Vang Vieng

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The bus ride to Vang Vieng was harrowing. It was 5 hours of mountain roads on a giant bus zipping back and forth, up and down. A Lao man slept in the aisle next to me. We stopped a lot but were rarely allowed to leave the bus, and we really only were able to get out when an older Western man went up front to ask to use the bathroom. At the first bathroom stop, we got out and didn't get snacks because we were told we were stopping for lunch in an hour. 2.5 hours and lot of rumbling stomachs later, we finally stopped for lunch only about 40 minutes outside of Vang Vieng. Also, people were vomiting on the bus. Not the most pleasant sound to hear when you thing you're going to fly right off a cliff in a bus full of people. But the scenery was lovely. Dramatic limestone cliffs high up on mountains created beautiful views. I was sometimes able to appreciate it.

We arrived in the north of town and too a tuktuk to our hostel, called Pan's Place. They were out of dorms, so Noa and I got our own bungalow. This hostel was amazing. The front was a restaurant and internet cafe. When you went in back, there were the bungalows and dorms and a huge common area full of mattresses, pillows, hammocks, chairs, and tables.

Since we arrived in the evening, we got settled in, used the internet, and went to find pizza for dinner. Lunch was measly, and we were still so hungry. The pizza place we were recommended was closed, so we found another down the road with really comfortable couch-like seats. We spread out and ate pizza and mac n' cheese. Exhausted from the bus ride, we stayed in and went to bed early.

Day 1: We got up and met in the restaurant for breakfast. I had fruit and yogurt and muesli. So tasty. There was a really cute toddler and puppy running around during breakfast. We had decided to put tubing off a day and rent ATVs. It was 200,000 kip for half a day, so we decided to split some. When they pulled the ATVs around, we realized they are only meant for one person. Noa and I opted to get our own, me having never driven an ATV before. My ATV was yellow and only had the back brakes. We learned about the 3 gears and set off. Sam and Seb on one, Callum and Aimee on one, me, Noa, and a Japanese guy named Now (I'm sure that's not how you spell it) each on our own. We stopped to fill up our tanks and then the first problem hit. Noa's ATV wouldn't start. We pushed it and it roared to life. We drove down the main road until we found a dirt road to turn off on. After about 10 minutes on the bumpy road, where the ATVs were really fun, Noa's ATV sputtered to a stop. The chain had dislodged, and something that looked like it held the chain in place fell to the ground in pieces. I drove ahead and got everyone to come back. The boys tried to fix it, but we eventually gave up. Aimee got in touch with the rental company, and they said they'd be there in 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, we called again. “10 minutes,” they said. 20 more minutes later they showed up with a bag of tools. They fixed Noa's bike, and they fixed Sam and Seb's bike, which wasn't broken. We asked them for an extra hour since we had spent an horu waiting for them, and they agreed. We continued on.

Now's bike broke down. I pushed him until it started. Then it broke down again. The guys from the company were still behind us, so they hung back with him to fix his bike. When we got to an intersection where we thought we should maybe turn for the Blue Lagoon (our destination), Now realized that his camera had fallen out of his pocket. He went back to go look for it, promising to meet us at Blue Lagoon. At this point, we're splattered with mud and dusty but still happy. We turned down the dirt road, got to the end, realized that it was the wrong road, and turned back. Cal's ATV broke down. He had a flat tire because the tires on all our ATVs were bald. We found the guys again, but they couldn't do anything. Aimee got on the back of Noa's ATV, and Cal drove the flat ATV.

Eventually we arrived at the lagoon. A man said he would fix Cal's tire, so we went in. The lagoon was...blue. And full of Chinese tourists fully clothed in lifejackets and loads of people hanging out and taking pictures. The main attraction was the tree that overhung the lagoon. There were two thick branches. You could jump off the branch that was 2 meters up or the branch that was 5 meters up. Now, I jumped off a cliff in Dalat that was 7 meters. But I had shoes and a lifejacket and a cliff to hold on to. Here, I had a bathing suit, bare feet, and a lot of people staring at me. It was a long way down, but what a great adrenaline rush. We swam around for a bit and then decided to head home to give ourselves more time to break down. Cal's tire had not been fixed.

We started down the more direct road back when we ran into Now. Whose ATV had really broken down. Nothing we did would start it. While we were trying to start it, a truck that looked like a cement mixer came by spraying out water behind it. We abandoned our ATVs and scrambled into the dry rice paddies to avoid the spray. My ATV had been the most consistently functional, although it was really weak. I drove the 2 km back to the lagoon to look for the guy who seemed to know about ATVs. I got stopped when an entire herd of cattle started walking down the road at me. The guy wasn't at the lagoon. I went back to my friends, and we put a towing system together. We turned Now's ATV around and put it in neutral so that his ATV was backwards. Cal sat on the back and held onto the back of my ATV. We very slowly drove down the road, escorted by Seb. Sam showed up and pushed the broken down ATV when Cal's arms got tired. At one point we all had to quickly pull over and run into the bushes to avoid the water truck again. It was a whole thing. We eventually made it to the lagoon where we abandoned the broken ATV. Sam got on the back of my ATV, and we very slowly made our way back to the town where we got some money back because the whole day was ridiculous.

We ate dinner, showered all the mud and dust off, and went out to Sakura bar, which is full of Koreans. And if you buy two vodka drinks, you get a tank top. Which you then see all over Southeast Asia.

Day 2: Tubing! So back in the day, years ago (2011), Vang Vieng was the hub for all tourists who wanted a huge party. The idea is (was) that you rent a tube and float down the river all day to 15 or so bars. You stop at each bar, get some drinks or drugs, have a huge party, get river beers, move on. In 2011 two Aussies died and then it came out that loads of people had actually died doing this, so most of the bars shut down, and Vang Vieng has become quieter. Tubing is still a thing, though. The six of us walked downtown barefoot (I

Day 3: This was a day of recovery after the previous day. I had my muesli and fruit and yogurt for breakfast and spent the entire day at the hostel reading in a hammock and playing cards with Ellie (I taught her Spite and Malice. She loved it!) We went for a walk and ate lots of things with cheese. I was a happy camper. I booked my bus for the next day, spent the night in the common area of the hostel meeting people and talking to those I already knew.



Day 4: Sad to leave Vang Vieng and preparing myself for a 24 hour bus ride (advertised as 20 hours), I ate a full English breakfast. I packed everything up, got some movies from Cal, bought snacks, and waited for the tuktuk to pick us up. Seb was staying, Sam was going to Bangkok, and Noa, Cal, and Aimee were going to Vientiane. I was going straight to the 4000 Islands in the middle of the Mekong in the south of Laos. The tuktuk arrived at 1:30 and took us about 5 minutes across the road to the bus station where the bus was supposed to leave at 1:30. It arrived sometime around 3. It was cramped with broken seats, but it did the trick to Vientiane. I said goodbye to everyone and my friend Ken, who I had met the night before in the hostel, and I got into the bus station to figure out how we were getting south.

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[D MJ Binkley]

Laos
Wonderful memories for us.