Tubing in the Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng has beautiful scenery but is very touristy. The mountains are awe inspiring with limestone cliffs the likes of which we have seen through out south Asia but still incredible. The touristiness comes from the many guesthouses, restaurants and shops. Almost all the restaurants had big LCD TV's playing either Friends or Family Guy. We were hard pressed to find a restaurant where we could enjoy the scenery in relative peace and quiet. All the shops were selling “Tubing in the Vang Vieng” or Beer Laos tank tops along with water proof money cases. Obviously the town is thriving on tourists but there isn't much Laos character to the town. We still really enjoyed our time here though.

Dec 4 – Biking around Vang Vieng

We had a leisurely start to the day today which included some breakfast just down the street from our hotel. The power was out at our hotel and the restaurant but fortunately with open air places there is plenty of natural light. We rented some bicycles and toured around across the river. The pathway took us to a cave and mountain that we could climb. And so we went up, carefully. It wasn't really a proper pathway and had some ladder bridges to take us over some of the more rugged terrain. It was quite the interesting climb but had a lovely view of Vang Vieng and the mountains around. It was an awkward, careful climb down from the top. From here were continued on to another cave but they were charging admission as well and we weren't quite willing to pay it so we headed back to town. It was well after lunch time at this point and we were famished. Once back in town we got some lunch at a restaurant with a lovely view over looking the mountains and the little hill we climbed earlier. We just relaxed here for awhile enjoying the beautiful view. We biked around town afterwards and I was able to buy an inexpensive charm for my charm bracelet, its a little happy Buddha. We went back to our hotel for a shower and then headed out again to find somewhere with wifi and dinner. It is a little bit difficult to find somewhere to eat that isn't playing Friends and Family Guy. It's kind of ridiculous how much these two shows are played at all the restaurants here. We found one that had a back area where we didn't have to listen to the TV. We had dinner and did some research on what to do in New Zealand.

The view from town, we climbed the little one on the right.

In the cave

 

Dec 5 – Tubing on the Nam Song

Today we are doing the infamous “tubing” of the Nam Song. We rented an inner tube from the tube place which also makes you put down a deposit to make sure you bring it back. And hopped a tuk tuk which took us about 3km upriver to the launch point. In theory it should take 3hrs to float down the river, that doesn't include stopping at bars. When we arrived we were blown away, every 100m there was a bar on either side of the river. At each bar there were guys throwing you ropes to pull you ashore so you could buy a beer or a bucket from them. It was crazy! Many places also had rope swings, slides and dive platforms. At one bar we went down a slide but unfortunately I forgot to take off my sunglasses so now I need new ones. We had started our tubing adventure around noon and you have to have the tubes back by 6pm. We were at our last bar and it was getting close to the time so we hurried down to our tubes and forgot our flipflops.... another purchase we need to make now. It was getting quite cool out too. The sun had gone behind the mountain and the water was chilly. We were hailed by a tuk tuk driver from the shore so we pulled over and took a tuk tuk back to town. Just in time too. We walked back to our hotel, barefoot, and I had a nice hot shower. We had some dinner, I had a delicious chicken burger. We then went to another restaurant with internet and Beau proceeded to have second dinner. We drank lots of water to try and recover from our afternoon.

On the Nam Song River

One of the many bars

Beau on the slide I lost my sunglasses to

Just a floating along

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Today's bus ride was brutal! The bus broke down and we waited around 2 hours while they fixed it then we almost had a bus accident! Not a good day for buses but all is fine now.  We are in one piece.  Just remember everyone that these things can happen at home too.  We are feeling better though. I don't think it was related to anything we ate.  If possible I think our crappy bed just messed up our bodies and this is just how it manifested itself.   But tonight's bed seems much more comfortable.. no springs!

Dec 2 – Vientiane

Today hasn't been the greatest of days.   Beau and my stomach are both acting up a little. Nothing major just enough to cause some discomfort. So we didn't do all that much today because of it. We walked around a little and tried to eat a bit, mostly rice and fruit. We spent the bulk of our day curled up reading on the lobby couches. The only highlight of the day was Skyping with Elaine, although we couldn't chat for too long. Beau and I are having an early bed tonight and hope things right themselves with some sleep. We board a bus to Vang Vieng tomorrow and nothing sucks more than being on a bus and feeling crappy.

Dec 3 – To Vang Vieng

Today we caught a bus to Vang Vieng. In theory this is only a 3hr drive but of course it took much longer than that! We had driven maybe half an hour and the bus started making a weird buzzing noise so we pulled over at what we think was a mechanic. We were stopped for about 2 hours while the driver and some other guys worked on the engine. Finally we were on our way again with no more buzzing. We had been driving for max an hour and the bus swerved and almost went off the road into the ditch. Turns out the side mirror had been clipped by a van going the other way. The road is just wide enough for two buses to pass each other but I guess one of the drivers misjudged a little. Fortunately there wasn't any noticeable damage and we didn't end up in a ditch. We finally made it to Vang Vieng in one piece. In theory we were supposed to arrive at 1pm and instead arrived at 3:30. At least it's still light out that's the main thing. We found a cheap hotel and then went in search of some food. We had some good food then wandered around to see the town a little. We settled into a restaurant for some wifi and drinks. We are staying away from the beer since we felt off yesterday but today we are much better although not quite 100%.