Vang Vieng

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Vang Vieng

Happy to be on the move again, this time in a small minivan, we set the Ipod to mellow and watched the beautiful jungle scenery roll by, taking us to land of jungle bars and river fun. The only interruption to our otherwise relaxing ride was a small flooded section , where paddy and road were indistinguishable and we soaked some local boys on bikes...sorry.
We arrived late afternoon and in the fading light managed to find one of our best rooms of the trip. Vang Vieng in a small town right on the banks of the river, having exhausted expensive, or noisy sleeping options we decided to push our exploration a little further afield.. Crossing a rather homemade wooden bridge we found ourselves on a small island right in the middle of the rushing waters. Bars occupied the north end of the island whilst the south had a handful of fabulous wooden bungalows. Knowing we wanted to stay here a while, location was all important, so we jumped at the chance to have our own little house on stilts..'home ' for what turned out to be ten days. We grabbed takeaway baguettes and crashed for the evening, watching Rescue Dawn in our A/C palace. (set in Laos, Rescue Dawn really gives you a flavour of the scenery etc so if you're bored...)

We awoke to the most amazing jungle scenery, tall Limestone karsts jutted out from dense foliage, and butterflies of all shapes and colours fluttered by, and we were content to kick back on our porch drinking yet more coffee (think we're officially addicted) before exploring the town.
It's a very touristy little spot full of shops selling fake beachwear, sunglasses and dry bags...... all due to the kayaking, rafting and tubing adventures offered on the river that is the lifeblood of this community. We replaced some of our ageing gear, and decided that a day out tubing was what we fancied...But this is Laos, and nothing is done in a hurry so we relaxed for the next few days before joining the hordes on this rite of passage activity.

Days were spent watching life along the river and taking it in turns to head over the wobbly bridge for food and supplies(no food on the island) Evenings were a much more lively affair...the island came to life at a about 10pm and music and drinking and partying carried on till dawn. Seemingly every night! We partied hard, and rested harder, making friends along the way..Jay Lay. Steve, Julia,& Simone.
Eventually it was time to go tubing..........bikinis and baggies on, dry bag over the shoulder and we jumped onto a tuk tuk loaded with truck inner tubes, for the 5km trundle up the river. We were met by some of the loudest music ever heard along such a stunning river setting. Tubing isn't so much about the river, as drinking bucket after bucket of Mojito (mostly BOGOFs). The first bar on the river 'Star Bar' run by friendly Emon definitely had the cheapest and largest selection of drinks available, If your headed along this section of the river its definitely the place to sink a few before heading off.
We launched off into the cool fast waters, and after all of 30m a line was thrown to us from the first of many bars ...grabbing onto the line we were pulled into the bar, encouraged to buy at least a bucket of cocktail, before swinging tarzan style into the river. Accompanied all the while with rock music, and laughter from the growing number of 'tubers'.
Each time we jumped in our tubes to head farther downstream, another line would be thrown, more buckets of cocktail would be drunk, and more high swings played on. One old lady who owned one of the bars decided we were obviously not drunk enough and filled a massive clay pot with booze, and gave it to us for free, pointing to the vodka bottle if it wasn't strong enough!!!

This mayhem was repeated for the first 500m or so of the river....it took us nearly 4hours to complete this stretch!! At our last bar a friendly chap tied our tubes together and we launched off into the strong current to enjoy the last few kms in peace, quiet and through very squiffy eyes!!

WE were fortunate enough to be in Veng Vieng when the annual boat race was held, and our cozy bungalow gave us ringside seats for the event. We we joined by our new crew and spent the day cheering on the local teams. It was quite a spectacle , for six hours teams of approx 15 men, paddled furiously up and down the river in their long wooden canoes, Some were adorned with bright coloured scarves and ribbons and all showed massive strength and skill. Some even paddled so hard the boats sank leaving lines of heads bobbing downstream as they tried in vain to bail out.
The entire town had packed up shop for the day to support their husbands and brothers in this highly competitive day. At the end our new Laos friend Lay invited us to join the locals for the after party. There was beer everywhere!!! Live music and a friendly crowd had us up and dancing til well after sundown. We learnt local dance moves, and flirted with young and old alike...even some of the local ladyboys were dressed for the occasion kissing western tourists at every opportunity. It was amazing to be able to join in with this local event and we felt truly blessed (and pissed dare i say!)
We continued on the party vibe even after the locals had crashed and burned, dancing til the rain came thundering down, causing us to run for cover. Needless to say we relaxed again the next day!
During our time in Vang Vieng we frequented a local bar called the Rock Bar, we found the owner and his girlfriend (Lay and Jay) to be the perfect hosts. If your passing through we seriously recommend at least a BeerLao at this riverside bar.

At last it was time to move on, (our planned 2 days had turned into 10) we booked tickets for the more cultural town of Luang Prabang, and together with our new friends headed off to the hills....

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