Vientiane to Vang Vieng, Laos

Bus-ride from Hanoi to Vientiane

It is true that the bus ride from Hanoi to Vientiane was hellish. I don't think I had ever endured a bus ride as bad as it was, especially as it went for 21 hours. I think the bus ride brought all the backpackers together against the bus driver & co. We even agreed that if some of us got asked to pay for a higher price along the way at the risk of being dumped, we would all get off the bus and create a big scene. Fortunately we never got to that.

I think it was the first time that foreigners got treated unfairly during my travels. It is one thing having to pay higher prices for everything, it is another thing to be treated like animals and get sent to the back of the bus where most of the cargo was. I hope the poor American girl that got ass-slapped did end up complaining to the Vietnamese Tourism Bureau.

After a sleepless night, I just couldn't care about the bus ride anymore. I just wanted to get out of the bus ASAP and not see the bus or the bus drivers anymore.

Vientiane

I have been very pleasantly surprised by the landscape and scenery of Laos. Despite its proximity to Vietnam and Cambodia, it's completely different – yep, “same same, but different” as locals would put it.

Whereas Cambodia is flat and Vietnam is known for its coastline and its dense population, Laos is a mountainous country (at least here in the North) and it is very laid back. When we got to Vientiane (capital city), we were surprised how much of a small country town atmosphere it had. Traffic was light, high-rises were absent, and people were nice.

We were there for 3 full days. We checked out a couple of ancient wats (temples), some of Laos' national monuments (Patuxai, Pha That Luang etc), rode bicycles around town and yes, did some shopping for Naomi's sake. I also checked out the Laos National Museum myself while Naomi went to the weaving centre. The museum was actually very well organised. Compared to the museums in Cambodia and Vietnam, it had a much better collection of the artifacts and detailed description of Laos' history from pre-historic times to the present day.

One distinctive thing about Laos that I have particularly noticed is that no one uses horns here. It's quite amazing compare to Cambodia and Vietnam where everyone is beeping nonstop around the clock which drove me crazy! They even beeped when there was literally no one on the road just so that people don't run into them at midnight???

I picked up the bad habit in the first couple of hours of my bike ride in Vientiane and couldn't stop using the bell to warn trucks and buses that I was there. I then realised that no one actually used horns and I was getting a few stares...

We had some pre-dinner drinks on the bank of Mekong one night and ate at the night market. It was very beautiful and relaxing watching the sunset over the Mekong in Laos. Where we were, you could literally see Thailand just on the other side of the river. The food at the night market was also very delicious. We bought half a duck, some local sausage balls, roast pork, vegetables, a grilled half a chicken and dessert. Naomi unfortunately got a funny tummy the next day...

Vang Vieng

Welcome to party central!!!!

We arrived at Vang Vieng on Saturday. Vang Vieng is around 150km north of Vientiane. It is the adventure capital of Laos. It is like a mini-Queenstown in NZ. It is surrounded by gorgeous mountains, steep karsts, fast-flowing rivers and there are heaps of adventure activities to do.
We spent one day kayaking down the Nam (River) Song. It was awesome kayaking between big mountains and these sheer karsts. We stopped at a couple of limestone caves (Water cave and Elephant cave) for tubing and lunch.

At the Water cave, we were given tubes (massive rubber floating circles) and mini car-battery powered headlights and were told to swim inside this tiny cave with an entrance that was no more than 40cm high and 1m wide. It was one hell of an experience and definitely not for the claustrophobic guys! Once we got into the cave, there were ropes that we could pull to move forward. You could move forward on your tube by pulling the rope – because it was rainy season we only went about 100 metres into the cave.

It was very eerie and windy in there. As I was the last one to go in, at one stage, I could not see anyone in front of me nor behind me in the cave that was now pitch black. I nearly died when I remembered scenes in those scary movies about people falling behind in rivers or caves and getting eaten by crocodiles or weird animals in the water/cave. Great time for such thoughts!
The water in the cave was quite deep and COLD. I am not sure how Naomi survived the water because even I found it quite chilly.

After lunch, it was when the fun began. We kayaked some 20km down the river. It was all very nice when the fast-flowing river was carrying us down the valley. Until we had too much fun in the rapids!

We tackled a few small rapids alright. When we hit our first big rapid, we thought it would be okay too. Five seconds later, we were both in the water with a capsized kayak! Naomi, who never really liked water and kayaking, started screaming at me frantically. I think even the tigers and the leopards in the mountain were scared by the screams. After a few struggling moments in the river, we eventually, with some help from the guide, got up on the kayak.

Good times never lasts long. Three minutes later, we were down again. This time the water really was flowing too fast for us even to get up on the boat. Whilst Naomi was screaming at me again at the top of her lungs, we were hanging onto the kayak and our oars the best we could manage. At some point in the water, I could even touch the bottom of the river. But the current was too strong for me to hold onto my footing and grab the kayak in the same time!

