http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , West , Vang Vieng en-us Sun, 06 Dec 09 22:21:11 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 09 22:21:11 +0000 Good day all Sam here. Sorry itrsquos been a while since our last blog. We are currently in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand but first we must update you with the on goings of the beautiful Laos...After an uncomfortable few days in Vientiane which need no further describing we headed off north to the town of Vang Vieng. The journey was but a few hours long and we arrived at around midday. Up http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-453914.html Vang Vienne is considered a stop over on the way to Luang Provang. Personally I think it is a destination especially for the budget minded traveler. Nowhere can you rent motorcycles stay in a decent hotel eat great food get a massage and go on an all day tour all for less than 50 US day. There is the popular inner tube scene which entails floating down a river in an inter tube and goin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-447961.html Day 10 Vang ViengI started the day with some bacon and eggs while watching Family Guy. I am not joking but Family Guy and Friends are seriously the only two shows playing everywhere in town.We did a half day caving tour today starting with Elephant cave. I have not been caving for many years so it was very interesting for me. It was a 25 min walk to Elephant cave from the drop off point with our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-447836.html We've jumped the borderVang Vieng LaosI just wanted to let everyone know that we've made it to Laos after a few more days in Northern Vietnam. We don't have time to go into too many details but here's a very abbreviated rundown of our pitstops from the last update.After Sapa we took a 2 day overnight boat trip to Halong Bay on the coast of Vietnam.After returning to Hanoi we took thrilling http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-447647.html Day 9 Vang ViengToday we caught what felt like the worlds longest bus ride to Vang Vieng. We got the wrong bus it was not the express like we thought so we had to make a few stops on the way......... It ended up taking around 5 hours. It was jam packed and had no air conditioning. I was sweating like I had just run a marathon. We were both fortunate that our stomachs had recovered enough to mak http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-446993.html This is my first entry so Im gonna just write up my diary entries from now on some of them are a bit rambling so bear with me please. I will also try to backtrack all the previous entries when I get the time. Anyway entry number 1Day 19Nong Khai to Vang ViengGot an earlyish start today and headed to the ThaiLao friendship bridge after my bacon and omelette farang tourist special breakfa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-446043.html Vang Viang is definitely a natural paradise. Yes of course there are the people that spend a month tubing the Nam Song and watching Friends and Family Guy everyday but there is much more to see around. The four of us dique 'VIP'Mini bus to Vang Viang and were there by early evening. May Lyn Guesthouse which is running by an Irish character is just across a suspension bridge. We found out upon a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-442059.html Hello everyone Just to update you on what we've been up to. Since we last wrote we set off for the jungle just north of Chaing Mai. We were in a group with 5 others to begin with and our two tour guides JayJay and King Kong. Set off from base and took an amazing drive north through fantastic jungle scenery. Set off trekking with our bamboo sticks in hand which were very much needed due to i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-441923.html After putting the final full stop on the last blog entry it was full steam ahead to Northern Thailand and a town called Pai pronounced pie. Only a few hours on a minibus from Chiang Mai on a particularly winding road through the mountains. As it was roasting hot when we arrived we decide to go in search of a swimming pool nearby. This turned out to be a quite a mooch we walked about 5 miles in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-441722.html Well here we are back in paradise after spending three and a half months in Tassie doing some work and the kids doing a term of school. We had planned to catch up with lots of people but time went so fast that many of our hellorsquos were also goodbyes.We have returned to Vang Vieng Laos which was our initial plan to sit by the river and decide what we would do with the next couple of month http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-440083.html Hello againSo I guess I left the last blog off at the Bangkok internet cafe eh Well that as it turned out was our little break in our trip. You see we went back to the train station to catch a 640 train to Nong Khai a mere 13 hr train ride away. But as our luck goes with Thailand transportation it ended up being 15 hrs. But it was alright we each had our own pair of seats to curl up into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-439542.html Hanoi ist wirklich eine tolle Stadt.Im Old Quater reiht sich shop an shop an shop. Strassenverkaeufer verkaufen Plastiksachen Obst und totes Getier in jeder Ecke ist ein kleines Strassenrestaurant und das Bier vom Fass an der Strasse kostet 3000 Dong was ca. 10 Cent ist. Ich habe auch eine Show der beruehmten Wassermarionetten gesehen. Die Tradition der Water puppet ist ca. 1000 Jahre alt. Das http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-439023.html We flew from Chang Mai to Luang Pragbang in Laos. After spending fourteen hours on a train from Bangkok to Chang Mai the idea of a one to two day boat bus journey to Laos horrified us so we cheated a little and decided to fly to Laos with the idea not to waste too many days traveling The flight was only an hour and to our surprise we were given the cutest mini sandwich sponge cake and orange http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-438510.html Please disregard all spelling and grammer mistakes....I'm not teaching english yet We love Laos no doubt about it. Easy to travel easy people really encompasses our favorite term chillaxin a combination of chilling and relaxing at the same time. Can only really truly be done properly while traveling difficult to obtain chillaxin status on the weekend. We left the island and beach http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-433745.html To get to Vang Vieng we had an adventurous day of travel1 Another three hour crowded Sangthaew back to Luang Prabang2 A tuk tuk to Luang Prabang town centre3 A mini van to the mini van station I know4 A mini van to Vang Vieng.....that OVERHEATED It was supposed to be a five hour bus journey but three hours in and we were stranded on the roadside.So.....5 The minivan driver begins to hi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-433229.html After a horrible and I mean horrible bus drive from the Laos boarder to LP we arrived at 4am and crashed. The worst bus drive I have ever been on in my life Never ever doing that again. Anyways the place we arrived to was amazing though. It was peaceful quietish and really nice. The food was the highlight shakes bagguttes and everything French. The night market at LP was really really good i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-428609.html 0700 The tuktuk arrives to take me to the bus station to catch the bus to Vang Vieng as usual I'm running about 10 minutes behind everyone else by the time I'd got my stuff together checked out everyone was already in the tuktuk waiting The route from Phonsavanh was very scenic rice paddies rural villages and mountains that tower into the sky crowned by thick mists of cloud although http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-427799.html In the minibus to Vang Viang we were all pretty squashed. As fourteen of us were squeezed into the back we all got to know each other quite well quite quickly Our first impressions of Vang Viang were not that good. The backdrop of the mountains and the river were stunning but the town itself seemed completely geared towards tourism a bit cheesy and felt a bit empty We were a bit concern http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-427765.html Nach dem Einchecken und dem Internet Cafe suchten wir das Restaurant Lao Lao Garden auf. In diesem fuer ihre gegrillten Speissen bekannten Lokal bestellten wir uns erstmal ein paar Bier eine Platte Meeresfruechte und 2 Platten Fleisch. Fisch und Fleisch wurde dann in der Mitte unseres Tischs von Daphni gegrillt und danach bei chilliger Musik verschlungen relativ goettlich. Am naechsten Tag ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-427627.html 02.08.09 Since Vientiane does not really have too many things to do and see we kept heading North the next morning towards Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng has actually become quite a touristy place with loads of hostels and restaurants where they play chapters of Friends and Family Guy all day long. Already on the first evening we sat down in a cosy little bar and enjoyed some Western food while watching http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-427305.html