Vang Vieng and Vientiane

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Vang Vieng is a tourism-oriented town in Laos, located about four hours bus ride north of the capital Vientiane. Nestled beside the Nam Song (Song River) amid stunningly beautiful limestone karst terrain. Vang Vieng today is mainly a backpacker town. The main street, now called the Khoa San Road, is littered with guest houses, bars, restaurants, internet cafes and tour agencies. The area’s main attraction has always been the dramatic landscape surrounding Vang Vieng. The Nam Song, meanwhile, plays host to kayakers and tubing - travellers floating along on tractor inner tubes, a pastime so thoroughly enjoyable and popular that it has become one of the rites of passage of the Indochina (region in Southeast Asia, east of India, south of China) backpacking circuit.

18 December 2009
Got up and had breakfast then boarded mini bus to Vang Vieng. However, it took us to Luang Prabang bus station were we had to change to another mini bus then wait until all the seats were full, another two passengers, one practically sitting on Dan's lap in the front. We were not amused as we had paid extra to go straight to Vang Vieng and was assured it would be just the 9 of us (the gang, Willow and Julie) so we would have more room. We finally got on our way, the scenery was amazing, the roads were very winding through the mountains with not much room to maneuver when a lorry or coach was coming in the opposite direction but our driver did not hesitate or slow down. The journey was supposed to take about 5 hours according to the hostel we booked it through but our driver told us between 6 and 7 hours, yet another lie. We normally make our own way to the local bus station and book bus from there as no commission involved and they just tell you how it is but some of the group didn't want to pay for a taxi to the bus station which is practically what we did anyway as we paid extra. Anyway, we put some music and enjoyed the scenery. We all swapped seats when we made toilet stops as it was very cramped. Oh, when I say toilet stops, I mean litterally pulling over at the side of the road, no problem for us lads but not ideal for the girls. About half way through the journey we gave in and bought some beers to help pass the time. Originally we decided against this as we knew the toilet breaks would be few and far between on a bumpy ride. Our drop off was yet another annoyance, a few km's outside of Vang Vieng. Eventually we negotiated a price for all 9 of us and luggage on a tuk tuk that had the engine of a chicken chaser! I had to sit at the front with the driver to try and counter balance the weight. On arrival we plotted up in a bar and a few of us went to find accommodation. I treated myself to my own double room for about 3-4 pound. We had heard Q Bar was the place to be so we headed there for some drinks, on the way there was people roaming the street practically naked and completely wasted (off alcohol or some other mind expanding substance), they must have been tubing! To our disappointment there was about 10 poeple inside Q Bar and we were all hungry so we just went next door for some food and beers. There was two menus the normal one and the happy one, obviously we were intrigued by the happy menu which sold shakes, teas, pizzas, omlettes, pancakes, spliffs or just simply a bag, with your choice of opium, magic mushrooms or weed. We ordered a variety of happy items but shared them sensibly as knew the next day was tubing. Not much was occurring and Q Bar was still quiet so we made our way to a place called party island over the river. Not sure why it was called party island as hardly anyone there, a few bars playing music but less than 10 people in each. Anyway, we went to a place called Rock Bar which had a big camp fire and some music playing. Most of the bars except the ones on party island closed at 00:00 and this was enforced by the local police. On happy island they went on a bit later but it was pretty quiet so we went back to Q Bar. It was busy by now but everyone seemed younger than us lot. After a couple of beers the music stopped and a number of police marched in holding guns, when I say guns these were no hand guns, and ordered everyone out this was the enforcement of the 00:00 curfew. It was quite scary to be honest especially as some people were drunk. We rounded the troops up and got off the streets, back to Barry & Elaine's balcony for a few beers before bed. We didn't stay up late as wanted a good run up at tubing in the morning. There was alot of drunk people roaming the streets but no where to go.

