I left Luong Prabang in a great mood because it was one of the chillest places I have been in a while.  However, I needed to get to Cambodia and then eventually Bangkok by april 10^th so I can get back to Boston without jet lag, so I had to keep moving South.  The next logical stop on the journey was Vang Viang which is about a 3 hour bus ride south.  I decided to take the 6am mini van in order to have a full day in Vang Viang.  About halfway through the journey we rounded a bend and saw a truck carrying bananas overturned on the road and another truck beside it that appeared to be stuck, due to the dusty road and significant incline.  There weren’t any vehicles getting through and there were a lot of Laosian and northern Chinese men trying to figure out what to do.

The first attempt was to move the other truck forward but that failed.  Second attempt was to back the second truck up in order to get it out of the way but that also failed.  By this time a bunch of the mini bus drivers had acquired shovels and were starting to clear a path near the edge of the road so that the buses and cars could get through.  I was skeptical of this plan, but as the other plans failed this one looked better and better.  Eventually they had opened up a channel wide enough for the mini buses to get through and we were on our way.  The three hour journey turned into a 5 hour journey, but that’s ok.

I arrived in Vang Vieng and headed to my hostel to see what I was going to do with my next few days.  I spent the afternoon doing some research and basically chilling and made a decent plan for the next few days.  I was told that the two must do things here were to go tubing and to go outside of town to the Blue Lagoon #3.  I postulated that I would try and find some people interested in tubing the next day and if I failed would rent a motorbike and go to the lagoon instead. My evening was largely me just getting my bearings of the town and going for a run. I walked around to see if I could find some people to chill with but was unsuccessful and ended up just going to sleep.  I woke up in the morning and ended up chatting with one of my bunk mates from France who I had briefly talked to about my plans the day before and he sounded interested  He was just getting over food poisoning so wasn’t sure if he wanted to go or not, but had spent the last few days in bed and wanted to get out.  We headed into town and located a shop that had motorbikes for rent.  We got one for the day and paid 50,000 kip ($6).  We decided to do a loop of about 20km and set off on our adventure day.  We drove out about 10km and stopped at a local restaurant for some food and Antoine was not feeling that well and it looked like he might have to go home.

After some food however, we figured that a nice swim would make him feel better, so we continue to the blue lagoon for a dip.  Vang Vieng has 5 “Lagoons” which was natural springs that have been converted into swimming holes and they have added swings and jumps and stuff for fun.  There is also a bar and restaurant.  For a 10,000 kip entrance fee we swam and relaxed for a few hours and the water for sure made Antoine feel better.  In the back of the area there was a sign that just said cave and pointed into the woods.  We decided to explore and came across this cave that was actually pretty impressive.  It went pretty far into the rock and was not lit, so we had to use out cell phone flashlights to see.  We explored the cave for about 30 minutes and then headed back to our bikes.

We started our journey home and I had read somewhere that there was an amazing viewpoint about 3km outside of town and we would arrive at that point just before sunset.  We decided to go for a drive and look for it, although my information was slightly unclear and we ended up driving down this dry riverbed which was not an easy drive and ultimately ended in a dead end.  We watched the sunset from the ground and then headed back to town.  During the day I had talked to a few people about where to go for free drinks and decided to give those places a chance.

In Laos, whiskey is incredibly cheap (1 750ML bottle for $1.50) so in this town the bars do a happy hour with free drinks for an entire hour.  There are three bars in town and all of them do happy hour at a different time.  So you can essentially bar hop and not pay for a single drink.  You are stuck drinking not very strong mixed drinks all night but it was hard to say no to that.  I met some people at the first bar and ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night.

The next day I decided to head back into the countryside to try and find the lookout that we missed the day before.  I set off and eventually found the entrance to the place we missed.  It was a already a very beautiful run, but after doing a fast paced hike up the hill, I arrived at the lookout.  I was the only one there since it was like 7:30AM but i improvised and used some rocks to prop my phone up for a photo.

The next day I had assembled a group that was interested in going tubing,  Emily from Saigon had arrived and Antoine was interested too as well as two girls from Switzerland.  Since we had a group the tuk tuk came to pick us up and we were off.

The general premise of the tubing is that you rent an inner tube from the office for 60,000 kip ($7) and then they drive you down the river to a point on the river and let you go.  Then along the river there are bars where you stop and hang out.  There is actually very little tubing involved.  This activity used to be very different a few years ago, and was even banned for a few years.  There used to be countless bars dotting the river and people ended up getting really really drunk.  Water + Really Really Drunk obviously does not mix and so there were as many as 20 deaths per year occurring.  Bars used to have giant slides into the water and other assorted things that were deemed too dangerous.  The government changed the rules and now only allow two bars to be open on any day and have become a bit more strict on what the bars provide.  The day was pretty fun and we met a bunch of people who had a great time.

It kind of felt like a college frat party to be honest, but every once in a while I can enjoy a nice day drinking day.  After tubing I decided to call it quits and just went to bed.  The next morning I was boarding a 11am bus to Vientiane to continue my journey south.  I was only planning on spending one night there as it is the capital and I wanted to at least check it out, but in general most people told me to skip it.  I boarded the bus and was on my way.

Overview of Vang Vieng

• Blue Lagoon 3 was the best one.  I heard many other travelers complaining about the crowds at lagoon 1 and 2.
• Vang Vieng is a hotspot for koreans, for some reason they love it there.
• The tubing is worth doing but is much more of a frat type mood than actual tubing.  I had a good time but I realize it might not be for everyone.
• You can basically drink for free in this town.  Sakura Bar has free drinks from 8-9 and Viva bar has free drinks from 10-11, with most hostels putting out a few bottles of Lao Lao for hotel consumption.
• Marijuana is not allowed on the streets, but there are a few bars that offer it and I was told that these few bars are run by the police.  These bars offered shroom shakes, happy pizza and various other forms.  It was interesting.