We've been in Vang Vieng now for... a week? It's difficult to say exactly, since days and nights come and go, and it all becomes a bit of a blur. Vang Vieng is a tiny town designed purely for backpackers. Nobody lives here except people who run the businesses that cater to us travellers: food stalls (mainly pancakes and baguettes), internet cafes, restaurants (most of which play Friends all day long) and bars.
The one thing to do here other than eating and drinking is tubing--which also involves copious amounts of alcohol. We did that on our first day here with Paul and Kevin, whom we did our Luang Prabang trek with. For 40 000 kip (about $4.50), you can hire a tube. A tuk tuk takes you down to the river, where you get on your tube and let the current take you downstream. There are bars along the river, and dudes whose job it is to toss a harpoon-like stick attached to a rope at you. You grab hold of this stick, and they pull you into the bar. The strangest thing about these bars is the little children who walk around giving you free shots of lao lao, a horrid-tasting rice whiskey. They are quite persistent, and don't tend to take 'no' for an answer! Each bar has a really high swing into the water--these are loads of fun, but scary the first time around.
Paul and I went tubing one more time, when alcohol had taken a toll on Lizzie's body and she stayed in bed all day. Apart from that, the only other thing we did was hire some bikes to visit the Pak Ou caves, which were wicked cool. The beginning of the rainy season is upon us, and our ride home left us soaking wet.
This crazy week of partying has been fun, but I've definitely had enough. I'm looking forward to moving on to Vientiane tomorrow. Also, I know I've been really lame when it comes to posting pictures... but check out Lizzie's blog for that!
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