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'A beautiful rural village', 'traditional Laos', 'the Ibiza of Laos' were all descriptions we had read or heard about for Vang Vieng and we wondered what to believe. It turns out they all have more than an element of truth.
Vang Vieng is set along the Mekong River, where it is as a relatively narrow gauge. Traditionally a fishing village, Vang Vieng is surrounded by hundreds of massive limestone karsts that jut out of the ground often hiding large caves which open behind small cracks in the faces. Take a bike out for the day and within 10 minutes from the centre of town you'll be on dusty roads which wind amongst villages, farms, schools and cross tributaries to the Mekong. The locals, particularly the kids, give the wierd looking, sweaty white folk (us) big grins and massive waves as we speed along the tracks on our bikes doing our best to keep our balance on the rocky roads - often being followed by a shout of Sabaidy! (hello). In between shouting our replies, dodging rocks, cows, water buffalo and chickens (why do chickens cross roads in front of bikes?) we stopped off at some of the many caves and river crossings to visit and cool off in. Vang Vieng, well I suppose just outside it, was how we had expected Laos to be before we got here - all the way down to the roadside roast pork we picked up on the way back to the hostel possibly the best tasting meat we have ever had simply cooked over hot coals on the side of the road.
The limestone also means there is some great rock climbing near town. Going up from the centre and crossing the river on a boat so thin that the Oxford rowing team would be rocking from side to side, we soon found ourselves in a big crevace within a limestone face with our climbing guide - Toh - to do our first rock climbing since leaving the UK. Looking up, the walls stretched up to around 25 metres - higher than we were used to but we just swallowed hard and got on with it...
Climbing on limestone, it turns out, is great - the porous stone has loads of grip but can get pretty loose in places. We ended up having a great day hauling ourselves up the cliffs and finished with some very sore fingers three hours later.
This all sounds picturesque and lovely? Well, it is...so why is Vang Vieng described as a party town? The answer is simple - Tubing. What began as a simple float down the river in a big tractor inner tube has turned into a floating pub crawl and a rite of passage for the 19 year old gap year crew. This actually takes place well out of town and usually the only signs you see of it in town are the tubers returning at about 7pm as they stumble through town on the way to an early bed along with the hungover faces and arms draped in 'free drink' bracelets the next day. We had decided to miss the whole thing out but in a last minute submission to a combination of curiosity and boredom we decided to take the plunge...hired our tubes, got on a bus to the river and arrived at the start to be greeted with something easily mistaken as a scene out of the 18 rated version of Peter Pan! People draped all over makeshift looking bamboo platforms with equally Neverland style bars dolling out can after can of Beer Lao. Outside the bar was the river with a stream of 'lost children' bobbing down the river in their tubes as the local staff hurl water filled plastic bottles attached to ropes in a game of 'fishing for tourists'. Line cast followed by a waiting game until a water-borne hand nibbles at the bait at which point person, tube and all is hauled into shore for a beer top up. Definitely not true Laos - odd how people come away to far flung countries and try to make them like home...
There are about 10 similar bars in all - pumping out music and each has their own playground style toy - A mud-volleyball court, giant slides and even more gigantic swings and jumps, some easily 10 metres high. Each designed to be a pull for the hundreds of people that float past each day and clearly keeping the local hospital in business (there are loads of people hobbling around town each day with legs and arms in plaster).
This all sound a little much? Well...if you can't beat 'em... we all know the saying so we got involved in the floating and jumping which we, sadly, have to admit was a great day, lots of jumping in, an accidental semi-belly flop from a 10m high swing and lots of fun. Not really 'Laos', could have been anywhere, but still a very different and memorable day.
In payment for a day of fun? The pain of a 16 hour overnight bus trip the next day to a place in the mid to far south, Pakse.
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