We had to get a taxi into the capital and they always quote you a ridiculous price so you spend about 10 minutes negotiating. The good thing is, there's usually only a couple of them and a group of about 10 of you. Having just entered the country and now on Laos money, we found it a little strange and difficult to convert the exchange in your head, you can quickly become a millionaire by simply exchanging 100GBP or so.
Once in the centre we had to wait for a bus to Van Vieng. Of course it left about an hour later than promised and made a few extra stops to squish as many more people in as possible. After collecting all the other tourists in the van, it turns out we all paid different prices for the same journey. The journey is not for the faint hearted. The roads are of a very poor standard with pot holes and cracks everywhere. The bus often has to slow down for very large creators and go over them at an angle to stop the suspension from breaking. The last hour of the journey is made up of mud tracks. As back seat passenger, I watched nervously as the driver overtakes about 100 Mopeds and lorries.
Vang Vieng is a fairly small town that consists of several long streets. With a beautiful river and massive limestone mountains surrounding the town, it is a pretty place.
But like many tourist hubs, it’s charm has been squashed a little by the massive influx of young party goers invading the town to sleep in cheap hotels, partying and of course for the tubing. We were in that bracket of course, we didn't got to Van Vieng just to sunbathe!
Vang Vieng is most known for tubing. I had heard lots of thing from my mate Mills who with us and he had been passed on many good stories about it. On the first day we decided to chill out and not go tubing and instead we had a meal in one of the many restaurants followed by several drinks. We decided it was best to wait for the next day so we would get a full days tubing in. We were going to be there for 5 days so there was really no rush.
The next day, we went to rent a tube from the rental place, there is only one tubing rental place in town. We then piled into a tuktuk with our tube and get dropped off a few kilometres upstream, and join into the Nam Song River. When you get dropped off, there is immediately two very loud bars which are probably the best two on the river, so its best not to jump straight into your tube and head down the river. Booze is cheap and readily available but it really is sensible not to get too drunk and be very be conscious of your surroundings as best you can. It is very easy to fall off the high rise platforms on the bar platforms which have no safety barriers. If you fall off you land onto rocks and I'm sure loads of have been killed this way. The high rise rope swings and slides are also another danger if you dont jump at the correct point. You hear of plenty of accidents and deaths on the river so take my advice! If you go to the river just to drink, I would stick the first two bars and avoid the river altogether and get a Tuk Tuk back to Van Vieng.
As you go down the river, there are more bars and each bar will try and chuck a rope out to you and try and lure you in to spend money. Each bar has loud music, some with themes and if you go to the tubing more than one day, your hear the same songs being played. Buffalo Soldier being one of my favourites in the Reggae Bar.
After the tubing and all the partying, we headed back to town where there is ample eateries, bars and chill out places where you can wind down. However, we were there for 5 nights and we went out pretty much every night. All the bars are really friendly and its easy to get chatting to other backpackers. They have tables in most of the bars where beer pong is very popular and competitive amongst all the backpackers
In general I don't think Laos food is no where near as nice as Thailand but you will find some good restaurants among the busy streets. I cant really comment on the rest of Laos as we didn't see much else of it but coming home for my 2 other friends was a real drama. If you are the squeamish sort, its probably best not read the next my blog post
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