Vang Vien

I left Lurang Prabang on the morning of the 6th Feb, I was ready to leave. I had been told that the bus ride between Lurang Prabang and Vang Vien was not to be missed, it's not. The road and I use the term loosely, winds it's way through the most amazing scenery I've ever seen. It gets more amazing around every corner I know and I don't own a camera that can do it justice. It's mountainous, there are villages clinging to a ridge line, houses where the front door is on the road and the back room is hanging over the mountain edge. You can look down and see the road switch backing below you. We stopped for lunch at this bluff overlooking a valley with more mountains in the distance, I couldn't stop looking. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is one of the few times that I would have liked to have a DSLR, but then even if I had one I don't know if I could have taken a photo that would have done the scenery justice. Some things live on best in our memories. I need to remind myself of that when I next loose a load of photos. Digital photography is great but it's not fool proof. I arrived in Vang Vien later than expected, but at least I got dropped off in the centre of town. I hate it when I get dropped off at some distant bus station or tour office and then have to spend almost as much as my bus fare again to get into the town. I walked to a guest house and was able to get a single room for a decent price. I had been told that Lurang Prabang was the most expensive place in Laos and I was hoping that it was true. I am trying to travel on budget, which I think I've misjudged but cheaper accommodation should help out with that. What doesn't help so far is that I think Laos is more expensive then Vietnam, especially internet access anyway. I took a walk around after I got rid of my stuff. Vang Vien is famous for tubing, it sits on the Nam Song river, which runs through a valley surrounded by limestone karsts. There is only one company that rents tubes, you rent from them and included in the rental price is a tuk tuk ride to a launching point 4kms up river from the town. You then float back. Until recently the river and an island in town was populated by bars so you could drink/smoke your way back. They've all been closed now, while they were open the town was the most dangerous place in South East Asia for tourists. An average of two people died ever month tubing, heaven knows how many more people were injured. I think drinking is still rife but I don't know the level of drug use is still going on. I took a look around the island, it's like a ghost town now. The bars aren't just shuttered but are totally closed, I don't think it's a bad thing. You can't expect bar owners to police their customers and since it seemed that no one else was doing the job, things got out of hand and the only solution was a drastic one. I went to a bar and watched the sun set with a beer in hand. Dinner was at a restaurant showing reruns of Friends, it's even funnier than I remember. All the bars and restaurants have low tables set on a raised area, you take off your shoes and then sit on a long pad. There are pillows and cushions to rest up against, very comfortable and easy places to while away a few hours. I was back on a bicycle the next day, a mountain bike this time instead of a shopping bike. I headed out over the river and went through the dried rice paddies to a local cave. Laos has a dry and a rainy season just like Vietnam but the effects of the dry season are way more visible here. The rice paddies are all brown and some of the walls between then have been flattened, making a path across them. The Vietnamese will usually harvest two rice crops a year, the Laotians just one in some areas and 1.5 in others. After the cave I started on a bike ride to the Blue Lagoon, it's a small stream that runs at the base of a karst and it really is blue. On the way there I bumped into an American girl, Mitchell, and we decided to hang out. The lagoon was great, I'd forgotten my bikini so I had to swim in my clothes. There is a rope swing over the stream and that is the easiest way to get in, but I have absolutely no upper body strength so I couldn't get in that way. There is a tree over the stream and I jumped in off the lower branch. It was so much fun. In fact I became so brave that I resolved to jump off the top branch, five metres above the water. Once I got up there I realised my mistake but wouldn't back down. In the end I jumped off three times. When we were done Mitchell headed back to the town and I continued on a bike ride through the valley. I totally enjoyed having a mountain bike, it made the ride so much more comfortable and I wasn't phased by the track condition, I even cycled through a river. I think I cycled over twenty miles that day in blazing sunshine. After the cool winter of northern Vietnam Laos was proving to be a shock to the system. I really struggled on the last 5kms and rewarded myself with a piece of chocolate cake once I got back to town. Laos was also colonised by the French and as a result have amazing bread and delicious patisserie. Something else Vietnam didn't pick up on.