We had some indication of what Vang Vieng had instore for us, but no one could fully describe the essence of the Ibiza style toursit haven. We arrived at midday, finding ourselves, for the first time, at the mercy of laos' notorius april sun during which we trekked around searching for accomodation without bedbugs. At this stage in the day, the town resembled a wild west ghost town - the streets and bars were empty save for a few stoners watching the endless screens of friends or family guy..what had we got ourselves into?
despite the natural beauty of vv, main attractions are the (non curfew adering) bars with their free 'buckets' comprised of lao lao whisky and mixers. Given the former is cheaper you can imagine the strength these things had..This said, we must admit we had more than our fair share and shamefully enjoyed ourselves...
we launched ourselves into the vv lifestyle and caught a tuk tuk downto the river to experience tubing - a multitude of bars lining the mekong.
we swam from bar to bar hauling oursleves up on the bamboo platforms joing the crowd of people partying to the tubing favs ahem sean paul and soulja boy, sampling free whisy shots and partaking in weird and wacky drinking games.
to add to the mahem, there were trapeze swings, zip wires and slides competing for notoriety and attracting a multitude of foolsih falang..with a little dutch courage we braved one of each. adrenaline evoking at time - bruise inducing the next day. we also witnessed one of the frequent accidents, as a girl came up unconcious after the imapact of the water - a worrying number of similar incidents floated about the bars that evening...After a much needed, but wholly unintended 'conk out' we hit bucket bar happy hour - our fav club complete with hammocks and overwhelmingly unnecessary bonfires.
the following day, the idea of drinking now physically repulsive, we joined a crew heading out to the much hyped blue lagoon - it didnt dissapoint. quiet and tranquil, its vibrant blue stream was inticingly cool and offered much needed respite from the heat. after jenga and cards we set out on a new mission to conquer the caves. stalgmites, stalagtites, buddhas, deathly drops and engulfing darkness. all in flip flops.
On the third evening we found the Lao Laos, who true to form plied us with alcohol and destroyed us at drinking games (cue Artuurs advice to PRETEND to drink!!) after a long and messy night we agreed to meet them for a final day of tubing - the majority of which we spent in the ingenious mud bar. we and an army of ornage tshirt clad lao laos, battled it out at mud-volley ball\ mud fight\ mud sliding. the more hilarious of the two on offer had to be mud tug of war in which the losing team were propelled into a stinking watery mud trough. thankfully we were always on the winning team...
despite the slightly souless atmosphere, the locals hospitatlity never wavered, each morning - a little worse for wear - we'de clamber to our nearest breakfast bar where the owner treated us to samples of his breakfast and reduced rates. what a star.
By the fifth day the soundtrack and call to party had become grating to say the least...After all the tomfoolery, we decided that a stint of volunteering at the local organic mulberry farm and community centre would be just what the doctor ordered and would offset our bad tourist footprint. After a suspiciously short Tuk Tuk ride, we arrived at the supposedly tranquil 'farm'. Quiet and tranquil it was not. The mayhem of the tubing could still be heard above the booming baseline. We swiftly decided that this, accompanied by the baking heat and possiblity of partaking in 'building work' volunteering was simply not inline with our gap year ideas and went beyond the pale of any moral duties. We beelined it to the local bus station at which we proceeded to spend three hours waiting for the bus rather than risk being roped into any further shenanegans. Daniella's reoccurring stomach nightmares has already started to rear it's ugly head. We set off for the (we now realise) very fairly reputated sleepy capital of Vientiane.
Wonderful, extraordinary adventures! Am very sorry to hear about Daniella's poorly tummy (and hope you still have enough rehydration sachets to soothe it). Take care of each other and very much love
ReplyDeleteNadine xx