I LOVE LAOS- Vang Vieng

After another very windy bus ride through the mountains, Claire and I arrived in Vang Vieng, Laos!



Vang Vieng, Laos
 

When we arrived, Claire, Sarah and I checked into a room at ''Chill Lao.'' Clay and Lee were also staying there and Ruby and Joep were right across the street. The others were around the corner and although our ''Laos Crew'' was not staying in the same hostel this time around, we were all still pretty close. :) Upon arrival, we were all starving so we went out to eat and I know I'm not in Thailand anymore, but I still ordered some Pad Thai.. yummmmy!! That night, the ''Laos Crew'' wanted to celebrate our reunion (after all being together in Luang Prabang and reuniting in Vang Vieng), so we went out to a hoppin' place called the 'Fat Monkey' where we had.... a Tequila night! It was great fun, although I despise tequila, and afterwards Pete, Adam, and I ended up at the local discoteck, 'The Moon,' where we danced the night away with locals, ladyboys, and fellow backpackers.

Tuk Tuk loadng up the inner tubes!

Tubng down the Nam Song River with Claire, Ruby, Joep
and Clay!

Vang Vieng is a riverine landscape of black karsts and sleepy ricefields. For many, it tries too hard to please foreigners and there's a palpable sense of loss for its old traditional way of life. It's a place to tune out in a video bar, (there are some on the waterfront that play 'Friends' or 'Southpark' 24/7), and tube down the Nam Song river. But with that being said, one has to make sure not to miss out on climbing, kayaking, and caving!

Day two in Vang Vieng, Clay, Claire, Joep, Ruby, and I went tubing! Tubing was HUGE here until about 4 months ago when an Ausi died... there were many riverside bars where tubers would hop on and off the river, grab a drink and dance, then continue floating. Ever since multiple accidents occurred, it has ALL been shut down. And although it might not have been the same experience so to say, the 5 of us had a great time cruising down the Nam Song River!! 

Crawling through 'Water Cave'

After tubing we were starvvvved and stopped at a riverside restaurant to watch the sunset and have a late lunch... or early dinner. The night was once again spent at 'Fat Monkey' with my Laos Crew, followed by sandwich streetfood, then bed. Sidenote: I eat streetfood a lot, but here in Vang Vieng they have the best sandwiches! Men and women are out with their rolling carts, ready to fire up the grill and make you a tasty late night snack. After not seeing bread once it Thailand, it was nice to have a baguette filled with goodies in Laos.
The next couple of days were spent hanging out, Clay setting of fireworks by the river, and caving!! Oh man... Clay, Claire and I had the BEST caving experience! After a failed attempt to rent motorbikes to drive ourselves to the caves, we hopped into a tuktuk, I pointed to a cave on the map, and we were off! Naturally, I had to pick the furthest cave away called, the ''Water Cave'' (about 16 km), and the road was SOO terrible, I thought for sure the rusty old tuktuk was going to collapse into a thousand little pieces.

In front of the Water Cave entrance

Once we arrived, we were greeted by villagers residing in a small town along the River. We crossed the bridge and and because it was all so unofficial, we just started walking towards the mountain. Halfway down the path, a local man started walking with us. Turns out, he was our guide. We walked until we came across a lagoon with rubber inner tubes piled up along its shore. At first I thought to myself, I didn't come all this way just to sit in a little lagoon! But what I was about experience was far from that. We each hopped into a tube, received a headlamp, and followed our guide into a little opening in the side of the mountain.

Claire, Clay, and I inside the cave

There was a rope to help guide you into the cave, and I slowly pulled myself along until the water ran shallow. We came upon a bank inside the cave, where we hopped out and left our inner tubes behind. At this point, we were completely submerged in darkness, with only the echos of our own voices and the drip dropping of water to be heard. We crawled, climbed, and swam through the passages that made up this amazing cave. I honestly couldn't stop commentating because I felt like I was on my own show on the Discovery Channel ;) We looped around somehow and made it back to our inner tubes where we were finally greeted by a ray of light at the end of the tunnel... and we were out!
Covered in sand and mud, we washed off in the lagoon, and back into town we went.
That night we watched hot air balloons drift into the sunkissed sky, and hung out with the ''Laos Crew'' one last time in a video restaurant along the river. Leaving Vang Vieng was hard as we had to say goodbye to so many truly wonderful people... Our 'Laos family' was going separate ways for Christmas, and after over 10 days with them, and over 3 weeks with Clay, Claire and I said our goodbyes, and got on our sleeper bus to Hanoi... just the two of us.

Shout out to my Laos Laos Crew!! Miss you all already!

P.s. Dear Laos,
You were better then I could have ever imagined! Thanks for the unbelievable memories!!

Cultural Tip of the Day: In Southeast Asia, transvestites are called ''Ladyboys.''