Vang Vieng: tubing, sandwiches, pancakes and endless reruns of Friends

I’ve just come back from 5 days in Vang Vieng (plus many hours transit time), a tourist hotspot set alongside the Nam Song river about halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Mark and Charlie (the people I met on the slowboat) flew out on Sunday and Sebastian and I headed down to Vang Vieng a day or so later. It’s another one of those towns that for some reason was bookmarked as a tourist spot, and over the years has become overrun with backpackers and has turned into a soulless mish mash of crummy guesthouses, cheap bars, restaurants, tour operators and of course the ubiquitous sandwich/pancake street stalls. Apologies if I sound a bit negative; as long as you know what to expect you will have a good time and enjoy the place for what it is. Don’t expect to see any Lao culture here, it’s definitely a party town; the booze is cheap and plentiful (and so are other substances), the national curfew doesn’t seem to apply and there are plenty of places to schmooze around and wait out your hangover. In fact, that seems to be a Vang Vieng specialty; restaurants that have platform sitting areas and low tables, all facing TV screens where they play reruns of Friends all day long. All. Day. Long. Every Day. (to be fair, one or two places play Family Guy but the one we went to had fleas). Still deciding if I liked it or not – I had a great time partying it up and met loads of great people, but I’ve decided I’m definitely a cultural traveller rather than a party traveller. I enjoy partying as much as the next person but I don’t need to do it for days on end, and spending too much time in places like this makes me feel like I’m missing out on other stuff.

People drive motorbikes across this bridge.

People primarily come to Vang Vieng to go tubing. You rent yourself an inner tube and get driven a few kms up the river where there is a collection of bars along the riverside. You float from one bar to the next, meeting all sorts of cool people along the way, and there are swings and slides as well. Everyone comes back from tubing a bit damaged (alcohol is most definitely a factor), I got a big bruise on my leg where I hit the water at the wrong angle, Sebastian got a few cuts on his foot, but I think we got off pretty lightly. Overall it was a most enjoyable afternoon, although my dry bag didn’t stay so dry and my little camera got drowned :( Maybe someone in Phnom Penh can fix it, otherwise I’ll just buy a new one I guess.

The next day we had an awesome sunset behind the cliffs:

Because of it’s party-town reputation, VV’s natural beauty and surrounds often get overlooked. It’s set in the most breathtaking landscape; sheer limestone karst cliffs, lots of unexplored caves, rivers and waterways including some really beautiful blue lakes instead of poo brown Nam Song water. On Friday Sebastian and I rented a motorbike and went for a cruise around the local countryside. We stopped at the Blue Lagoon for a swim, where the water was actually cold!! After that we carried on down some dirt roads through some nearby villages, where kids would run after us and yell out “Sabai dee!” (hello) as we passed and the men would stare at us like “who are those strange falangs with helmets on?” It’s very different from Thailand, you really feel that you’re in an undeveloped country, it’s almost like going back in time.

So now I’m back in Luang Prabang for a day or two before heading up north to Nong Khiaw to see some cultural stuff, maybe learn a little bamboo fishing, who knows? My Lonely Planet says they only have power from 6-10pm, so don’t be surprised if it’s a little while before you hear from me again.

Love

May Lee