Vang Vieng
Laos, Vang Vieng
Sunday 20 november
Off I was, to Vang Vieng! I hoped that the ride wouldn't be as bad as the one to Luang Prabang 2 days ago. Gladfully I was feeling better and had a friendly English guy (George) next to me. We talked alot which made the trip go fast. The views on the way to Vang Vieng were beautiful. The roads on the other side were terrible. We were driving through high mountains with no railing and holes everywhere. I arrived in VangVieng around 19:00. I heard that it was a real backpack party scene there and that was exactly what I saw when I got there. Alot of young 20's and alot of bars. Vang Vieng got famous about "tubing". You float down the river on a tube with a group of people while drinking alcohol. On the way down there are several bars at the river where you can buy drinks. It was very famous along backpackers, but since a lot of people died because they were to drunk, the government shut it down. Now it is open again, but with only 2 bars. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, I'm not really into getting drunk on my trip, but maybe if I meet some nice people I will join.
I checked in at the Real Backpackers hostel and went for dinner with the George and a weird Danish girl. We went to an Indian restaurant where I had curry chicken with noon bread. I still didn't feel 100% because of the food poisening and decided to go to sleep after dinner.
Monday 21 november
I felt alot better when I woke up and went for a jog to explore the area. There are living around 20.000 people in Vang Vieng and the scenery around the city is amazing. Steep mountains and alot of ricefields. After half an hour jogging I went to a local fruit stall and bought some carrots and apples. After taking a shower I got some breakfast in the hostel. This was included in the price (€5) and they serve coffee with omelet, baguette and a banana, perfect! After breakfast I wanted to meet up with George for some scootering, I love to explore the area by motorbike. He texted me back that the weird Danish girl only wanted to go if it didn't go up or down hill. Immediately my motivation changed to go along with them... gladfully on that moment I met 2 Dutch guys (Erik and Perry) who stayed in the same dorm as me. They were going to do a scooter tour to explore the area they said, NICE! I felt a bit bad, but I texted George that I wasn't joining them today.
After skyping with my girlfriend we rented a scooter for €5 and filled it with petrol for €2,50 😎 We went to a waterfall in the east and after lunch we went to the west to visit a lagoon. The road to it was the baddest road I've been on, EVER. jeez, rocks and holes everywhere. I'm so surprised about the fact that the scooters handle this without breaking down 😂 In the evening i went to a nice restaurant with only Perry. Erik fell on his ear in the water and was in pain. I got a lovely beef steak with a salad. After that we went to the Sakura bar. The place to be at night. They give free whisky between 20.00-21.00. We had some drinks and then we found out they also had baloons with laughing gas. We tried a few of them which were really funny😂 After playing some beerpong, which we lost, we went back to the hostel... A lot of people are going tubing tomorrow.
Tuesday 22 november
After a 5 hour sleep I woke up and couldn't sleep again. The guys were also awake early and I decided to go rent a mountainbike together with Erik, instead of tubing. We started biking and after 20 minutes we were already lost in the rice fields 😂 we managed to find a small mountain with an amazing 360° view point. The climb to the top was pretty steep. After taking some pictures we went down again, but we couldn't find the way back hehe. We decided to go a bit up again and gladfully we found the way back. Okay, that was an interesting start.
The next stop was going to be a cave. We were cycling for over an hour on 1 square kilometer I think. Jesus christ, we were lost in the rice fields and jungle with stinging bushes. Google maps showed roads that weren't there at all. We had to cross several small bamboo bridges while lifting our bicycles. I almost fell because I was stuck in the mud with one feet and Erik fell down in to a bush haha. After jumping over a small creek we finally got back to the main river, no caves were found 😂
Completely sweaty we sat down at a restaurant on the river and had lunch.
After chilling in the sun we got on our bikes again and went to 2 caves. I think I've seen enough caves already now, they are pretty boring.
Late in the afternoon we came back and I decided to buy a SIM card, to keep in touch a bit better with my girlfriend. After that I wanted to get my hairs cut somewhere. I first found a local guy that could cut my hair for €2. But he didn't speak English. He didn't understand what 3 milimeter was and I decided to look for another one 😅The next one was better and for €5 I got a shave and haircut.
In the evening we were pretty hungry and decided to go back to the same restaurant again. I tried the local dish "larb", but didn't really like it, to spicy for me. After that I also ordered Chicken sweet sour☺ We wanted to go to the Sakura bar straight after, but the food really made us tired and Perry and me decided to go for a 20 min powernap. He said he put the alarm on 21:00. I woke up at 23:00 and everyone was sleeping haha. Okay no bar tonight, I kept on sleeping untill the next morning.
Wednesday 23 november.
Today it was time to go to Thakhek with the sleeping bus. We bought a ticket for €17,50 each. They told is we would leave at 13:30 and arrive around 0:00. It was not quite that... I went on the bus with the Dutch guys and 3 other guys. We first had to sit for 3 hours in a small minivan to Vientiane. Then we were transported to the bus station where we had to wait 2 hours. Once in the sleeping bus we found out we shared a very small place back in the bus for the 5 of us. Sigh, transportation in Laos is really worthless. Everything is always way to full and to uncomfortable, especially when you are tall. Gladfully I was with some cool guys which made the trip easier.
