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Published: September 24th 2006
Sunset
On the bike ride home to Maylyn'sOk then. BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Gee, I've always wanted to be able to say that :o) Yes, I am committed to bringing you the news of my travels, though by the lack of entries for the last 3 or 4 months I guess it might be hard to tell. Lets just chalk it up to the phenomenon know as 'blog lag'. In blog circles thats the name for what I've done. And it is comforting to know enough people do it that there IS a term for it. That coupled with the fact that this is the 4th entry in as many days I now don't feel quite so slack. Laos is my most favourite country to date and definately worth visiting, even if my journal isn't all that timely, since we were there in April. So Laos.
We spent easter celebrating the Laos New Year in Vang Vieng. This made a lot more sense to me than celebrating Easter by hiding and eating chocolate eggs, supposedly laid by a damn bunny rabbit. We had a great time there. New year is fantastic in Laos (and in Thailand so I hear) because the celebrations last officially for 4 days
(compared to its western counterparts measily 1 night and one day for recovering) however they do manage to stretch it out a few days on either side, so you end up with a good week and a half of celebrations.
Our enjoyment of Vang Vieng was increased when we realised that we had found our favourite guesthouse and our favourite guesthouse owner and made some great friends there at Maylyn Guesthouse as well.
OUR FAVOURITE GUESTHOUSE AND GUESTHOUSE OWNER
We spent a total of 7 days in Vang Vieng and stayed at Maylyn's. It's great. Plain and simple. Vang Vieng certainly wouldn't win any 'beautiful town of the year awards' but just across the little bridge is a tiny slice of heaven. Ok, maybe not heaven, but it is pretty damn good. The bungalows are new and nice and clean with great views out toward the mountains and Limestone Karsts (as ours did) or else they are nestled in the midst of a tropical garden. The gardens are beautiful and hundreds of butterflies flit about. They serve good, well priced food and accomodation ranges from $4-$6. The common area is a very social place and we
Monks on a tuktuk
in Vang Vieng town met some great folks there, most notably Simon from the UK and Mim, also from the UK. The common area is a great spot to talk to Jo, the owner, and listen to his stories and also get the piss taken out of you, if your not careful.
So, as I said, I found my favourite guesthouse owner of the trip - Jo Foley. He is quite a character. He's an irish born fellow who travelled a lot through the 70's, lived in Perth in the 80's (around the corner from where I was in the 2000's, coincidently), has been the owner of Maylyn's for 5yrs and has many funny and interesting stories. He is also equipped with a very caustic sense of humour which I like. If you ask a stupid question he will make fun of you, which is fair enough. He has a sarcastic, dry humour which appeals to me. And he has a wealth of local knowledge and insight which he'll happily share if you want. He has 2 gorgeous kids Maylyn, 4.5yrs and Jo-Jo, aged 2. His wife Wan is lovely as is her brother Hat. In fact everyone there was great and it
Beer
Floating down the river with a beer, ahhh.... was nice to stay at a family run place. It has a great feel and you feel very much at home. At least, we all did. If you are easily offended though, you may not immediately warm to Jo. I, for one, am not easily offended and so I just thought he was an interesting, funny bastard and that it is always nice to meet a real character.
PI MAI LAOS
Pi Mai (Laos New Year) involves parades and religious stuff of course not to mention a lot of drunkeness but the most outstanding feature is the water throwing. Yep, an entire nation in the grips of one giant water fight for at least a week. Joining in the festive spirit we bought a super soaker type water pistol, hired bicycles and then rode through villages shooting kids. Now, ordinarily, I'd say that shooting kids isn't high on the list of fun things to do. But now, I highly recommend it. They'd wet us back, of course. They would ambush us on quiet roads - half a dozen of them - with water guns, buckets, pots, pans, anything really that could act as a recepticle for water. It
Our Bungalow
At Maylyns Guesthouse was a great laugh.
We were invited into a party up the road from where we were staying by the villagers. Everything not water proof had been removed from the large room and there was someone with a hose showering everyone, along with a few people with small buckets. We got drenched and they plied us with lao-lao (Laos whiskey) - awful, evil, horrible stuff, but it sure knows how to get a party started :o). Despite us all trying to refuse (not very convincingly as it turns out) we drank quite a bit in a short space of time. It's poison masquerading as rice whiskey. After 7 shots in under an hour I was well on my way. Then suddenly there was a laos lady brandishing the hose and shoving it up my skirt.
We had to get out of there. Our guesthouse owner saw us on our way out and said " Ahhh, so you've been to the party, eh? Well, remember to go outside of yer bungalows if yer going to vomit, yeah?". Sound advice in deed. He said that the Laos peoples sharing of lao-lao and beer was born in part from their natural
View
from the edge of town, across the river generosity and part from mischief. They like to get the falang drunk. Especially the falang women. Men! They are the same the world over, huh?
