Vang Vieng

So we departed from lovely Luang Prabang on a crowded bus bound for Vang Vieng. A windy road, a crowded bus (people literally sitting on plastic stools in the bus aisle) and then, the addition of EXTREMELY loud Lao music. It was a bit of a rough ride but we made it to Vang Vieng by late afternoon and got a room at the first hostel we found.

VV is bizarre to say the least. It is like a miniature, rustic Cancun on a river with amazing sharp jagged mountains surrounding it. The main road through town is full of tourist restaurants all with the same menu more or less. Each restaurant/bars on the main road has a few televisions which all continuously play Friends or Family Guy. Yes, you could pick from one of a dozen restaurants to lie at a short-legged table from 8am to 11pm and watch one of these two shows. Very odd scene at first. There are also lots of loud bars with Christmas lights and very loud advertising for pizza and burgers. The streets also have many many carts selling sandwiches and fruit shakes.

The river is low (it is the dry season) but that doesn't stop the main activity in town; tubing/bar hopping. You rent a tire inner tube and get taken to a point several hours float from town and jump in. From there, you float from bar to bar, drinking "buckets" - essentially beach toy pails filled with booze and mixers -jump off rope swings. The funniest part is that its about 45 minutes back to town from the last bar, and drunken tubers forget this fact, wait until the sun goes down, and shiver their way home, strolling through the streets in bikinis around dinner time looking disoriented. Kyle and I have not yet participated in this rite of passage but intend to be initiated tomorrow.

We have, however, been rock climbing, biking, caving and swimming. We spent our first day rock climbing outside (my first time outside!!) on the clifts surrounding town, which was great fun. The guides were doing some amazing lead climbing routes including crazy overhangs. I think we both improved and plan on doing more throughout our trip. We also ate some snake soup, which was pretty much as appetizing as it sounds.

Today, we moved guest houses to one with a lot more charm a little farther out of 'the scene' and got mountain bikes for the day. We rode about an hour on a dirt road to this incredible cave and lagoon. We parked our bikes and began to make our way up this steep hike/climb over massive rocks to the mouth of the cave. About half way up our climb we were joined by a young local girl who we assumed was a kind of "guide." We didn't much want a guide but there seemed to be no way to loose her so we just let her join. We got into the cave which was incredible and VERY dark. My tiny key chain flashlight and Kyle's dying pack-headlamp were clearly not sufficient for serious caving, especially since there were three of us. Our 'guide', it turned out, spoke no English, didn't have a flashlight and promptly took the headlamp for herself so Kyle and I took turns walking in the total darkness. There were some faint signs painted on a few rocks saying "cave" and an arrow but other than that, there was really no off-limits or railings or lights or anything. It was just a huge beautiful cave to discover on your own. We tromped around, got a little lost but finally scampered our way out. The girl gave back the flashlight eventually and we parted ways but we never really figured out why she came along. She was certainly not an expert spelunker, as she was no help in finding the way out and frequently grabbed one or both of us in fear or imbalance or both.

Post caving, it was time for some cards in a cabana after a dip (or swing and jump) in the lagoon. There were probably only half a dozen other people there and one small hut to buy food and drinks. It was such a pleasant way to escape the crazy crowds of town.