19 December 2009
The day had arrived, TUBING! Never heard of it before I went travelling but everyone we have met was really excited about doing it or couldn't big it up enough having already done it. Tubing entails floating down the Nam Song River in a tractor inner tube, doing a bar crawl as the river is lined with bamboo bars, which play loud music and serve buckets of cocktail. However, these are not ordinary bars they have platforms about 15-20 feet high, maybe higher, with zip wires and trepeze swings out into the river. It's dangerous enough without everyone being hammered from the free shots and buckets. There are fatalities each year, mainly from drowning in the wet season when the river is high and the current strong. We had breakfast and headed to the start, approx 3 kilometres upstream in just our shorts and waterproff bag with money and camera. The lads did not bother with a tube as you have to put a deposit down and bring it back by a certain time. We was at the first bar at a respectable 11:00, the music was blasting but only a couple of people were already there. After a few beers everyone started to loosen up and go on the first zip wire. By now the bar was filling up nicely and a steady flow of tuk tuks were arriving every few minutes full with party people and their tubes. The zip wire was good but when you jumped off you would just touch the river bed so you can imagine the problems when the river level is lower. The party trick on the zip wires was to hold on until the zip hit the stopper at the end and it would flip you into the river. We had seen this on the youtube videos. However, you are not guaranteed a comfortable entry into the water. Barry attempted it first, the addrenaline junkie who wears a life jacket! He hit the end, sending him into a flip and sort of entered the water sideways but he appeared to enjoy it. The others all had ago and no major injuries. With my shoulder I gave it a miss, I just let go before hitting the end. After a few more drinks and goes on the zip wire we jumped into the river and floated to the next bar, which was fairly busy and had a higher zip wire. I attempted this zip wire upside down with my feet hooked onto the handle. I was conscious of hitting the end and fell off about half way down and didn't manage to enter the water in a dive position like I was supposed to. Again the music and atmosphere were spot on, the alcohol was flowing and many people to meet. The NZ gang turned up, Alice, Emily, her boyfriend Josh, Chilli, Clayt and a few others. The next bar had a trepeze swing that was really high, we all had a go and even talked Elaine into it. However, she swung out from the platform but let go too soon and landed in the shallow part of the river. She was a little bit shaken and sore but no major injury. We continued to a few more bars, getting spray painted and drawn on with marker pens, until the sun was going down so we jumped into a tuk tuk and headed home as the river was quite cold. We had an awesome time tubing and would definately recommend it.

On returning we got showered and changed then went for some food and maybe some items from the happy menu ;-) We went to the place next to Q Bar again. We had some food then mushroom shakes, mushroom pizza and just a of bag mushrooms. Alice joined us. First we all got the giggles then the lads started hearing things and seeing things, the lads had more than the girls so was feeling the effects. Barry lost the plot first and had to leave the bar with Elaine then Daniel and Sam left. Think they just needed some quiet time so headed for the room. Me and Kieran weren't to bad so went to Q Bar, Alice went to met up with her friends. Q bar was very busy and to us music sounded wierd, we had a drink then decided to leave. Alice and her friends were sitting outside a quiet bar so me and Kieran joined them. It was the end of the SE Asian games so there was asian music playing through speakers on the street which confussed us even more. I still had the giggles. Went back to room and eventually fell asleep.

20 December 2009
Treated myself to a lie in so by the time I got up and went out it was nearly lunch time. Had Sunday Roast in Oh La La Bar which was very nice, others still felt rough. Me and Alice toyed with the idea of tubing again as some of her friends had already gone but we decided just to have a relaxing day. We relaxed by the river then went to enquire about kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vientianne rather than having to sit on a bus again. The kayaking sounded good but would make a decision in the morning. I'd like to stay in Vang Vieng to do tubing for at least one more day but need to move on if want to be in Hanoi for Christmas and Nha Trang for New Year. On the evening me and Alice went for a big burger in the Aussie Bar then to meet others in Oh La La Bar for drinks and to discuss our next move as well as where we will be for Christmas. We had such a good time at tubing we contemplated doing it on Christmas day. Tubing on Christmas day would have been crazy and definately something different. However, it was only 20th December so would mean staying in Vang Vieng for over a week and would affect our plans for New Year. In the end we decided to stick with the original plan and head for Vientiane the next day, then onwards to Vietnam - Hanoi for Christmas and Nha Trang for New Year.

