Vang Vieng, Laos

Sunday March 27th (Luang Prabang)

After spending a few days in Laos, we were soon discovering that the use of tap water in food and drink preparation was the standard. It had caught up to us and ended up with two unhappy campers spending their sunday taking turns to use the facilities. This lead to an unproductive day of us feeling sorry for ourselves and not really getting up to much. We made a few treks to downtown to visit our favorite crepe stand and chased it with a fruit shake (which we had since thought back on and realized this is was adding fuel to the fire) costing all of $2. We watched a fair share of movies, took some preventative medicine and booked a mini-bus for tomorrow... with hopes that whatever demon we had inside of us had settle down.


-Jason


Monday March 28th (Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng)

Our crazy driver, he didn't speak a lick of english and
we didn't speak a lick of Lao, made pulling over for a
puke challenging.

We woke up this morning, revived and ready to head out of Luang Prabang. This happy attitude ended about half an hour into our minivan ride. The rumours that we heard about the roads being windy were very true. On top of that our driver insisted on going as fast as possible. It wasn't too long until we were both feeling very car sick, and to top it off we were the last people on the bus and I ended up being stuck on the pull down seat which was a thin cushion with metal rods going across my back. Finally after we made a quick sandwich break 2 hours into the ride the gravol began to kick in, and so did the dowsiness. Barely able to keep my eyes open we strolled into Vang Vieng. Our lonely planet didn't have a map of the city so we began strolling through the streets to find a cheap place to stay. We saw a few rooms and ended up picking one that happened to be in the book. A nice room except we didn't check close enough and have a bathroom sink that constantly leaks. You always have to wear your flip flops or shoes to battle the inch deep of water that's in there. After I took a little nap while Jason went to check out the internet, we headed out looking for a place to eat. Every single restaurant plays either Friends or Family Guy. When you're sitting there you can hear clashing intro music ("I'll be there for youuuuu" vs "seems today that all you hear.."). We ate some dinner then heading out on a tour of the town and found out some information on getting our Vietnamese visa while we're here instead of having to go down the Vientiane. We also found out that we can take a bus directly to Vietnam, without having to go down to the capital of Laos.


-Lisa

Just an example of the highway, we are on top of a mountain, and these guys are going as fast as humanly possible around these corners.

Tuesday March 29th (Vang Vieng)

The happy camper

Feeling better and excited to explore the much hyped Vang Vieng we first had to sort out the Vietnam visa situation and then we were off to tube down the Nam Song River. We purchased a few supplies (every store here sells tubing equipment and disposable clothing so you don't wreck what you have with you) so we bought some shirts and a waterproof purse :S which we hoped would protect Lisa's camera and it did (we found disposable waterproof camera's the next day) We rented tubes and headed up to the drop off point in a tuk tuk not knowing what to expect. When we got there, the rumors were true it was literally party central. Free shots all day starting before you even cross the bridge and ending at 2am back at the bar in town. They had a number of high structures, rope swings, slides and platforms to jump off into the river. It was easy to imagine how things get out of control and often result in injury and sometimes death.  We quickly made some friends and played some games making sure to keep a handle on things. It turns out that nobody really floats down the river unless it is a nice day (which it wasn't) so as things were dying down we decided to float the river and see what it was all about.... only to find out why people don't unless it's high water season. It was only a few feet deep and it was really really slow, resulting in us having to paddle in order to have any hope of making it down 3km's before it got dark. On the way we passed literally 30+ bars all with unique platforms or things to jump off which weren't even open because the river was low. We ended up almost making it down the river but had to stop with about a kilometer left because it was dark. We walked to the closest bar and got a tuk tuk back to town where are fun ended for the night. All and all an amazing day and a must do for anyone passing through Laos, its an experience all on it's own, very hard to explain fully.

