Bringin’ In the New Year in Vang Vieng, Laos

The bus ticket that we were worried about turned out to be legit. That made us very happy. What didn’t make us happy was that it was definitely not a sleeper bus yet again. We got hard seats that barely reclined and no pillow. We were glad that we were sitting by our English and Irish friends who just happened to have sleeping pills. I think these little pills will be our secret for surviving further journey’s on sleeper buses.

We ended up making it to Vang Vieng around 3 pm the next morning. It’s a cute little town. There aren’t many locals because it is mostly a tourist town, but it still has a nice charm. The people of Laos have been so friendly so far. It’s been really refreshing and relaxing to be in a place where we aren’t constantly asked for money or people trying to sell us useless stuff.

The only thing that I could complain about in this town, is that internet is expensive and most guesthouses don’t offer free wireless. It’s made it a bit tough for me to write on the blog, and really frustrating for Joey because he has to work 4 hours a day.

We spent our first full day in Vang Vieng exploring the back roads on a motorbike with our Aussie friends, Ian and Ruby. The roads were rough and I thought I may be launched off the back of the bike because of huge potholes. Vang Vieng is surrounded by beautiful limestone mountains that are filled with caves. The only cave we made it to was Tham Phou Kham which is a massive cave. Our group didn’t want to pay for a guide so we only journeyed through the beginning of the cave. It was quite challenging without a flash light!

At the bottom of the mountain that the cave is in, there was a beautiful swimming hole called the Blue Lagoon. The water was a pristine blue colour, which is nice to look at, but not if you don’t like seeing fish. I do not like to know that I am swimming with fish. Needless to say I did not stay in the water for very long. Joey and our friends had a good time jumping out of the tree into the water.

On our way back we stopped at a shack for some lunch. A really old man came over us and attempted to speak to Joey in broken French. The man told Joey he used to parachute out of planes during the Indochine war. Even old men in Laos like to talk about the war days. See, we’re not so different in Canada!

Just down the road from the restaurant was a hiking trail up a mountain. We paid 10,000 kip each to climb it. If there is anything I have learned on this trip is that if there is anything worth seeing or doing, someone’s gonna make money off you. Nothing is free, not even nature. Atleast when we paid to hike up the mountain, we were joined by 3 very cute little local boys. The hike was strenuous and we were all pretty pooped when we reached the top. The view was worth it. We could see the valley below us that was covered in farm land, and the neighbouring limestone mountains. The site was breathtaking and well worth the sweat and Joey’s tears. (Just kidding)

We had arrived in Vang Vieng just in time for the New Years activities! Our idea of having a good New Years eve was floating down the river on an inner tube. Floating down this river was different than any other river I have ever floated down, mainly because this river resembles the Vegas strip with bars lining the shore. The aim of the game is to go to as many places as possible and jump off random platforms and slides hoping you don’t hit fellow tubers. It was quite fun, except for that we lost our video camera and we’re covered in bruises and scratches from the river being kind of low.

The last couple of days we have just been taking it easy. Joey has had to work, and I’ve been living a really hard life of watching Friends, reading a book and getting a massage. Speaking of massage... I thought today would be a great day for a back and neck massage because they have both taken quite a beating from sleeper buses. I went to the massage place and into the room walks a she-male. I don’t know if you guys were aware of this, but they are absolutely everywhere. Lucky me, I got to experience the caress of one first hand. This massage was anything but relaxing. The entire time it was chewing gum with its mouth open (For those of you who don’t know me well, there is nothing that bugs me more) and better yet, he was talking to his friends who were visiting during my massage. Also, traditional Laos massages are not your typical Western massage. It involves a lot of smacking, slapping, and vigorous (read:painful) jabbing. It will take me a while to get over this experience. I should really shower so I don’t smell like tiger balm and baby oil anymore.

Tomorrow we’re taking a 7 hour bus ride to Louang Probang which is a hub for boat rides down the Mekong River. I am very excited to have a slow boat down the Mekong River and see the lives of people who live on the river. Tonite Joey and I are going out for dinner with the friends we’ve made here because they will be staying here longer and we might not see them again.