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#10 - Vang Vieng, Backpackers Haven
Sally
deFina - April
6, 2002
There is not much to do in Laos besides chill
out. And there is no better place in Laos to do this than Vang
Vieng. Vang Vieng is a tiny little town approximately 1/3 of
the way between Vientianne and Luang Prabang (see Jeff's Journal
about Laos), and it has been overrun with backpackers.
All the activities in the town are geared towards backpackers.
There is but one "resort" in the town for the rich
folk which is secluded by itself close to the river that snakes
along the west side of town. The main activities revolve around
said river, and the numerous caves and Buddhist shrines in the
area. If you love caving, this is the place for you. It is a
great place to meet fellow budget travellers and to unwind for
a couple of days.
 We
arrived in Vang Vieng around 3pm, promptly put our laundry in
for washing, watched an Indiana Jones movie while eating some
delicious Lao food (many of the Vang Vieng restaurants have
taken lessons from Thailand in how to lure in backpackers with
free pirated western movies), booked a caving/tubing trip for
the next day, and then wandered down to the river. By
this time, it was quite dark, and all the backpackers were up
by the bars close to their guesthouses, so there were only a
few groups of locals down by the river. While wondering along,
we were invited to join a group of very drunk local boys
with an offering of a bottle of beer. The few words of English
that they seemed to know included "beer Lao",
so our conversation revolved around beer and we therefore found
ourselves ordering more and more of the stuff. The boys
ordered some sort of rice-egg-vegetable dish were shovelling
it in with relish (we declined their invitation to eat) when
one of the boys announced solemnly - "I am going to go
and sing now". He promptly then got up, walked behind
a fence, and started throwing up. Everyone else thought
that this was the most hilarious thing, especially when he returned
and asked for more "beer Lao". After a while
of continued drinking, two of them passed out by the shore and
half an hour later we made our exit. We left thinking to ourselves
how wonderfully friendly Lao people were. (OK, so we were
drunk, but in the morning, we still thought Lao people were
friendly).
 Coming
from Vietnam, the people of Lao were quite refreshing.
Only recently opened up to foreigners, the country
was about 5 years behind Vietnam in the tourist
industry. Although we liked some aspects of
Vietnam, we felt that people were constantly trying
to rip us off and people seemed to be much less
friendly. We heard from other backpackers
that Laos - friendly and welcoming - is currently
like Vietnam used to be 5 or 6 years ago, before
massive amounts of tourists spoiled it. Our
first night in Laos confirmed this fact - although
the tourist facilities and basic infrastructure
was far behind that of Vietnam, the people were
friendlier, more genuine, and giving.
 Our
second day in Vang Vieng was spent visiting caves and on the
river. Our first cave was a small one called Elephant
cave because it had an elephant carved into the ceiling (as
well as a reclining Buddha). Our second cave was quite
a long hike into a limestone mountain. After about 1 hour
of walking barefoot with our flashlights around stalagmites
and stalactites, and occasionally bending through some pretty
tricky sections, we managed to find an underground river where
we went swimming by the light of candles. Our third cave
was the most strenuous. We used inner tubes to float into
a cave until we hit dry land, then proceeded by crawling on
hands and knees (and sometimes sliding on our bellies) for about
2 hours. Along the way we encountered beautifully coloured
stalagmites and stalactites, and two very large black spiders
- one with a huge egg sack attached to her underbelly and dozens
of tiny baby spiders running about. After such strenuous
activity, we finished off the day with a relaxing 2-hour inner-tube
ride back to Vang Vieng - drinking "beer Lao" along
the way.
 That
evening, we relaxed by watching yet another Indiana Jones movie,
and going to the backpacker bar to meet some fellow travellers.
It was obvious to us that the bar we finally settled into was
a major pickup joint for horney backpackers. Loud Americans,
Australians, and Brits were playing drinking games at the various
tables, and we heard the most outdated pickup lines ever.
If you are into very basic travel and accommodation,
seeing some fabulous scenery, and meeting some extraordinarily
friendly, smiley people (or if you are just looking for a roll
in the hay with another backpacker or two), get to Laos quick
before the tourism rush ruins the atmosphere of the place.
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