Vang Vieng, Laos

  Vang Vieng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, August 10, 2008

We were told that the bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng would take 5 hours but it took 7 hours of twisting and turning on the mountainous roads mostly due to the English gap year students and Spanish couple who had to have "pee breaks" every half hour so they could get out and smoke. We weren't feeling too well when we finally reached Vang Vieng. I sat in a cafe and Karl went around the town looking for somewhere decent to stay since we were going to be there for a week. The place we got for the first night wasn't great so we decided to look around the next day and ended up in Pans Place. It was basic enough but you can't complain when it costs 50,000 kip (4 Euro) per night between us. After we moved hotel we went tubing. We queued up for 45 mins to sign a waiver and pay 115,000 kip each. We got our life jackets, we thought it would be a good idea since we would be getting drunk and floating down a river but most people don't bother, and got onto the tuk tuk to bring us to the starting point 4 km up the river. We only stayed at the first bar for one drink and to see everyone falling on their heads off the swing. There were some painful looking falls. I overheard a girl saying that she fell off straight on to her face from the highest part of the swing and was covered in bruises all over the front of her body.  I was a bit nervous of the swing after that so i said i would leave it for another day and Karl wouldn't do it with me. His only lame excuse was that he can't swim! When we got to the second bar we started talking to a group of Irish and spent the rest of the day with them. I did the zip line in the second bar with one of the Irish girls. Karl was supposed to take a picture but missed it. We went to the last bar with the Irish for a few drinks and floated back down the river before it got too dark. We meet up with the Irish crowd that night. A few of them decided they wanted to try the happy shakes. They seemed fine at the start but went down hill quickly. Karl had to help carry one of the girls back to her hotel room. she wasn't right for days after. We found out after that there is supposed to be Magic mushrooms and opium in the shakes.

4-Us Tubing

5-Karl Tubing

We were supposed to have a quiet day to recover the next day but we ran into the Canadian girls from the cookery class in Luang Prabang and they wanted to go that day so we went tubing again. This time we stopped off at Mr Lao Laos bar where Mr Lao Lao walks around with bottles of Lao Lao and gives away free shots. It is mingin! It was one of the only days we had good weather so we got a bit sun burnt. Especially Karl, just look at the pictures. Although it did start lashing rain when we were floating back to the end. That night we meet up with the Canadians and the South Africans for a few drinks at the Bucket Bar.

Lydia, Sam & Tessa

Lobster Karl

The next day we had a quiet day to recover, we needed it. just hung around watching DVD's.
the following day we had to go tubing again because Derek and Julie (the South Africans) hadn't been yet. We all did the swing at the first bar except Karl because of the swimming excuse not because he was afraid!! yeah right!! We went to the zip line bar after that for some volleyball and the South Africans doing somersaults off the zip line. i was afraid i would break my neck so i didn't go for it. then we went back to Mr Lao Laos. After more free Lao Lao shots and a few buckets Karl decided to start a mud fight. The pictures show how it went.  We kinda lost track of time and realised it was getting really dark so we got back on to the river to float to the end. Somehow Karl managed to get separated from the rest of us. I was shouting his name to make sure he was ok because it was really dark now and I couldn't see him. He was shouting back for a bit and then grabbed on to a group of Irish who asked him if he knew any Ronan Keating songs. I didn't hear from him after that cos he was too busy singing. I was getting a bit worried but he had his life jacket on so I thought he would be ok. I got to the end and found Karl safe and sound. I was going to kill him for worrying me like that! We went back to the hotel to wash off the muck and then met Derek and Julie for dinner.

Lydia & Julie

Don't Ask!

The next few days were very uneventful because it lashed rain the whole time. we wanted to cycle to a cave where you could swim but the weather was too bad. The weather wasn't getting better so we decided to head down to Vientiane.