Vientiane the capital city of Loas. This friendly capital, is studded with crumbling French mansions, bougainvillea blooming streets and steaming noodle stalls, it is somewhere between a big town and a diminutive city

21 December 2009
Woke up and decided to kayak down the Nam Lik River from Vang Vieng to Vientiane for 200,000 kip (approx 16 pounds). We left at 09:30, driving a couple of hours to the river and then kayaking for a few hours. The scenery was amazing. We stopped for a swim and lunch on some rocks at the side of the river, lunch consisted of chicken kebabs with vegetable fried rice on a banana leaf. After relaxing we continued to kayak, stopping to do some tombstoning off the rocks. I was a little worried incase not deep enough and hurting my shoulder again but I went first. We then continued kayaking before finishing the journey with an hours drive to Vientiane. We arrived in Vientiane at 17:30 and checked into the Youth Inn, where the others were staying. I enquired about flying to Hanoi but no availability so the 28 hour bus was my only option. However, I needed a visa but the Vietnam Embassy closed by the time I arrived. Me and Alice went for some Loas food at Douang Duanne Restaurant, we sat upstairs on the balcony. The meal and ambiance were excellent.

22 December 2009
Got up early to sort out my visa for Vietnam, was at the Vietnam Embassy for 8:45. Required cash point but tuk tuk driver advised me there was 1 by embassy. Went to 2 cash points whilst Dan queued up for me, both cash points out of order, had to walk to nearest bank but they required passport to make withdrawal, walked back to embassy and Daniel had spoken to the officers who advised they could not issue same day visa. Coach was leaving that evening, my arse went! I needed to find cash point anyway, eventually found 1 and I said to Dan let me go and speak to the Embassy. I went in explained my situation and advised the officer I was willing to pay whatever it takes to obtain same day visa. Surprise, surprise, they agreed to do it for extra cash, visa cost 500,000 kip (approx 40 pounds) and would be ready for 13:30. However, the officer took my passport and the cash but did not provide any sort of receipt, when I asked for one the guy just said return at 13:30 to collect. I then went to book coach 327,000 kip (approx 26 pounds) and hoped my passport and visa would be waiting when I returned. Me and Alice went for brunch at Full Moon Cafe and I had Pita Panang (fresh pita bread with panang curry inside) which was delicious. Alice went to get flight with the rest of the NZ gang. Us lot went to the market had some lunch (another Pita Panang) then got ready for our bus to Hanoi, supposedly 22 hours. We got picked up by minibus which took us to bus station where we waited for our bus to leave. It was a newish sleeper coach with toilet but they would not let us use the toilet. The seats reclined most of the way back and leg room was ok. We boarded the coach and sat in the seats our ticket quoted. However, some Loas woman was shouting and being very aggressive to us all, telling us where to sit as the seat we were in were for the locals. The woman wanted us to move right to the back and kept shouting. After 10 minutes of shouting I just jumped on the lower back seat with Daniel and Sam. Barry and Elaine continued to argue with the woman. That set the tone for the journey, the driver, his mate and the woman were just rude for the whole journey. Elaine said that one of the men slapped her arse but we left it to Barry to sort out. In the end we set off around 20:30 after waiting at the bus station for a while, listerned to some music for a few hours, stopped for the toilet and food a few times, took some valium, slept for few hours, arrived at the boarder early hours in the morning so parked up for a few hours, once the boarder opened they told us to get off the bus and threw all our bags off then told us they would meet us on the otherside. It was pretty cold and we had to queue up with the locals to get exit stamp for Loas then walk to Vietnam side to get visa checked and entry stamp. On the Vietnam side they took your passport then tried to charge you a random amount to process it. A few of us had to pay a few dollars but was worn out by now and still a little drowsey. We then had to wait over half an hour outside for the bus to be cheked and get across the boarder. All aboard for another 10 hours or so. We eventually arrived in Hanoi around 19:30 but had to barter to get to the accommodation. All in all, from the accommodation in Vientiane to the accommodation in Hanoi it must have taken us the best part of 28 hours.

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Comments

[pauline]

love the tatoos
Hi dean, Good to hear from you again, glad you are keeping well and enjoying life to the full, thats what it's all about(well for some )! Tubing sounds a great laugh, but dangerous and daring, i bet your mum is having a heart attack reading your blogs, i know i am. Glad you are surviving all your activities without many injuries, pictures look interesting especially the food you have been eating and drinking. I would have loved experiencing what you are doing when i was in my early twenties, mud wrestling doesn't sound as good. Look forward to your next blog soon, keep safe, Love you, Aunty Pauline xxxxx Ps All ok here in sunny Bournemouth, Lewis was 12 the other day, have been down the beach hut last couple of days as the weather has been nice xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx