The following morning we boarded a bus to Vang Vieng. I had forgotten how horrible the bus ride was and at one point heard puking behind us. Without turning around I knew it was a local as they are the only ones I ever see sick on bus rides. I think they aren’t used to moving that fast and bouncing around that much. We arrived late in the afternoon and realized that it was very busy just as in LP. It was a bit difficult to find a guesthouse but we managed, dropped our bags and headed out on the town for dinner and drinks. We started at a bar I had spent some time at the last time called Jaidee’s Bar where Jaidee is the owner and always there. I remembered him and his sons (DeeJai and Jameson) and he immediately poured us free Jaidee bombs poured in a very theatrical way and gave us a free cigarette*. Then it was time to eat and inspect the town. A lot had changed since the last time I was there. More hotels, new bridges and a lower river to name a few.
We decided to do the ‘tubing’ the following day so woke up bright n early, changed guesthouses (ours seemed to have a house full of roosters next door) and went to the ATM (there are only 3 in town) to grab cash. First off, we upgraded our accommodation big time. We moved across the river to a brand new bungalow with an amazing view of the mountains. The cash wasn’t so easy. It was Sunday and apparently all the ATM’s had been cleaned out over the weekend. No one could get cash anywhere. We were worried that there wouldn’t be enough for tubes and beer but we had no choice so we went to the shop, bargained for only having to leave half the tube deposit and set off on the tuk tuk for the top of the river ride. A friend had told me that you don’t even need a tube to do the ride as most of the bars are at the beginning and you can walk between them…I didn’t listen…you should. Unless you don’t really want to hang at the bars and actually want to spend 2+ hours floating down the river (and it was too shallow in parts to even get your butt over the rocks we heard) then skip the tube and just go bar hopping on the river.
This was an experience. Colby and I skipped it the first time around cause we thought it was too ‘drunken frat tourist’ like…and it was…but we knew it and wanted to experience it. The first bar (appropriately named Bar 1) had a big rope swing and beer pong. We were given free beer for the game and proceeded to lose very slowly…then I did a back dive off the rope swing (not smart I later found out) and headed via tube across the river to Bar 2….you can just walk across the bridge. This bar had the biggest rope swing on the river and was super cool. I was busting back flips off the swing and we grabbed some grub along with a bought a beer each. It appeared we were just ahead of the ‘party’ and this is what I recommend. See, what each bar does is ‘employ’ tourists-turned-locals to ‘work’ at the bar by basically drinking and having fun because if you look at a bar across the river and it seems popping then that is what draws the crowd. Since we were just ahead of the frat kids we were meeting the workers and getting most drinks free. We walked to Bar 3 which apparently had the best beer pong table and hung there for too long…the frat guys caught up with us…and it started getting ugly…dudes puking, drunken girls stumbling into each other and plenty of bandages from dangerous maneuvers off rope swings. We promptly bounced after a dude puked on the floor then put the ping pong ball for beer pong in his mouth and tried to spit it across the table to the team’s cups….yuck. Back on the tubes to bar 4 which has the biggest slide on the river. No crowds and good times! I wanted to go head first off the slide and try a front flip so I climbed up the 30-40ft and dove down the slide. When I launched off the bottom (about 12 feet) I rolled forward and wound up doing a full flip and a quarter which means my face and chest slapped the water pretty hard…hard enough to give myself a black eye..wow…when was the last time I had a black eye?? Anyone?? Obviously, after a day like that, the evening was mellow.
The next day we rented motos and headed out to the blue lagoon and caves that Colby and I had visited before. The water is an amazing blue and the caves are fairly cool and a nice hike straight up the mountain. That evening saw Rachel enjoying her first bucket of booze at the bucket bar and then a few other bars before folding it in again. We had to jump a bus the next afternoon back to LP and then back to Hanoi the following morning.
The bus ride back was pretty bad as three small local kids in the front seat couldn’t stop puking the whole way. This, I think, caused Rachel to be sick on more than one occasion and none of it was pretty. Rough…ouch…but we made it back to LP and to our guesthouse to pass out.
The day we were leaving for Vang Vieng, Thi took us to the small waterfall to swim and look around. This one dries up in the ‘dry season’ and was quite low..and cold..but nice to swim for a few and look around.
No comments:
Post a Comment