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Published: March 9th 2007
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Vang Vieng
One of the towns few streets. Amazing backdrop of mountains. Wow, all of a sudden there we were in Lao. A place we never expected to get to but we decided we could pass through on our way up to Northern Thailand, so we grabbed a flight from Hanoi to the Lao capital Vientiane. Another tiny propeller plane that made the Danang flight look like Concorde.
People have complained to us about Vientiane but it really is OK, maybe not all that much to do but enough to spend a night there and wander around. There are markets, Buddhist temples and the Mekong river flows past where there are many eateries, bars and food stalls. It's not all that bad is it?
The local beverage in town is Beer Lao, its regarded as the best tipple in SE Asia and it ain't bad at all. It's strong and is served in a huge bottle (640 ml) for 50 pence. Its everywhere, too there doesn't seem to be any other beers.
Lao is very different to Vietnam, its so much more laid back, if you think that there are more people in Saigon than there are in the whole of Lao then you know its going to be a
The River
Beautiful setting. . . different atmosphere. The people are much more reserved and less pushy but there is not as much craziness that made Vietnam so interesting. Everything everywhere shuts before midnight due to government regulations which doesn't bother us really.
After our night in the "big smoke" we hit the "VIP" bus to head north to a little backpacker favorite called Vang Vieng. There can't be many places in such an amazing natural setting as Vang Vieng, it's absolutely beautiful. . . . mountain ranges surround this tiny little town and the Nam Song River flows quietly past the bottom of the range. Trees and vegetation are everywhere and the surrounding hills are covered in an seemingly permanent light mist, it's not bad at all.
Our so called "VIP" bus dropped us at some favored accommodation but the price wasn't right so along with a fellow traveler called Lisa (from down south) whom we met on the bus we wandered into the village to search for something better. Which we found for a staggering 3$ US a night, that's one pound fifty in our money!! It was OK too, and even had hot water. The fierce competition in Vang Vieng has
Tubers
Lisa and Claire, pre-tube photo driven prices right down so shop around and its dirt cheap.
The town itself is a backpacking mecca and kind of resembles a giant student house with every other bar sporting a big screen showing reruns of western TV series like the Simpsons, Family Guy and Friends or the latest Hollywood Blockbuster they also serve those classic Lao dishes of Pizza and Burgers and chips. Its kinda weird seeing all these Westerners sitting in these bars watching the Simpsons reruns in the middle of the Lao countryside. . . but if you left home to watch TV or relive your student days then this is the place for you, otherwise you might find it all all a bit odd. I think people come here and spend months just chilling out, and there are worse places to be but its not for us.
The main draw here is activities in the surrounding area, the main one being Tubing. Its quite simply this, you pay a Lao guy about 4 $ and he gives you a rubber ring and his mate takes you 3 km up the river in his "Tuk Tuk", you then float down the river in your
Tubing
This is tubing. Another hard day at the office. rubber ring. Sound good? it gets better as every few hundred meters or so another Lao guy thrusts a long piece of bamboo out in your direction and pulls you into the river bank and serves you a cold beer Lao in one of the many riverside bars. Most of these bars have added attractions like rope swings , ariel runways and jumping platforms to keep you there, they also serve food and there is a good atmosphere as many a happy tuber floats in for a bevvie. Of course its hard to understand why the bar owners think that playing 80's Pop music through a two foot tall 30 year old speaker would add to this ultimate tranquil bliss, as it doesn't.
Me , Claire and Lisa all went tubing and set off at 12:00, the float downstream takes about 2 - 3 hours without stopping, however, nearly all the bars are in the first half of the trip. Also, with it being the dry season the current is pretty slow and there are very shallow areas, towards the end it is a very slow float / paddle / swim / are we going to make it back
The Local Bar
Stop for a beer Lao at the local watering hole. Nice View. Nearly everything is made of Bamboo. to Vang Vieng before it gets dark?, situation.
The tubing ends at a couple of riverside bars on the edge of town where you can watch the sunset over the mountains, totally excellent.
Vang Vieng is also famous for nearby caves which we didn't visit as we are all caved out but they are supposed to be good, you can also do hill treks but after Claire was wounded in Vietnam we won't be trekking for a few more days yet.
We had three nights here and it's easy to see how you could stay for ages but its also good to get moving so we all headed north to a place called Luang Prabang. Which is meant to be allreet too.
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stu
non-member comment
let laos !
great to see you are preparing for home - can just see you in a rubber tube floating down walney channel! or were u using the tube to keep your poorly foot out of water dry! luv stu xxxxxxxxx