We had a very civilised start in the morning as our bus north to Vang Vieng didn't leave until 10am. The "VIP" bus was full of westerners all looking to head to this renowned party town. It also is surrounded by some lovely countryside, lots of karst hills providing opportunities for trekking, caving and kayaking which is what has drawn us there for two nights. Whilst the distance is only 120km between the capital and the town it took the bus over 5 hours to get here as the road conditions started to deteriorate almost in proportion to the increase in slow moving traffic. The scenery became more mountainous and green as we headed north. At Vang Vieng's bus stop we grabbed a tuk tuk (more truck than motorbike), with a young Aussie couple who were clearly here for the party life, for the short trip to our hotel, Laos Haven and Spa. The Singaporean owners checked us in, we booked the bus for our onward travel to Luang Prabang in two days time and headed into town. The place is supposedly split into two. The north part of town, along the river and over on the island is full of people raving, getting drunk, tubing down the river and smoking weed. Apparently this area has been cleaned up over the past two years following a spate of drink/drug induced accidents. Further downtown is supposedly quiet, full of holidaymakers, travellers like us and people just passing through. Lonely Planet described the place as "trying too hard to please foreigners" and we'd agreed. It's clear where the party goers congregate but the divide isn't that obvious and down town is full of bars and restaurants all attempting to please the crowds (although most were completely empty). It lacks any real charm or character. After a quick drink at the Swedish bakery (Simon was keen on having a "proper" cappuccino), we went to Green Discovery tours to book a trip for the next day. This eco friendly, green company do a variety of trips and we elected to go on the full day one which included caving, trekking and kayaking. We then had a walk on the "other side of town" and whilst this was the quietest time (the parties only really begin at 10pm) we were glad we hadn't elected to stay here. On the way back to the hotel, after seeking out two restaurants that were no 1 and 2 in the Lonely Planet guide only to find out both are now closed, we went to a place that was buzzing which served Laos, Thai and European food. Unfortunately the atmosphere was the only good thing as we both had fairly bland Thai meals, Simon's in particular was tasteless. Maybe we'll go for Pizza tomorrow (heathens!).
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| Settling down for a long journey ahead |
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| Our bus to Vang Vieng |
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| Sunset over Vang Vieng |
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