Vang Vieng: the Costa del Sol of Laos

On Tuesday the 16th we arrived in Vang Vieng, which resembles a kind of purgatory set in the surroundings of paradise. It is appropriate then that the journey there felt like dying in agony, for four hours. The landscape  around Vang Vieng is extremely mountainous and the roads twist and turn past the vertiginous drops exactly like a curly-wurly. Drivers do not seem to recognize speed limits, or two distinctive sides on the road, and often have to slow down quickly due to cows wandering onto the road or children playing on it.

I started feeling ill about an hour into the journey, and soon started hyperventilating, which I think helps control the nausea, or at any rate keeps me busy. It scared some Italians who were on the minibus with us, so they kindly asked the driver to stop for a few minutes. But there was still about three hours to go, and travel bands, motion sickness pills and a move to the front beside the driver didn't help. Eventually I fell asleep; luckily the nausea didn't follow into my dreams....

On arrival in Vang Vieng we checked into a guesthouse on the banks of the Nam Song, and headed out to investigate the eating options. Vang Vieng is a town overrun  by foreigners. The main street is lined with cafes showing non-stop dvds of Friends and serving mediocre burgers and pizzas. Scantily clad backpackers wander everywhere around the town, giving it an atmosphere somewhere between the Wild West and any crappy beach resort anywhere in the world. The scenery was beautiful, and I'm not going to pretend we didn't spend a couple of hours watching The Simpsons in one of the cafes, but it definitely isn't one of my favourite places so far.

On our first full day in town we rented bikes and headed off into the countryside to explore some of the caves in the limestone cliffs looming over the valley. Unfortunately we rented bikes more suitable for racing rather than cross-country cycling on very rocky roads - we were bouncing around for most of the journey! The weather was overcast although still warm, which made it more suitable for cycling than the glaring heat. It was a lot of fun exploring the countryside, and following the random handwritten signs for the local caves. One of caves we visited in particular could only be reached by biking 1km across a bumpy field, walking another 1km through scrub to the foot of the cave, then climbing up a steep rocky path for about ten minutes. For me the adventure usually stopped shortly after that, as I discovered a deep-seated hatred of caves. They are very freaky places! Some went very far back, and David walked for about ten minutes inside one into the mountain and found passages that went even deeper.... There was an underground spring at one of the more famous caves, that ended in a pool of surprisingly warm turquoise water.

 I had a cold the following day, so we spent most of it reading by the river and drinking fruit shakes. We also tried laap, which is the Lao national dish and consists of meat in a chilli and lime marinade, served alongside salad and sticky rice. On Friday we finally tried the activity that brings the backpackers to Vang Vieng - tubing. Before doing this we both naively thought that tubing was about drifting down the river while wedged in a giant tyre. It's not. It's about travelling between the open-air bars every few metres down the river by means of a tube.

It actually was enormous fun, facilitated greatly by the free shots of Lao Lao whisky most of the bars gave away. We spent all day there, and went most of the way down the river with a Welsh couple called Kate and James. (We ended up accidentally stealing James' sunglasses, so if anyone comes across him in Oz let me know and I'll post them back at some point!)

As well as the free shots, liberal amounts of beer lao and a dubious cocktail masquerading as a mojito were involved. The stereos were playing recent British and American hits and it was very social. The day was overcast and the water actually got a bit cold as it got later, but there were bonfires at a couple of the bars. I ended up buying chicken nuggets and chips as well - there was no kitchen in sight so I have no idea where it came from but it wasn't bad at all!

As well as drinking, another feature of the tubing experience is the zip line over the water. You hold onto the bars and swing over the river, before dropping in. I was too scared to do it for the first few hours, then made up my mind to go for it. I climbed the ladder then chickened out at the top, after realizing how high it was. But then a couple of guys from Yorkshire told me I would "regret it for the rest of my life" if I didn't jump, so I did and it was great! Although due to my feeble arms I only managed one swing across the water before I dropped like a rock into the deepest part. (You can just see me at the start of my swing on the right of the photo.)

It was dark by the time we arrived in Vang Vieng, soaking wet and starving despite the chicken nuggets. We had a fairly quiet night and headed to the capital on Saturday - more on that soon as we plan to leave tomorrow.

P.S. I've added a new feature to the blog under my picture on the sidebar. It's updated a bit more regularly than the other posts.