At one point, it looked like the kayak was going to hit the bank which would have been easier for us to turn the kayak over and for Naomi to jump on. But the guides were already hold the kayaks for us. After I successfully turned the boat over and jumped on, the guide helped Naomi onto the boat. Maybe with a little frustration, she rocked the boat so hard when she was climbing back up and I fell back into the water for the third time! Lucky me got to go for another swim.
After that, Naomi refused to talk to me again until we got to the bar islands. It really wasn't as bad as it seemed. We were wearing life jackets and were protected with helmets and there were not many hindrances in the water.

[I would just like to add the following points to clarify the truth of what happened:

1. The tour company never warned me beforehand that there would be rapids involved with the kayaking. If I knew that there were going to be rapids I would DEFINITELY not agreed to go. I asked them whether it was dangerous to go kayaking during rainy season and they said no. I knew from my experience kayaking in Halong Bay that I did not want to do any kayaking where there was any turbulence or any kind of possibility of falling in the water.

2. I asked Paul before we started kayaking whether he was confident to sit in the back of the boat and he said yes. He assured me that he knew how to steer the boat and wouldn't tip us out. It was essentially up to him to steer the kayak through the rapids as I couldn't really do anything from the front position. The only reason we fell out is that we kept getting side-on to the rapids – NOT a good way to stay in the kayak. Since no one else in the group fell out of the boat it can't have been that difficult to get through the rapids IF you were facing the right way. I'm not saying that I could have done a better job.....really....

3. The water in the river was very high. It was rainy season after all. The water was all brown and had heaps of weird currents which I could only assume were coming from hidden obstructions under the water. There were also trees sticking up now and then from the middle of the river. It was like the type of river that you are always warned not to go swimming in – you know, the ones that kids go swimming in when it floods and then get swept to their deaths. I just knew that if I fell off the boat it was only a matter of time before I was trapped in an underwater obstruction and drowned. How would a life jacket and helmet help me then, huh????? Ok, so there were some kids swimming in the river but they were at the edge, in the shallows. The river was literally about 100 metres wide!

4. I did not deliberately tip Paul off the kayak. I was merely focused on getting away from the hidden obstructions under the water. I wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing as I was in a blind panic. I will admit that I could possibly have been heard to shout “I am never paddling with you again!” but I swear it was just coincidence if it occurred at the same time as he fell off the kayak. - N].

My reply to the above. Firstly, the tour company did warn us that there were going to be rapids. I think Naomi was a little distracted by the handicrafts and weaving nearby to pay too much attention. Secondly, it would be helpful if only one person (read: me) steer, not both steer in different directions. Thirdly, the water in the river was not really high if I could touch the bottom...

Tubing is really big in Vang Vieng. Nearly every backpacker hires a tractor tire inner tube, gets driven 3km up the river and floats back to town. To cater to the tuber's thirst, there are heaps of makeshift bars along the side of the river. I thought I'd arrived in Cancun when we kayaked round a bend in the river and suddenly heard thumping music playing from speakers in these bars which were packed with backpackers drinking beers and going on the water-slides and flying foxes. It was WILD! I did the water-slides and the flying fox. It was quite fun actually. Angus – this would be somewhere to come to if you are serious about your partying!

[Some of the tubers are really feral though. They drink all day and get back to town and stumble down the streets in their bikinis covered in mud and basically making fools of themselves and offending the locals. It's ok to have a bit of fun, which most of the tourists do, but some of them just don't have any respect. In the end we didn't do the tubing for this reason, and because the bit of the river where you do the tubing is nowhere near as pretty as the bits that we had already kayaked – N].

I just had 1 drink just in case that someone had to handle more of those rapids down stream back to town.

The rest of the trip was beautiful but uneventful. We went through some minor rapids smoothly. I think my encouragement to Naomi did eventually calm her down a bit with these rapids.
We met 2 nice Austrian girls during the trip. We caught up for dinner/drinks that night and swapped contact details. I think one of them is coming to Australia next year for a few months.

We were very sore the next day but spent the day biking though farming villages and rice fields. We also visited a cave that was like 7km from Vang Vieng town. The ride in the middle of the day was hot, but the scenery was quite rewarding. The villagers are really lucky to be living in such a beautiful place with so many stunning karsts and clean rivers all in their backyard.
At the moment we are on a snail VIP bus to Luang Prabang now. The trip is going to take 7 hours for a total of 180km. Amazing. No one around me is throwing up yet from the windy road which is good. The highlands are so beautiful.

I know I have only been in Laos for less than 1 week but I am loving it so far. It's such a relaxing and pretty country. No one really hassles you to buy stuff. In fact, you have to go and find waiters in the restaurant to bring you a menu or a drink. During our bike ride yesterday, we stopped by a corner store in a village to buy water. I couldn't initially find the shop keeper, then realised that he was asleep down the back of the glass case. After having some difficulty in waking him up, I just grabbed the water and put a 2000 kip note on the table and left.

Just for those who enjoy a bit of side-gossiping

Rumour – the Belgian couple we met in Vietnam told us that Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Cljisters broke up because Lleyton had an affair with Kim's mum. Apparently the rumour came from inside the Tennis Federation in Belgium.....

[They assured us that Kim's mum was a “hot mum” - frankly I have difficulty understanding how either Kim OR her “hot” mum would want a piece of Lleyton! - N].