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Published: February 16th 2007
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Big Gold Pagoda
The largest in Vientiane, we displayed our joy with a T-Bone sandwich with two slices of Lush white bread. Laos is awesome! Our trip over the border from Hanoi was just as we anticipated, long and uncomfortable, but we've simply lowered our expectations so much that no trip disappoints us anymore. Laos is totally landlocked so one has to travel over some really nice mountains to get to the capital Vientiane, which is nestled adjacent the Mekong river. Our circuit through the northern half of Laos was from Vientiane to Vang Vieng (river tubing) to Luang Prabang and then back to Vang Vieng where we are now.
The capital city was very laid back, just as we've heard all of Laos to be, and we enjoyed a few days of relaxing and touring the town. On the first night we met several other Canadians and the group of us hung out for quite a while enjoying this country's national drink, Beer Laos. The following day we took advantage cheap bike rentals and pedalled around town taking in some of the sights (the huge gold Wat and the surrounding buildings + other big city stuff.) Even though we've seen dozens and dozens of temples, they still seem to amaze me after all this time.
After a decent bus ride
The ManStars
Our deadly little trio earned us quite a reputation over the 5 days we went tubing... north (I say decent only because nothing went horribly wrong, though we were all still very uncomfortable on these tiny Asian buses) we arrived at Vang Vieng. We traveled with 3 other Canadian girls whom we met on the bus ride from Vietnam, one of which I went to school with at UBC. Vang Vieng is so popular among backpackers in Laos that it is veritably a tourist oasis. The single main strip is home to dozens of bars and restaurants that play Friends, The Simpsons and Family Guy non stop all day. Why does everyone stop here and eventually hang out here for so long? TUBING! Everyone has plans to go tubing one day, then continue their travels onwards to the rest of Laos... but little do they know that you can't just spend ONE day tubing, you get sucked in; we ended up on the river for 5 days in total! Also, e were able to meet up with Trevor's friend Sara from home, with whom we've been trying to rendezvous for a while.
The Nam Song river is pretty awesome, or at least the tubing lifestyle to which it plays host. Every day a hundred or
Tuber Tags
A cluster of tuber's hands - along with our "official" tube number. so tourists float down the river, stopping at some or all of the dozen or so bars along its shores. Locals yell out "Beer Laos" and try to coax you into spending money and their bar. Our day(s) on the river went something like this... Wake up mid-late morning, have a huge bottle of water (it's so hot out!) and then go hitch a ride to the river. One tubing company operates each day, and for 3 dollars they bring you north of town and drop you into the water with your extra large truck inner tube. With our trusty dry bag slung over the shoulder (camera and money) we set off spinning down the river in what I can only describe as paradise. Before long (maybe a kilometre downstream) we stop for refreshments (the only drink offered are Beer Laos) and maybe a zip line or two.
We continue downriver through some mild rapids to our favourite stop; Smile Bar. This place has it all, and we usually spend several hours here each day on the river. A humongous rope swing, hung from a 20m? tower, sprawls over the river and tempts anyone gutsy enough to climb to
Launch Point
The rope swing take-off is here, it then swings from a huge pendulum twice the height of this platform before tossing you deep into the river. Woooo! the top. We threw up some pretty awesome tricks including some back flips by Trev. About 10 decks/platforms are set up along the water front where people get sun burnt watching the swingers, and waiting to play volleyball. Behind those is a huge sand volleyball court (yes!) where we enjoyed at least a dozen games of international calibre. Team Canada didn't disappoint! A combination of rope swinging, laying in the sun and playing volleyball fills the day until 3/4 pm when we hit the river again. I also made friends with a local family (cute kid, father and grandfather) and took a photo of them which I printed out and delivered to them a few days later. It was nice to see it hung up at their cliff side home/bar (not sure if they even have a photo of themselves...) and the deed made me feel good, and it raised my travel karma!
We're not sure how far downriver one can tube (and still get a ride back) but we've only made it a few kilometres down the river, which we say with pride because we spent so much time enjoying the river's party atmosphere...All in all we had
Canadian Crew
Our new found group of fellow Canadians gather for dinner in Vientiane. 5 awesome days on the water, got way too much sun, and unfortunately lost a few things on the river; sunglasses, sandals, hats, wallets and shirts. That alone is an industry to the local people, every day there are young kids that dive down the the river bottom treasure hunting for things lost by foolish drunk backpackers!
We left Vang Vieng after about 5 days, and headed north to Luang Prabang. We criss crossed dozens of mountain peaks (the roads are so bad and windy it's almost unbelievable) on our 6 hour 200km bus ride; the upside was the awesome views! Luang Prabang is also situated right beside the Mekong, and it's a much quieter town, which we enjoyed after our river partying. People visited a waterfall, temples and the night market, but we basically just had a few days to relax. We had the opportunity to head north into Laos' more rugged mountain provinces, but we opted ro return back south where we'll enjoy more sun and take our time getting back to Bangkok. So almost as quickly as we arrived in Luang Prabang, we split up from our travel buddies Lisa, Claire and Ella and headed south
Hittin' the River
Everything "important" was secured in the drybag; glasses, sandles and hats were lost to the river Gods. BACK to Vang Vieng.
We could have gone straight through this town, but only after being dropped off on the streets did we smell the wonders of tubing in the air. Quickly we booked into a hotel and planned for a few more days on the river... only because it's that much fun! I'll have more photos of this second round of tubing on the next blog.
We're leaving Vang Vieng tomorrow and heading to the southern leg of Laos for some more sunshine, rivers and mountains!
(sorry about the delay in the blog but with all the fun we've been having, plus the government suppression of internet for a few days, I've been a little lazy!)
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britt
non-member comment
TUBING!
your tubing adventure sounds like so much fun james! i'd love a good tube right about now! also some pretty nifty crepe-making happening in that pic, i expect to see the results of this upon the arrival home.. ps good deed my friend, and some good good karma! xo