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So we arrived in Vang Viang! Wow! What a sharp contrast from Vientiane. It was absolutely beautiful! Set on the east bank of the Nam Xong River between a spectacular spread of sawtoothed limestone karsts to the west and rolling hills to the east, we were high up, the clouds covered the tops of the karsts and the air had a slight, pleasant chill to it. Tuk tuks were trying to give us lifts into town, they claimed the guest house we wanted to go to was a few kilometers away, but when we walked, we realised it was infact a few hundred meters so we saved getting ripped off there! The guest house we found in the rough guide had moved and there was a sign in its place, I was almost ready to give up looking for it as my bag is so heavy but Caz was insistant we kept looking and I was SO glad we did. It was a beautiful little guest house 'Phoubane' set overlooking the river, we had our own bathroom with a hot shower and it felt very cosy and similar to the lovely room we had in Kanchanaburi. It was also very cheap, $5 between us so we snapped it up! We went into town that night for dinner and saw that every restaurant had a very chilled out atmosphere with large cushioned areas to sit on and almost everyone was near horizontal facing the TV which was playing Friends DVDs back to back, episode after episode, series after series! So funny but we decided to join in, at least I ate Laos food there. The food was fab and they had a great variety. We booked up to go tubing the next day, we had to be there at 9 so we woke up as late as possible (We were not made for early mornings!) and grabbed a banana and water on the way for breakfast. Everntually, at 10 they were almost ready to get going!? Caz, me and two american girls got on the back of a Songthaew and headed towards the river. After about 5 mins we did a u-turn and went back to the shop! They had found 4 more customers whose company had no guide so we took them with us, two young swedish guys and a couple from Holland I think. We went to the riverside, avoiding the cattle and poultry in the middle of the roads constantly and stopped at the riverside. From here we had to get in a boat which was made by hollowing out a tree trunk and had a small longtail boat style engine out the back. It was very unstable and felt like it would tip up but it got us there in groups of 4 or 5. It was literally a stones throw away so it was ok but you wouldn't want to go very far in one! The seats were little wooden stools not actually attached to the floor! On the other side, we walked for about 10 mins through beautiful countryside, looking up at these huge mountains topped in clouds and covered in thick greenery, walking through rice fields past yet more poultry (this lot were often featherless and looked liked they carried diseases, they were very skinny too) Eventually we came to a cave which was only a few metres deep but contained buddhas and statues (none of which looked old but was there for tourists I imagine) our guide spoke fantastic english so told us a few stories from Laos history and then we walked another 5 mins or so to another cave where we could tube inside. The opening looked TINY and there was just a little rope for you to hold onto and pull yourself inside. Once inside it was a bit bigger and looked lovely. We continued along the string for about 20 mins, looking at the inside of the cave, at one point we had to get up and walk over a shallow bit of stones in the middle, that was awkward and hurt your feet, especially for me as Caz and I had to share a torch (worn on your head) so i couldn't really see! Then when we got into a bit deeper water the guide put our feet into the tube of the person infront of us so we were all linked in a long chain. We then had to each use our arms to propel us, it was funny and the guide was singing really creepily, I guess it should have been scary but it wasn't. We left the cave after about 50 mins and headed back to near the lakeside to have lunch. It was skewers of 'chicken' and veg and rice with egg and veg. I had one piece of 'chicken' which looked like chicken, but when it crumbled in my mouth and had the texture of no meat I'd ever eaten before I gave it a miss! The skewers had pineapple on which was lovely and the rice was good so I didn't go hungry. I used the provided banana to feed a monkey which was cruelly kept in a cage, the monkey would only eat the moister middle of the banana, you know, the darker yellow bit which sometimes has brown bits in and spat the rest out! haha We then got the dodgy boat back across to the other side and headed in the songthaew a bit further down the river where we headed off in our tubes. It was SO much fun! There are natural river rapids which push you along in parts, because of the time of year there wasn't much water and I whacked my bum off a few rocks which cained but was still fun! It was about 4 hours of tubing which is probably a little bit too much, But I think Im only saying that because it rained at the end! :o( Also, they didn't tell us that the stuff we left in the car wouldn't be there at the end so we had to walk all the way to the shop we booked at to get our clothes. This meant walking through town soaking wet and cold in front of EVERYONE in our costumes! Eek! Noone wants to see that!! lol
On my way home I picked up my laundry that I had put in the day before, when we got back to the room I realised something was missing, MY SCARF! Yes, THAT scarf! So I went back to the shop to get it. The man had no idea what I was talking about and said there was nothing and that I could come back the next day. I kind of resigned myself to never see it again and was really upset. Anyway, the next morning I went back and they had no idea. They didn't understand scarf as much as I tried to act it out! They said there was nothing extra, then just as I was about to leave (we were going to catch a bus) a man came out holding it and said "THIS?" I was VERY happy to see it again and it was clean!! YAY!! We grabbed a banana from a stall and went to the bus station. We were catching the 9:30 bus to Louang Prabang which would take until the late afternoon. I sat next to an Aussie couple who were absolutely lovely, they had been travelling Europe (I dont know how anyone can afford to do that!) and now S.E.Asia. Luckily I had them to talk to as a distraction as the entire journey was along mountain edges. The roads weaved around the mountains and I was in the window seat, sometimes, when I looked out I could see nothing but thousands of feet between me and the bottom of the drop beside me. The driver drove as if we would meet nothing coming the other way so when we did it was emergency stops, even more beeping and swerving! Nail biting to say the least!!
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