After four days in Luang Prabang it was time to move on to Vang Vieng, often described as the Khao San Road of Laos, and after seeing the real thing in bangkok we were all a little apprehensive as to how we would find it. We booked seats on a minibus on our guest house and spent an hour on the bus trying to get the driver to actually leave the town! He kept driving back into the middle of town, giving different reasons for the delay but in the end it seemed he was just waiting for more people to book so that he could make a bit more money. The ride was pretty hairy, weaving around the mountains in a small bus with no seat belts, feeling pretty ill from the night before and in a now rammed full minibus. It was a slow journey but in the end we arrived in the centre of Vang Vieng. Well really it only consists of one street lined with guest houses and little bar/restaurants that have sofa-like seating areas alll pointing towards TV's at the front playing constant re-runs of Friends or Family Guy.
First impressions were that it was a bit empty and all the hype had been wrong, that was until all the people came back from tubing which is the activity the town is famous for. Built on the side of the Nam Ngum river, the activity is basically to hire out the inner tube of a tractor tyre, get a lift around 3km out of town, and then float back to town on your inner tube. It started because of the amazing scenerary surrounding the river and people found that it was a nice relaxing way to idle away the afternoon. Now though the river is lined with bars and this is why it is so popular with backpackers.
We thought we'd give it a couple of days before going tubing as Pete and Jakob both weren't feeling well and so the first full day, minus Jakob, we went to the caves which were a short trip outside the town. There were four main caves, the Elephant Cave famed for having a stalactite shaped like an elephant which looks suspiciuosly too good, two other very deep rocky caves which we ventured about a kilometre into with torches in the pitch black, and the Water Cave which you could tube into a little way. These were quite fun but nothing spectacular, in contrast especially to the countryside of huge mountains these were carved into. We had one day of being pretty bad and just watching TV in the bars, which although obviously not in the spirit of why we came away, was kind of nice, especially as a few of us were feeling a little under the weather.
The next day was our final day in Vang Vieng and we all felt well enough to go tubing. As I said, we were all a bit apprehensive about what it would be like as it was very hyped up and one of the things people always say to do, but actually it was pretty amazing! It was like being in some kind of American college movie like American Pie, lots of really drunk half naked people, rope swings and slides, and a huge mud pit. There were about 8 bars and all had big decks out over the water where you would sit or dance and lots of people we had met over the last week were there. It was definitelt worth the hype, and although completely uncultured and nothing to do with being in Laos as such, I have no shame in suggesting that every young person that goes to the area has to do it at least once! The next day, feeling pretty hungover, we went on the the capital city of Laos, Vientiane.
Monday 16 February 2009
13th February - Laos (1)
Well we have just left Laos after spending around 2 weeks traveling the length of the country and I have to say I had very mixed feelings about the country. It's extremely beautiful and most of the people are very welcoming, but at the same time it is very much a country in transition and still one of the poorest in the world. A small minority of people are out to exploit the relative wealth of people traveling around and as such some times it can feel a little unsafe. This though is definitely a very small minority and we have had some really amazing times, I'm quite sad to be leaving.
We left Thailand by crossing a small boat over the Mekong River separating it from Laos, bought visas at the chaotic visa control and were dropped off at a cafe, ready to board the slowboat we were getting down the river to Luang Prabang. This was the first of many attempted scams we would encounter in Laos! A official looking man starting giving a lecture about the dangers of the slowboat and scaring quite a few people about the impending ride ahead by saying it took twice as long as we thought and that many people fell in. He also gave some information about the town that we would be staying in for the night, Pek Beng, saying that it had no electricity, was overpriced, people would try and steal your bags etc... All the while though we still thought he was employed by the boat company and this information was for our benefit. Until that was, he offered us the alternative of booking a bus with his bus company! Around half the people with us were suitably scared and booked with him, even though they had already paid for the boat ticket, but at least it meant there was more room for us on the boat now! As it was the boat was amazing, traveling through the incredible tree lined mountains at a comfortable pace and meeting other people. The only thing the man was right about was when we arrived at Pak Beng, men from the beach jumped onto the boat where all our bags were stored at the back in order to carry them off for you and demand cash for the service. There was a bit of a fight in the back but in the end we all got off safely with our bags and found an acceptable guest house that defintely DID have electricity.
A further 8 hours on the boat the next day and we arrived in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Town in Northern Laos. It is an absolutely amazing town built on land at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam On rivers with a huge, lush hill in the middle of the town which has a temple built on the top. We found a really nice family run house to stay in and by this point we had acquired some more people; Jan and Jakob, two german guys that we met on the boat, and very strangely a guy named James (or Brain as I call him out of habit) who was in my halls of residence at university and had bumped into in Chiang Mai. We spent the next four days in Luang Prabang, paddling in the confluence, looking round the great night market and generally relaxing after the long boat journey. We watched a show of traditional Laos songs and ballet in the grounds royal palace as well as climbing the hill to the temple on top to see a supposed imprint of Buddha's foot and a great view of the city. Strangely we found in most cities in Laos the place to be after the strictly imposed 11.30 curfew was always a bowling alley just a little while out of town. We went a couple of times and was pretty fun bowling with beer and watching the bemused faces of the local young people as strange Falang danced to cheesy pop, my idea of the perfect night!
We left Thailand by crossing a small boat over the Mekong River separating it from Laos, bought visas at the chaotic visa control and were dropped off at a cafe, ready to board the slowboat we were getting down the river to Luang Prabang. This was the first of many attempted scams we would encounter in Laos! A official looking man starting giving a lecture about the dangers of the slowboat and scaring quite a few people about the impending ride ahead by saying it took twice as long as we thought and that many people fell in. He also gave some information about the town that we would be staying in for the night, Pek Beng, saying that it had no electricity, was overpriced, people would try and steal your bags etc... All the while though we still thought he was employed by the boat company and this information was for our benefit. Until that was, he offered us the alternative of booking a bus with his bus company! Around half the people with us were suitably scared and booked with him, even though they had already paid for the boat ticket, but at least it meant there was more room for us on the boat now! As it was the boat was amazing, traveling through the incredible tree lined mountains at a comfortable pace and meeting other people. The only thing the man was right about was when we arrived at Pak Beng, men from the beach jumped onto the boat where all our bags were stored at the back in order to carry them off for you and demand cash for the service. There was a bit of a fight in the back but in the end we all got off safely with our bags and found an acceptable guest house that defintely DID have electricity.
A further 8 hours on the boat the next day and we arrived in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Town in Northern Laos. It is an absolutely amazing town built on land at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam On rivers with a huge, lush hill in the middle of the town which has a temple built on the top. We found a really nice family run house to stay in and by this point we had acquired some more people; Jan and Jakob, two german guys that we met on the boat, and very strangely a guy named James (or Brain as I call him out of habit) who was in my halls of residence at university and had bumped into in Chiang Mai. We spent the next four days in Luang Prabang, paddling in the confluence, looking round the great night market and generally relaxing after the long boat journey. We watched a show of traditional Laos songs and ballet in the grounds royal palace as well as climbing the hill to the temple on top to see a supposed imprint of Buddha's foot and a great view of the city. Strangely we found in most cities in Laos the place to be after the strictly imposed 11.30 curfew was always a bowling alley just a little while out of town. We went a couple of times and was pretty fun bowling with beer and watching the bemused faces of the local young people as strange Falang danced to cheesy pop, my idea of the perfect night!
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