Vang Vieng

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On May 11th we drove from Luang Prabang along a steep new road through the mountains that cut two hours off the older route to Vang Vieng. It was cool and very misty but we caught glimpses of impressive views as the mist rolled around. Before we reached the mountains we passed many rice fields and also visited a mixed race village of Hmong, Lao, and Khmu people. On different sides during recent conflicts, the government is obviously working to unite the different groups. The village school children were on a break and we created much interest. They giggled when Keith showed them photos of themselves and it was a pleasure to see them active and playing as at a couple of Lao villages we visited along the Mekong the young children had been sitting vacantly with their mothers. Whether this was because of the heat or there was simply a lack of stimulation, I don't know.

Although Laos is a relatively small country, about the size of Great Britain, it is long and thin and our guide told us that because of bombing along the Ho Chi Minh trail Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world. With help from other countries they began clearing unexploded bombs in 1995. Twenty years later they have removed less than 5% of them. It will be a long and expensive process.

Our first afternoon in Vang Vieng we went for a trip up the river in one of the local ‘power’ boats which could easily tip and swamp. However our guide said the river was shallow so if we had a ‘problem’ to just hold the camera up out of the water. It was very pleasant although the driver needed to know the river, which was very rocky or shallow in places. There were lots of youngsters out kyaking and a few floating on inner tubes. There were several hippie-looking bars with noisy music near the spot where we turned around and I guessed the drinking/drug smoking partyers might spend their time there now that the town has cracked down on this.

The following morning, we crossed the Nam Song river on a toll bridge and walked briefly through a lovely park area to plod up steps (147 of them) to the Jang Cave - a large and winding limestone cave where, again according to our guide, villagers would hide back in the days when Chinese bandits came looting. The bridges here are somewhat rustic and you have to be alert as there is barely room for vehicles to squeeze by. There are also a lot of school children riding their bikes across them, one hand holding an umbrella (even when it is cloudy or not raining). The teenage girls are skilled at riding two abreast without tangling umbrellas.

On our way back from the cave our guide bought a piece of honeycomb from a stall (there are always food stalls), wrapped in a leaf, and gave us each a piece to try. For some reason I imagined it would be a bit crispy with traces of residual honey. What was I thinking? As I bit into it, watery liquid with a taste I can only describe as unpleasant squirted into my mouth. I took a closer look at the piece still in my hand. The honeycomb must have been steamed or boiled with the bee grubs, nymphs, or whatever they are called still inside their cells. I tried to chew what was in my mouth but the papery mush stuck to my teeth and I couldn’t bring myself to swallow it. I surreptitiously removed it from my mouth and dropped the whole mess into a convenient bin. Our guide polished off his honeycomb with great relish. No doubt it contained valuable protein. We bought some peanuts to take away the taste. They were still dangling from the root and must have also been boiled because the nuts were somewhat mushy inside their shells and didn’t taste so good either. Our guide, who said he’d never heard of anyone having peanut allergies, said peanuts gave him wind but he ate them anyway.



Our hotel backed onto the Song River and from about mid-morning we could hear children playing in the river. Some of the more adventurous boys were jumping into the river from the bridge (despite a 'no jumping' sign). One or two even turned a somersault or two as they went.

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Photos

School girls
About to splash some water to cool off

Mountain short cut
Think Kicking Horse Canyon for 2 hours.

Karst limestone topography
Walking or on a bike umbrellas are all the rage

Sunset (almost)
Another west facing room!

Sappan? tree
Deep orange blossom

Limestone caves
The mountains have thousands of caves that the Loa have used for refuge during troubling times. During the Vietnam war they housed an army hospital and school.

No so sweet treat
Bee honeycomb. Yummy not!

Peanuts
They are better roasted!