13th February - Laos (2)

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.