1st – 3rd October 

The next morning all three of us got on the bus to Vang Vieng. Cramped into a full minibus with other tourists and a crazy driver, it was a interesting trip….. Anyone who’s travelled Laos before will be aware of this town’s reputation as a party town. Famous for its river tubing, back in the 90’s and 00’s things got a little out of hand with lots of drugs and drink flowing at the many bars by the river side – a toxic combination with unregulated river tubing in between. With the help of the fast flowing water in the wet season and the ‘death swing’, which plunged drunk and high people into the river, many tourists lost their lives, so finally he government stepped in around 7 years ago and got rid of the worst elements. 

We didn’t really know what to expect. Its reputation aside, the scenery around Vang Vieng is stunning! Mountainous, green and lots of small hilly outcrops. We had considered staying at the well know party hostel ‘nanas’, but deciding we would like to be able to sleep and avoid the party if we wanted to, we stayed at the rock backpackers, which was fine (certainly no luxury, but this wasn’t the town for that!).

Celine was staying in a different hostel and in her dorm she met René, who hung out with us for the next few days. That evening had a wander round, looking for a bar, and on our way we bumped into an older British couple who were on our bus and we stopped for a chat. We the found Smile bar on the river, a chilled place with hammocks to watch the many kayakers and motorboats go by and tubers dock. We watched a sinfully cringy engagement shoot between a Laos girl and a white dude whilst drinking out beerloa, it was pretty funny but she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else bless her!

We went to the night market for dinner. Simon and I tried the national dish – laap, a minced meat and salad. The meat could be beef, pork or fish. It was good! Simon also discovered his new love it life, the tiny coconut pancakes that we a feature of all the Laos night makers to come!

Hold your liquor

René, Celine and I wanted to give the tubing a try, after all it’s what the towns famous for! Simon, on the other hand, smartly gave it a miss. It was completely not what I was expecting. Yes I was aware that there were bars down the river and yes I was up for a couple of beers, but I thought it was at your own pace. But what I didn’t expect was a load of British dudes in bright leggings making you play beer pong and other drinking games 😒. Arriving around midday and before even getting on a tube, we were told we were staying at the first bar until 3pm…… organised fun! 👍 This makes me sound old and boring, I did join in the first game, slowly consuming one can of beer. 

After a while me and a few others decided to jump in our tubes and head down to the next bar (only 3 open these days). The tubing bit was fun! We were too quickly followed by the crowd, but sat and played cards with a few beers 🍻. The thing that annoyed me the most about the day was the longest stretch of tubing was between the 2nd and final bar, by which time it was getting late in the day and a little chilly, so we weren’t able to enjoy the experience and scenery as much. It was quite funny still.

Had a bit of beer and a dance at smile bar, the final stop before going out for pizza and turning in early.

What a view

The next day I enjoyed much more. We hired bicycles and road out into the beautiful countryside. The bikes were pants, possibly the worst I’ve ridden on, but we made do! We first stopped at a the Tham Jang cave to look around and then went to hike to a view point. Celine was a tinsy but ropey from the tubing and opted out, it was a pretty steep hike so this was probably wise! All up a steep incline on muddy terrain for over an hour, we reached the peak. The view was sooooooo stunning! It felt like an achievement. It did make me laugh though that just before the top was 2 guys with a table full of drinks and snacks – a perfectly placed enterprise, but meaning they must zip up there every day and what for the exhausted tourists 😂. On the way down we bumped into the British couple from the bus again! This becomes a recurring theme. 

After dinner René and I were on a mission to hunt for one of the Friends bars. There used to be loads, but I could only find one on google. We sat and watched friends with a fruit shake for a couple of hours! 👌

Before bed I tried to book a flight for later in my trip, but the banking security wanted to verify it was me by sending a text to my mobile number, which of course I didn’t have in and didn’t even actually work in Laos! So once again I ended up with a blocked card 🙈