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Vang Vieng

Posted by Stuart at 09:24 AM on October 19, 2002

Yesterday, Rupert and I took a 150 KM 3 hour bus ride to the small village of Vang Vieng, Laos. The bus ride went smoothly, even though the roads were often far from smooth. We stopped a few times at various villages for people to get on or off or to use the bathroom. One time we stopped at a roadside shrine and a young girl got off the bus to leave food and to burn some incense and to pray for a safe journey over the mountains.

I have no idea what this town looked liked 20 years ago when it was just a small fishing village on the banks of the Nam Song, but now it is a backpackers haven. About 80% of the buildings here have something to do with tourism: guesthouses, restaurants, lao massage saunas, tour agencies, laundries, internet cafes. Why the sudden boom? Somehow this little speck on the map has become quite popular. For one thing, it is half-way along the much travelled Vientiane - Luang Prabang route. For another, it is situated on a beautiful river with huge limestone cliffs towering above the grass huts, palm trees and rice fields. Just one more place to spend a wonderful evening drinking Beer Lao and watching the sunset.

There are also a lot of "adventure" tours to take here as well. Kyaking, intertubing, caving, and rock climbing are all available. Once we checked into our $5 a night guesthouse, we had lunch ($3 total for the two of us) and rented innertubes to float down the river. The day was beautiful - a blue sky with fluffy clouds shaped like dragons and buddhas kind of day. It was amazingly peaceful and serene to float under the huge cliffs, past waterbuffalos in the fields and men throwing their fishing nets into the river from long thin wooden boats. As I floated I thought about the people who have lived here in this valley for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. I wondered what it would be like for my whole world to be this river and these cliffs.

Along the way we stopped at a cave with a small stream flowing out of it. We were able to ride our innertubes into the cave and explore around a bit. Very cool.

As we were nearing the town, we started to hear shouting, drum beats and rhythmic whistle blasts. We rounded the last bend in the river to see 5 or 6 long boats with about 20 people in each rowing and racing down the river. When we were in Vietiane a few days ago, everyone was telling us about the annual boat races to be held there next week. So we assumed that we were witnessing Viang Vang's final preparations for that huge event.

We made it back to our hotel room and dried off, then headed out for Beer Lao and dinner by the river at sunset. A mellow end to a very mellow day.