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Published: January 1st 2012
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Laos is renowned for being laid back which is a good thing sometimes but can be annoying. If you want to catch a bus anywhere no one ever knows the exact time it will leave, it just depends when the driver wants to go. We just turn up early at a bus station and at some point it will normally depart that morning. When we were coming back from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, we filled up the 12 seater mini bus but had to wait for another hour whilst the driver went to the bathroom, had a cigarette, talked to his friends, reverse the van to face the opposite direction then went back to chat with his friends – haha, you can either laugh or cry you just have to be happy that you have a seat and you know you will leave at some point. When we first came to Nong Khiaw from Luang Prabang it took us 4 hours on a local bus to get here but in this minivan the driver had gone from laid back to nearly killing us. The journey only took 2 hours but we all feared we were going to fly off the
Tubing
We are all set to tube mountain roads at the speed he was going! However we made it safely back to Luang, stayed one night at the same guest house as before and left the next day to get to the bus station for 8am. We were heading to Vang Vieng famous amongst travellers for whisky buckets, tubing and more tubing. Our coach finally left at 9.30am which was only 1.5hrs wait so not at all bad. We were on a nice AC coach and were even given a food token for when we stop half way at one of the villages.
The road was bumpy with constant twists and turns but 7 hours later we made it to Vang Vieng. Soon as we got off the coach a British lad was touting for a guest house – that was a first, whilst another was handing out flyers for some bar with free bucket of whisky and coke before 10pm. Thought straight away this place is going to be mad and not for me. Another backpacker we were with who was returning to Vang Vieng said he would show us the guesthouse he had stayed at previously. It was clean, centrally
Start of the Mekong River
You can see the bars soon as you get here, we crossed the bridge to the first bar before getting wet located and full of travellers at only £5 a night. That evening we went out with our new Ozzie friend John and he showed us around. We decided to just grab some food and have couple beers. There are a lot of bars with happy hours and whisky buckets. Everyone is offering you free whisky shots when you enter their bar (they say it is whisky but tastes a lot sweeter and not as strong which is good as I hate the taste of whisky) and before long we were drunk and partying with the rest of them so much for an early night, but this is what Vang Vieng does to you, you just get caught up in the atmosphere! The next day we felt terrible as not really been drinking that heavily whilst travelling but those buckets are lethal especially as they are so cheap! Terry also lost his flip flops somewhere during the night and I have a feeling it is going to be a struggle to find anywhere in Asia that caters for size 13!
Couple days later we picked up our inflatable tube (around £5 to hire which includes a tuk tuk
Still early
not many people tubing yet but we found out later not many people even go tubing once they go to the first bar! ride 5KM up stream) and headed to the Mekong River starting point. We were with John and met a nice couple from Oz who we spent the day with. Soon as you get to the river you can see the bars that line both sides of the river. We decided to walk to the first bar and have a drink then we jumped on our tube and started to float down the river. It was really cool actually. The bar people are shouting at you to come to their bar and they throw out plastic bottles tied to a rope so you can hold onto it whilst they pull you in. We went to around 4/5 different bars altogether, but did not drink a lot as you can see how dangerous that could be. If you are not content with just floating and drinking them some of the bars have different ways to kill yourself or enjoy yourself depending on which way you look at it. There are zip lines, rope swings, slides that you can launch yourself from into the river. Having given Terry the lecture of how unsafe it could be, you do not know how deep the
At the first bar
John and Terry enjoying the beer and sun river is etc I soon found myself zooming down a zip line and bombing into the water below. I am such a hypocrite I know but could not resist it was great fun. The bars are only at the beginning of the river and many people do not make it into the river at all and end up drinking all day at the bars. Some people do not even have a tube and just come here to drink and join in the fun.
We had to return our tubes by 6pm or lose our deposits so we floated the next hour or so all the way back into town it was a little slow as the river is not so fast this time of the year but there are little rapids at some parts and you need to try and navigate your way around the rocks that stick out the river, all in all what a great day! Vang Vieng is very much a party scene but it also surrounded by beautiful scenery so would definitely recommend a visit here.
We left Vang Vieng on Xmas eve and headed South to Laos capital Vientienne
Merry Christmas
Yah a beer can Christmas tree where we would spend Christmas day and Boxing day before heading east to Vietnam. We decided to head to the bus station the day we wanted to leave to buy our tickets direct thinking they have to be cheaper than getting them from the hotel in town but it turned out in was around £2 more, oh well most of the time we book direct we normally get it cheaper. We jumped on our mini bus ready for our 4 hour bus journey. Unusually we were the only foreigners on the bus which made a nice change. I sat next to a Laos man who decided to fall asleep on my shoulder. They do say that there is no such thing a personal space and reserve here. I kept shrugging him off only for his head to drop back down so I gave up and let him dribble away – gross.
We arrive in Vientienne and Terry went hunting for a nice hotel that we could spend Christmas and Boxing Day in. Mom had given Terry and I some Christmas money so thought be nice to treat ourselves as we would be sad being away from family
River fun
John coming down the Zip line on Christmas day. Found a great hotel, £35 a night which does not sound a lot but our usual budget is around £5 so was a treat. We had free breakfast, WiFi, Widescreen TV, DVD player, marble bathroom with a bath, bathrobes, slippers, huge bed, swimming pool and sauna. Yes it was perfect, thank mom!
Vientienne on the other hand was disappointing. Not really many sites to see around the city, it was very expensive and just nothing going on we felt. We had a nice relax though for Christmas and prepared ourselves for the long bus journey ahead to Hanoi.
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diane
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Happy New Year to both of you
Hi always cool to read your adventures, you seem to have great fun, hope the best for you for 2012,