My Laotian Adventure - Part II

Image from The Long Way Laos

On Friday we traveled to Vanvieng which is about a three or four hour trip north of Viantianne. Vanvieng is a backpacker haven in the mountains of Laos and I loved it. To get there we had to talk highway 13 north from vientianne – it is an ”expressway” and toll road. But, it is a very bad road.

There were many places where the road is washed out, lots of pot holes, and herds of cows. The cows were by the side of the road, walking on the road, and sometimes lying down in the road (I’m not joking).

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89 miles from Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Needless to say they were a constant hazard. Of course, our driver was not intimidated by the road conditions and drove at his usual high speed with lots of swerving and slamming on of brakes.  Poor Bee got queasy from the winding mountain roads and aggressive driving.

This is a toll road to Vang Vieng

We arrived in Vanvieng after about three hours of driving. One of the advantages of having an aggressive driver is that you get to your destination faster – a mere mortal would have taken five or six hours to get to our destination. 

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I immediately liked Van Vieng when we got there. There were mostly European and American backpackers there so it made for a festive atmosphere. One thing I noticed is that a lot of the restaurants and bars did not have chairs but large benches next to the tables. The benches had pillows and bedding so that you could recline while eating and drinking. I liked that a lot. 

This is where we ate

We first stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant (with the reclining benches) for lunch and I immediately grabbed a big pillow, assumed the reclining position and ordered beer and lunch. We spent a leisurely hour or so eating, drinking and people watching. Vanvieng has a lot of outdoor activities including rafting, tubing, and rappelling. Our guide suggested that we go rafting down the mountain river nearby which we decided to do.

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Reclining for our lunch (with Wayne)

After lunch we headed for one of the outfitters and rented kayacks to paddle down the river. The course we chose was ten kilometers long which seemed long to me. However, the river was quite high due to the rainy season and the water was probably flowing at about seven miles per hour so the trip would only take an hour if we did not stop. But, there were good reasons to stop along the way.

Our guide told us there were a couple of places we could stop and have fun on a trapeze like swing over the river. He did not tell us about the various open air bars along the river. After about six kilometers down the river we saw the first set of bars. Using the term bar is a bit generous – they were basically no more than shacks that served alcohol and food. 

One of the really funny things I saw were the Laotians fishing for tubers. As person floats down the river they can wave to someone standing on the river bank and a rope will be thrown to them. They will then be pulled to the bank and can go to the bar for refreshments. Not sure why, but I thought this was really funny. The ropes had a weight on the end of them for better aiming.

Next to the bar/shacks were mud holes for swimming, volleyball, and tug of war. There were lots of young Europeans and Americans at the bar/shacks partying and having fun. We did not need to be pulled to shore since we were in kayaks but we did stop for a beer – actually I had a mojito. Ben and I decided to try the trapeze contraption.