-Jason

Bar 1

Team UK VS Team Canada

Not actually Simon Pegg

Bar 2

Wednesday, March 30th (Vang Vieng)


We didn't really know what we wanted to do today, whether or not we wanted to head down to the river again or just hang out around town. Both feeling particularly lazy we just stayed in town and watched endless hours of BBC, Australian network and Friends. We don't get our passports and visas till tonight, which means we have a long 24+ hours of bussing ahead of us tomorrow and need to get mentally prepared for it. Neither of us are too fond of bus riding, but after looking at the alternative of flying(way out of our budget) our only option is taking the bus. We keep hearing wonderful things about Vietnam and I am getting really excited to get there. Just hope the weather is on our side after this last week in Laos.


-Lisa

After spending the day hanging out we had plans to meet up with a couple of our friends from the Trek that just came to VV (Joe and Nick from Australia) for dinner and possibly a few drinks. While having dinner at a much-hyped bakery (which didn’t disappoint) we ended up running into two more friends (Forrest and Jessica from California) who convinced us to stay and extra day and go tubing again for Forrest’s birthday. With promises of good weather and good times we decided to stay.

-Jason

The book warned us that this happens, the restaurants are all lounger style with free wifi and friends or family guy getting played constantly. When we inquired, everyones either tubing or hungover from tubing.

Thursday, March 31^st (Vang Vieng)

The weatherman was right for once, it was nice, finally! We had run into a stretch of average weather after leaving Chiang Mai but nothing compared to who some parts of Asia are experiencing. After putting down an American Breakfast we were ready to start our way down the river. We ended up having a big group of ten or so friends which was great, we had a blast floating down the river. Organizing bar hoping with ten people is a little difficult but we managed to stay together for the most part (There was one point where I ended up ahead of the group playing mud volleyball with some strangers). A second look at many of the structures eased my mind on the safety factor. As can be expected we ended up having a blast, I would say arguably the best day of the trip.  We had a quiet dinner and ended up heading to bed early instead of heading out… we were worn out from the sun. After hearing many bus horror stories we decided to look a little further into flights and found one that was roughly twice the price of the bus but we decided a worth while investment because it was the only significant jump we were going to make and it would allow us to see north and south Vietnam. Plus, after taking buses previously in Laos… they are horrible. Everyone is carsick, by far the worst driving I’ve ever seen. Since there have only been highways in the last decade or so, driving rules don’t really exist or aren’t obeyed… it’s absolutely crazy, it makes Central America seem tame. As fast as you can all the time, passing on blind corners, constant tail gating, constant honking, bikes, scooters, cows, tractors, kids and cars all on a road with no lines… Straight Chaos! Goodbye Laos!
-Jason

...should of taken advantage of the free bananas 

Friday, April 1, 2011 (Vang Vieng - Vientiane)

Since we made a spur of the moment decision last night that we were going to fly into Vietnam then take the 24+ hours on the bus we had to make our way to Vientiane to be able to catch our fight. I woke up early this morning and was able to book the two of us on a bus out of Vang Vieng at 10 this morning.  Since we had been in VV for a while we had completely dumped the entire contents of both our bags on the floor and now had the lucky task of packing it all up and having breakfast before we headed out. Flashbacks of a terrible incident involving a cockroach on a previous trip to South East Asia flashed to my head and memories of my mom always warning me to always zip up my bag just so I don’t have any surprises next time I open it. A mini bus came to pick us up and take us to a bigger bus across from the deserted old runway strip. Apparently it was over booked and the two last guys on were lucky enough to be able to put plastic seats in the aisle and sit on them for the 4 hour ride. We made it to Vientiane and then went to search for a hotel for the night. It seems like the places to stay around here are about double the price of anywhere else we have been staying in Laos($6 vs $12 for a room, nothing to really complain about) for the exact same amenities. Finally it was lunch time, I’m not a person who likes to miss a meal. We headed down our street and found an Indian/ Malaysian restaurant and since the both of us are a little tired of noodles we decided to try something a little exotic. Best decision of the trip, the meal was definitely a highlight. We both shared an appetizer of some kind of deep fried veggies, rice, naan and each had our own curry dish and drinks all for $5. Amazing. Considering a repeat performance for dinner.

-Lisa

In Laos... this is what happens when the seats are all taken.... yet they still call it a VIP BUS.
In Lao they treat tourists like cattle... thankfully we got the last two real seats.