We finally arrived in Thakhek at 03:00. We got a guesthouse with the 6 of us. Tomorrow we are going to do a 4 day scooter tour of 400km that starts and ends in Thakhek✌
Off I was, to Vang Vieng! I hoped that the ride wouldn't be as bad as the one to Luang Prabang 2 days ago. Gladfully I was feeling better and had a friendly English guy (George) next to me. We talked alot which made the trip go fast. The views on the way to Vang Vieng were beautiful. The roads on the other side were terrible. We were driving through high mountains with no railing and holes everywhere. I arrived in VangVieng around 19:00. I heard that it was a real backpack party scene there and that was exactly what I saw when I got there. Alot of young 20's and alot of bars. Vang Vieng got famous about "tubing". You float down the river on a tube with a group of people while drinking alcohol. On the way down there are several bars at the river where you can buy drinks. It was very famous along backpackers, but since a lot of people died because they were to drunk, the government shut it down. Now it is open again, but with only 2 bars. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, I'm not really into getting drunk on my trip, but maybe if I meet some nice people I will join.
I checked in at the Real Backpackers hostel and went for dinner with the George and a weird Danish girl. We went to an Indian restaurant where I had curry chicken with noon bread. I still didn't feel 100% because of the food poisening and decided to go to sleep after dinner.
Monday 21 november
I felt alot better when I woke up and went for a jog to explore the area. There are living around 20.000 people in Vang Vieng and the scenery around the city is amazing. Steep mountains and alot of ricefields. After half an hour jogging I went to a local fruit stall and bought some carrots and apples. After taking a shower I got some breakfast in the hostel. This was included in the price (€5) and they serve coffee with omelet, baguette and a banana, perfect! After breakfast I wanted to meet up with George for some scootering, I love to explore the area by motorbike. He texted me back that the weird Danish girl only wanted to go if it didn't go up or down hill. Immediately my motivation changed to go along with them... gladfully on that moment I met 2 Dutch guys (Erik and Perry) who stayed in the same dorm as me. They were going to do a scooter tour to explore the area they said, NICE! I felt a bit bad, but I texted George that I wasn't joining them today.
After skyping with my girlfriend we rented a scooter for €5 and filled it with petrol for €2,50 😎 We went to a waterfall in the east and after lunch we went to the west to visit a lagoon. The road to it was the baddest road I've been on, EVER. jeez, rocks and holes everywhere. I'm so surprised about the fact that the scooters handle this without breaking down 😂 In the evening i went to a nice restaurant with only Perry. Erik fell on his ear in the water and was in pain. I got a lovely beef steak with a salad. After that we went to the Sakura bar. The place to be at night. They give free whisky between 20.00-21.00. We had some drinks and then we found out they also had baloons with laughing gas. We tried a few of them which were really funny😂 After playing some beerpong, which we lost, we went back to the hostel... A lot of people are going tubing tomorrow.
Tuesday 22 november
After a 5 hour sleep I woke up and couldn't sleep again. The guys were also awake early and I decided to go rent a mountainbike together with Erik, instead of tubing. We started biking and after 20 minutes we were already lost in the rice fields 😂 we managed to find a small mountain with an amazing 360° view point. The climb to the top was pretty steep. After taking some pictures we went down again, but we couldn't find the way back hehe. We decided to go a bit up again and gladfully we found the way back. Okay, that was an interesting start.
The next stop was going to be a cave. We were cycling for over an hour on 1 square kilometer I think. Jesus christ, we were lost in the rice fields and jungle with stinging bushes. Google maps showed roads that weren't there at all. We had to cross several small bamboo bridges while lifting our bicycles. I almost fell because I was stuck in the mud with one feet and Erik fell down in to a bush haha. After jumping over a small creek we finally got back to the main river, no caves were found 😂
Completely sweaty we sat down at a restaurant on the river and had lunch.
After chilling in the sun we got on our bikes again and went to 2 caves. I think I've seen enough caves already now, they are pretty boring.
Late in the afternoon we came back and I decided to buy a SIM card, to keep in touch a bit better with my girlfriend. After that I wanted to get my hairs cut somewhere. I first found a local guy that could cut my hair for €2. But he didn't speak English. He didn't understand what 3 milimeter was and I decided to look for another one 😅The next one was better and for €5 I got a shave and haircut.
In the evening we were pretty hungry and decided to go back to the same restaurant again. I tried the local dish "larb", but didn't really like it, to spicy for me. After that I also ordered Chicken sweet sour☺ We wanted to go to the Sakura bar straight after, but the food really made us tired and Perry and me decided to go for a 20 min powernap. He said he put the alarm on 21:00. I woke up at 23:00 and everyone was sleeping haha. Okay no bar tonight, I kept on sleeping untill the next morning.
Wednesday 23 november.
Today it was time to go to Thakhek with the sleeping bus. We bought a ticket for €17,50 each. They told is we would leave at 13:30 and arrive around 0:00. It was not quite that... I went on the bus with the Dutch guys and 3 other guys. We first had to sit for 3 hours in a small minivan to Vientiane. Then we were transported to the bus station where we had to wait 2 hours. Once in the sleeping bus we found out we shared a very small place back in the bus for the 5 of us. Sigh, transportation in Laos is really worthless. Everything is always way to full and to uncomfortable, especially when you are tall. Gladfully I was with some cool guys which made the trip easier.
We finally arrived in Thakhek at 03:00. We got a guesthouse with the 6 of us. Tomorrow we are going to do a 4 day scooter tour of 400km that starts and ends in Thakhek✌
Geschreven door FrankArends
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