Day 52 - Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

Transportation day heading north on our travels in Lao from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. We booked a "VIP" bus that would take 6 hours..but everything's relative... The bus was horrible, smelly, old, and lacked sufficient air conditioning. I doubt the head of state of the country would be caught in such a "VIP" bus, but these buses are probably a step up compared to local buses. We booked our tickets through a travel agency, and they drove us to the main highway, before stopping a random bus headed north, probably originating from Vientiene. I guess that's how they do it here. They just find any extra space in any bus, and pay the bus driver a cut of what they made off of us.

We arrived in Luang Prabang around 5pm and found a guesthouse with a balcony overlooking the river. Once settled in, we did what I usually do the first night in any city - check out the night markets! It was about a 5 minute walk from our guesthouse, around a mountain with one of the city's famous temples perched on top. We found the food area and bought ourselves a 10,000 Kip buffet dinner ($1.25 USD). The fish was exceptional as well, a whole fish for only $2.50. Fruit shakes were $0.60... Cheap food everywhere!

We ended the night strolling through the night market checking out the new merchandise being offered. Nothing caught my eye, but it's hard for me to find anything since it better be worth it for me to carry throughout my trip, plus I'm not really a fan of tchotchkes...

Laotian Buffet

Breakfast in Vang Vieng

Traveling through the mountains to get to Luang Prabang

Fruit Shakes for 60 cents

Night Market Merchandise

Day 51 - Caves and Kayaking in Vang Vieng

Woke up early to start the kayaking/cave tubing tour around Vang Vieng. It was nice to have a small tour group again, this time with a Canadian, French, and San Diegan(?) with us. We took a truck to the starting point next to the Nam Song River, where we got some training on how to paddle and what to do if the boat capsized.

There were four kayaks, 3 of which were two-seaters and 1 of which was a one-seater. I ended up taking the one-seater to kayak on my own. We started off kayaking for a short distance before reaching the other side of the river to explore some of the caves and karst formations in the area. I believe the first cave we saw was called Tham Nam, and to access it, we had to use tubes to float in the water to the entrance to the cave. There were ropes tied throughout the cave system for us to pull ourselves through the inside of the cave while we were floating in the water. The inside is completely pitch black, so we all used headlights to navigate our way through. It was incredible, but also claustrophobic and scary. It kind of reminded me of my favorite horror movie, Descent.


We reached a part of the cave with ground space to crawl on and shallow waters to wade through. It was like we were at military bootcamp, the way we had to crawl through the small and sandy spaces. I'd never done something like this before, and it was so much fun! Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring cameras so I have no pictures inside the cave, but one of the tourmates had a waterproof camera, so hopefully I'll be able to get some of the pictures once she returns from her long vacation...

After lunch, we took a short trek to Tham Sang, or "Elephant Cave" which is a small cave with a Buddhist shrine and a rock formation in the shape of an elephant.

We headed down to the Nam Song river shortly after, where we would begin our 14 km journey of endless paddling. The river was flowing rather slowly so it took some effort to really paddle downstream. There were a couple spots where there were some rapids we had to go through. The first couple times were a little scary, but after a while, I got used to it. I didn't realize how long 14km, but I had to paddle the whole time since I was in my own kayak...and I was lagging behind everyone the whole time! By the time we reached the tubing drop-off point where all the bars were, my arms were spent... And in the last area of rapids, I ended up capsizing and holding onto my kayak for dear life, while at the same time trying to keep my paddle from floating away, while trying to keep my sandals from escaping the grasp of my toes. To be honest, I think I was focusing more on saving my sandals than anything else... I got some help from another kayak and got back on...how embarrassing!

We stopped by one of the bars for a couple of hours and laid in hammocks, watching some people float down the river in their tubes. It wasn't crowded at all, and we'd see a couple people float by every 10 minutes or so. There were also mud volleyball and tug-o-war pits for people to play and compete in. I could definitely see how people could accidentally get too drunk at these bars and end up hurting themselves while trying to get back to town by floating down the river.

The tour was well worth the money and I got to see a little bit of everything the city had to offer...plus some upper body work out that I'm sure I've been neglecting through these past two months...

Relaxing after Kayaking for 10km

Working the Rice Fields

Tubes used to go through the Caves

I was pretty sure we'd get electrocuted if we dropped the battery in the water...

Elephant Cave

Our Kayaks

Day 50 - Biking around Vang Vieng, Laos

We decided to rent some bicycles to acclimate ourselves to the city, and rode down the main road for about a couple hours. There were a couple caves that were said to be worth seeing, and we set out looking for them. The Lonely Planet guide says that Vang Vieng is known for more adventurous activities like exploring caves, rock climbing, kayaking (along with tubing drunk down the river).

It was extremely hot today and biking was tough because I was sweating profusely the whole time!

We weren't able to find any caves today, but explored some of the local villages by wandering through some of the minor streets. It's always good to get away from the main tourist draws in the city and just see the villages and the people who live here.

On our way back, we stumbled upon an organic farm that make its own goat cheese and grew its own mulberries. I ordered a mulberry shake and goat cheese with a baguette. Too bad the goat cheese smelled like fertilizer, or I probably would have enjoyed it much more.

Across the river from the organic farm was the starting point for people who wanted to tube down the river. “Tubing” refers to using a lifesaver to float down the river, stopping at various bars along the way to grab drinks, listen to music, dance, play mud volleyball, and party. It's like a non-stop Spring Break vacation for college students every day. There are also slides and ziplines that people can use to lauch themselves into the river. There have been many accidents and deaths from dumb people who drank too much, but people also injure themselves floating down the river because it can be shallow and rocky at the bottom.

Agus and I decided that we probably wouldn't partake in the “tubing” since we both didn't know how to swim very well. We decided instead to book a tour tomorrow that included exploring the caves and kayaking down the river, joining the barhopping with our kayaks instead.

Local Kids Playing in the River

My mode of transportation for the day

Local Village Kids

Gravemarkers

Local Kids at a Youth Center

Tubing Drop-Off Point

Day 49 - Bus Ride to Vang Vieng, Laos

Agus and I decided that we had seen all that we wanted to see in Vientiene and booked a bus ride to the next stop, Vang Vieng. The bus ride was a decent 4 hours in an airconditioned bus, which I can't complain about given some of the other transportation horror stories.

We arrived in the evening and walked around the city looking for dinner. The city itself is very small, and full of backpackers. I think this could be considered the backpacker Mecca of Laos, as it is sometimes seen as a backpacker “rite of passage” to go tubing (drunk) down the Nam Song river in this city.

The entire city catered to foreigners in the food it offered and the selection of entertainment at restaurants. There were numerous restaurants that had comfortable bed-like seating arrangements in front of two flat screen TVs either showing episodes of “Friends” or “Family Guy.” We didn't get to explore much since it was already late at night and would save it for tomorrow.

Chicken Pad Thai

Starchy Coconut Dessert

Watching Episodes of Friends at a Restaurant