Vang Vieng and the Rave

As I woke up during the bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng I thought to myself "Am I in Bolivia?" The 7 hour trip left my head in a throbbing state which I would not be able to shake for a couple days. What was similar between Bolivia and Laos bus trips is that the scenery IS excellent and the roads are shit. The scenery is much different, but just as beautiful. Instead of the high desert and mountains, you have stone out cropping rising out of rolling green jungles.

Vang Vieng is a small village along side the Nam Song river. It is a great place to take a break and enjoy a cold Beer Lao outside your bungalow. The town is an excellent stop for kayaking, rock climbing, trekking, etc. The most popular activity must be the tubing. Imagine a cool clear river moving at a leisurely pace with a stretch bars about every 100 meters. The music coming from these bars makes the entire valley sound like a giant rave. Great if you are a 20 something English kid on his gap year, but tiresome if you are an old fart like me. Anyway, Yu and I booked a combo Kayak and cave trek with Green Discovery tours. They were excellent for us in Luang Prabang, so we decided to go with them again.

The tour started with a short lesson on kayaking, then off we went. Within the first 50 meters, I managed to tip the boat over and dump Yu in the river (I guess I should have paid more attention to the lesson). We got the hang of it after a while, stopped for a hike into the first cave. I knew that we were going to see the cave, but I didn't think we were going to hike through it. I'm glad we hired a guide. After some more kayaking and treking, we returned back to Vang Vieng all sunburned and tired. My headache still lingering from the day before.

The next morning I looking in the mirror and to my surprise, I had what looked to be the aftermath of an accute alergic reaction. I'm thinking it was an insect bite or sting. I doubt the pizza I had the night before could have done that. I'm taking some antihystamine which I hope will clear things up.

One last thing about Vang Vieng. Every bar/restaurant has "Friends" on TV. I MEAN IT IS EVERYWHERE. As if a truck load of bootleg Friends TV series DVDs broke down next to the town and was looted.