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Published: July 18th 2010
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Where'd you come from?
Supposed to be a pic of a puppy but this wee man jumped in the way! We stayed just the one night in Vientiane. Xan had been before and not been overwhelmed by it and we’d read and heard from others that time was better spent in Luang Prabang. Is a great city, so laid back and compact for a capital but were glad we’d gone for a flying visit.
Not only were lots of the recommended budget places full meaning we had to stay in some pretty expensive but not great accommodation but lots of places were closed. Seemed to be a lot of renovation and upgrading work going on. Did love eating cheap street food on the banks of the Mekong and had a wander round the main market - where Xan almost bought a fridge freezer simply because he took a short cut through the electrical goods stall and the proprietor got over excited!
From there we jumped on a mini bus to Vang Vieng. Stayed in a little wooden bungalow on the river outside the tiny but busy main town centre. Vang Vieng is beautiful, the scenery is stunning, it’s a tiny town and full of local people going about their daily life.
However it’s also known for adventure sports,
Butterfly
erm - a butterfly in particular tubing which basically involves sitting in a large rubber ring travelling downstream, being pulled into bars on the way and getting totally and utterly wasted. Because of this it attracts a real 18-30s backpacker crowd as well as families and old fogies like us!
On our first night we headed into town and went for some grub and beers in the only place listed in Lonely Planet as doing local cuisine. We chatted away to the owner and a German family that lived in Laos and a Canadian couple from Quebec also eating in the restaurant.
Then the jeeps started to pull up outside bringing back the late groups of ’tubers’. They were generally wasted, half naked, loud and paying little attention to the signs that had been put up asking people not to walk around the town in swimwear and to respect the local culture and customs.
We overheard one particularly delightful British girl announce to a man working at a sandwich stall that she was ‘off for a slash’ and would be back to get her food shortly. He said nothing but quietly shook his head as she walked away.
Not straight
Xan Bicycle Man
Xan on his 42km cycle forward as tubing brings an influx of backpackers and young tourists which brings in money for many local businesses. And we were very aware that we were being judgmental and pompous about something we would have loved to do when we were a couple of years (ok a few, erm maybe pushing several, shit we’re old) younger and somewhere we would have had a total ball!
Having said that, we did plan to go tubing, I was keen to try it but do what Xan had done when he’d been there before and go early doors, before it becomes a Western piss up.
HOWEVER, we got back to our little chalet that night and headed to the bar for a nightcap. An Irish couple we‘d met on the bus earlier were there so we joined them. 4-5 hours and several Laos beers later we drunken Westerners staggered to bed, equipped with ten times the knowledge for travelling in South America than we started with. Was a great night, and we did remain fully clothed throughout!
This lead to a long lie the next day and rather than go tubing, Xan went on a 42km cycle
while I had a delightfully lazy day. I read my book in the sun overlooking the river, wrote my travel diary in a little café watching the world go by outside and strolled round town.
Xan came back from his cycle totally buzzing from an amazing day in the countryside that had included attempting to cycle through a river that turned out to be deeper than it looked (prompting the bridge toll woman watching to do the international sign language for death), giving balloons out to local kids, and swimming in lagoons and caves.
The journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang was extremely entertaining thanks to a fellow backpacker we met called Steve. Steve is Australian, probably in his mid 70s and fascinating. He travels Asia for at least 6 months of the year every year, has done for some time, and a few years back ‘adopted’ a family in Bali. He first met the husband of the family when the young man was accused of stealing Steve’s money from the hotel where he was working in the kitchens. The young man was so disgusted and upset at being accused by his long term employers of being a thief that he resigned. Steve had built up a rapport prior to the incident and believed him. After a couple of years of staying in touch Steve provided the start up funds for the guy and his wife to start up their own restaurant making a local curry. A few years on they have a son, a very successful business extremely popular with locals and a ’father’ figure who sees them once a year and is always there for them. Jut a brilliant story and an example of some of the amazing people we‘ve met enroute.
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