Vientiane & Vang Vieng

---

We flew into Vientiane (Loas) from Cambodia, the border control was an experience to say the least! You seem to have to pay every one a US dollar that even looks at you passport then you buy have to buy a visa which changes in price according to which country you come from! we didn't pay the most the French did, but Brits did pay five dollars more than the Australians! none of us were sure what it was all about but didn't argue! Having just paid a fifty dollar departure tax from Cambodia our pockets were suffering!

Vientiane is a lot quieter than the other Asian cities, in fact it doesn't seem to be like a capital city at all. Far less traffic than any other place we've been and far less motorbikes! in fact you can cross the street here without having to hold your breath! There also doesn't seem to be loads of small children begging on the streets or trying to sell you rubbish. Seeing as it is the poorest of the countries we have visited, you wouldn't have known!

We stayed right on the river front and managed to walk our way around all the big sites on our first day. Pha That Lung (the national monument of Laos) Patuxia (Vientiane's Arc de triomphe). We took a tuk tuk to Xieng Khuam (Buddha Park) which as the name states is a park full of Buddha statues which are actually quite impressive. As nice as Vientiane is once you've done the sites and had a couple of nice meals out you feel like you've seen it all so of to our next stop we go to Vang Vieng.


Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is a three hour bus ride from Vientiane and probably one of our most scary! it windes its self up the limestone mountains at an incredible speed you almost think its going to topple over! in fact we passed two abandoned, crashed buses on the way! but its worth the journey. Not only is the scenery stunning but the town pretty cool too. Its a small town of probably about three streets amongst the mountains. The roads are lined with chill out restaurants with bed like chairs playing DVD's & friends repeats with also load of bars too! There are lost of activities to do here including rock climbing canoeing and caving but we opted for the most popular "tubing". Tubing is where you travel down the river on rubber tubes stopping off at bars along the way, every bar has rope swings or slides going into the river . Its just like a playground for big kids and we all got hert splashing into the water from great heights, we also all had a lot of fun. We meet a good crowed consisting of Brits, Australians and a yank and had a really good couple of days being big kids with them.

Off to Luang Prabang next, further north for our last stop in Laos XXX

---