotel, we heard the strains of an acoustic guitar and noticed an older Laotian man playing on a balcony. Turns out he's the owner of the hotel. Alom has owned the property for sixteen years and he was an absolute joy to speak with. The three of us dragged chairs out into the middle of the night and sat for hours by the river while Alom played songs and sang for us. I have never felt anything like I did last night, sitting in the middle of Laos listening to a Laotian man playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" under the night sky. For Nathan, the highlight was Alom's version of John Lennon's "Imagine." Given everything we've seen in Vietnam, Cambodia and now part of Laos, his rendition couldn't have been more apt. At the risk of being overly dramatic, you could hear the pain in his sweet voice as he sang the lyrics; it was like he'd written the song himself. "Surreal" is the easiest way to describe it because no other word exists. Alom's knowledge of classic rock and country music is unreal. He played us selections from The
Beatles, the Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, John Denver and countless others. We probably would've stayed out there all night if we didn't have to be up early this morning. Turns out we didn't get much sleep anyway. As I was preparing for bed, I came face to face with a massive cockroach sitting on top of my backpack. I screamed bloody murder and Nathan laughed but then promptly got rid of it for me. And then five minutes later I discovered a disgusting leech on our bathroom wall. Oh and the baby gecko on the ceiling. Nathan's become the designated exterminator for this trip but we left the gecko alone. They're harmless and eat the mosquitos. Death to the cockroachs and leeches, however.
Given Vang Vieng's proximity to the water and mountains, most of the activities here naturally involve the outdoors. We spent most of yesterday visiting the numerous tour operators around town trying to find a guide that would do all 3 major activities: caving, kayaking and tubing. Yes, the big activity here is cruising down the jungle-lined Nam Song River in an inner tube. We couldn't resist buying t-shirts that say "Vang Vieng: In the
Tubing" which makes no sense in its wonderfully random Asian way. I would've preferred to stick to just tubing but Nathan somehow convinced me that caving and kayaking would be fun. Oh and what an experience! We found an incredible guide named Pan who speaks excellent English and was an absolute blast to hang out with. He picked us up at 7:00am for our trek to the caves. He also fixed us breakfast (fried rice with barbecued fruit and beef!) beforehand which was a treat. The trek involved walking through rice paddies and at one point we just stopped and stared in awe at the scenery before us. Mountains and mist on all four sides, emerald-coloured rice paddies and just silence. It was unbelievable. The first cave, Elephant Cave, was rather unimpressive. We figured it had set the tone for the day so we weren't prepared for the insanity that was about to begin at Loup Cave.
Loup Cave, about a twenty minute trek from Elephant Cave, is an enormous carved structure that was nearly impossible to reach. It's rainy season so Pan warned us that the cave would be "a little slippery." He wasn't kidding. We climbed over
barbed wire fences, sharp pointed rocks, near vertical inclines, rickety bamboo "ladders" and just about anything that was covered in slimy, slippery mud and grime, grabbing desperately onto the nearest tree branch, rock or Pan himself. Pan was a great sport about our pathetic trekking. He's like a gecko, I have no idea how he didn't slip and fall once. Good old Nathan was covered in mud, head to toe, in the first ten minutes of the trek. The $2 flip flops he'd bought in town for the trek were so useless, I was in pain from laughing hysterically. He might as well have been on cross country skis. He was sliding all over the mud and within minutes, the straps on his left shoe had broken. At some points, he had to trek barefoot. We finally arrived at the cave, lights strapped to our foreheads, and we were in awe. The cave was massive, dark, almost brooding. Pan told us how families had lived in the cave during times of war. Pictures don't turn out particularly well in caves but hopefully the ones here will give you an idea of what it looked like. We'd just recovered from the
trek when we realized we had to go back the same way we'd just come which meant now climbing
down over pointy sharp rocks and mud puddles. We were absolutely covered in filth. It truly is amazing that neither of us wiped out completely. We managed to fling mud everywhere each time we yanked our mud-soaked shoes out of the puddles they'd gotten sucked into. Our hands, arms, legs, hair, just covered in mud, sweat, random cave condensation...and we were loving every minute of it.
Pan next drove us about ten minutes down the road to the kayaking portion of the river. The extent of our "kayaking instructions" involved Pan handing us paddles and saying, "Now paddle left, right, left." The three of us crammed into a kayak (yes, with life jackets) and thank god for Pan or we'd have capsized within the first thirty seconds on the water. The Nam Song is just an incredibly beautiful, peaceful river. The lush jungle extends for miles over the mountains on either side. Being in the middle of the water was so relaxing and gave us some time to catch our breath after the cave trek.
We kayaked to the
start of the tubing site and then the real fun began. Essentially, they throw you into an inner tube and push you down the river which, at this time of year, is quite high and moves
very quickly. In order to change your direction, lest you be caught in reeds, you have to paddle your arms furiously. The banks of the river are lined with makeshift bamboo bars selling beer, booze and any other indulgence you might wish for. The proprietors literally throw you a bamboo pole to grab on to and pull you to the shore. We stopped at a bar recommended by Pan because of its infamous swing. Basically, you climb up onto this rickety wooden swing and are then hoisted into the air by three guys running and pulling a rope in the other direction. Then they let the rope go and you swing out over the water. There was no way in hell I was going to do it but, of course, Nathan had to do it. Three times. There are pictures of him below but it was so hysterical that I had to catch it on my digital camera's video feature. We uploaded it to
A little taste of home ....
This was the view from our "sofa" the internet and you can view it here:
Nathan Swinging on the Nam Song. Oh and yes. The Bob Dylan you hear in the background is from the riverside bar; we didn't add it in. The Lao have fabulous taste in music.
We tubed right back to our hotel which was a treat. It was sad to say good-bye to Pan who was such a wonderful guide. We both promptly crashed and slept for 4 hours before dinner. We took it a bit easy tonight as we're both completely exhausted (and Nathan's sunburned) and we have to leave early tomorrow for apparently another horrific 6-7 hour winding, mountain bus ride north to the town of Luang Prabang. I have heard from good sources that there is a bakery there that serves bagels with lox and cream cheese. I might eat five in one sitting if this proves true.
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Dina
non-member comment
Loving the pics!
Thanks so much for posting them!