From there we took a tractor to a festival. I call it a tractor because that is the closest description I can give it in the english language. In deed we have no mode of transport like it at home. It is, basically, an engine attached to a lot of dodgy carpentry*. The festival was held outdoors at the foot of a mountain and Pou kam cave with a fantastic lagoon, live (Laos) music and, yep, lots of kids with water guns. We barely saw a western face there and it was a real Laos party. Jim had a lot of fun chasing children and squirting them. We played about on the rope swing over the lagoon and drank some beer lao while sitting back watching the dancing and all the goings on. I went up to get a photo of the band, but instead was dragged over to a table for beer (must admit I didn't put up much of a struggle) and then for dancing. Simon ate some bbq pigs ear, Mim
Jim in the Hammock
On the balcony of our bungalow at Maylyn's decided on BBQ chickens feet and Jim and I wimped out and went for noodles and some BBQ Buffalo. We didn't really like the buffalo and Mim agreed it smelt a bit suspect so we turfed it and got a packet of crisps. Very western of us and poor form but Jim didn't want to risk a 3rd bout of food poisoning and I was having to much fun to risk my 1st!
THE TOWN OF VANG VIENG
A bit about the town. It gets a bit of a bad wrap from some travellers due to the main street being packed with restuarants blaring 'The Simpsons' or 'Friends' episodes 24hrs a day. The fact is you can get the experience you want. If you want to get stoned and sit in a restuarant watching 'Friends' re-runs all day you can go right ahead, but if you don't then do something else. If you don't like the main street scene then rent a bicycle or motorbike and explore the surrounding area. I liked the bicycle because it is slower (so it better matches Laos overall pace) and you can easily interact with the local people. There are many caves
View
From our balcony to explore, tracks to walk and places to swim. There is construction going on in the town and that attracted some complaints as well but, again, if you don't like it then do what we did and stay across the river. It is only a 5minute walk into town and you feel like you are staying in a village rather than a tourist town. In the dry season you can wade across the river as it only comes up to your knees or you can take the foot bridge and pay the toll to cross into town (equals 0.25c).
TUBING
Vang Vieng is famous for this and almost everyone goes at least once. $5 get you a tube and a tuktuk ride up river. There you walk the track to the water, hop in your tube and float back down the lazt Nam Song River to town. My recommendation: Go early, as in, before 10am because you will make a day of it and want to get back before dark and before 7pm or they fine you a late fee. Rent or buy a waterproof bag (one of our best investments on the trip, the waterproof bag came
A 'Tractor'
One way to cross the river in very handy a number of times) to put valuables in. In the dry season it is a slow ride and you'll spend some time paddling in places where the water is particularly sluggish. In the wet season when the pregnant river swells and rushes I hear you get quite the ride.
Bars constructed of ramshackle bamboo are scattered intermittenly along the shore and the bar men call out to you and reach out with long bamboo poles. If you want to stop for a beer and a rope swing or zip line then you grab the pole and they pull you in. If you buy a drink you can have as many swings as you like for free. You climb rickety bamboo ladders to a tree house platform and leap off from there. Great fun! We stopped at the first bar on the left, shortly after entering the water and this was a good warm up for the day. The next bar we stopped at I winded myself with a giant beely flop (not deliberate). The third bar was on the right and was largest with a very big and very fun - if not a little scary
The Bridge
Another way to cross the river - rope swing.
Much later in the day we stopped at another bar further along for some noodles and another beer and found that there is a cave behind it. You can buy candles at the bar and go exploring in there and if you aren't scare of the dark and are adventurous I highly recommend it. If you have a torch take it along, or get back up candles because you can go quite a way into the tunnels. We had to turn back because we were running out of candlelight. In the end we were back late, well after dark, and employed the services of children to tow us the last leg of the river. It probably took us longer than under our own steam but the physical activity and drinking of the day had overtook us. We didn't get a fine though. Due to the new year celebrations the workers at the tubing place were drunk and said " normal we give fine but today something else." and they gave us beer instead. I love this country!
After a week in Vang Vieng (longer than anticipated) and with New Year celebrations drawing to a close
we hopped a bus to Luang Prabang, a World Heritage listed city. This is where I'll leave my entry for now. Til next time...
* "An engine attached to a lot of dodgy carpentry" - This was what Simon from the UK described it as. I liked that and told him I was stealing it for my blog but that I'd be sure to mention him in the footnotes. I considered trying to pass it off as my own, but that would be plagerism, wouldn't it? And he might be reading this... Hello, Simon!
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maria hobcraft
non-member comment
aaaahhhhhh.........
Aaahhhhh, tubing down the river drinking beer - no wonder you want to go back!! Does life get any better, you look fit and well and tanned and happy. Great photos and as always great stories. xm