So Vang Vieng... We arrived in this little town in the middle of nowhere around midday after navigating our through the capital city of laos to transfer into a minibus for the last 2.5 hours of our trip from Pakse to Vang Vieng. Oh and its pronounced how it's spelled. So we were dumped out onto the street from our minibus and needed to find a place to stay and get ourselves orientated. 2 hours later we had full stomachs and a place right in front on the main strip. As it was around 2:30 we decided not to head to the blue lagoon as planned but rather a shorter trip to a nearby cave. Hiking a flat 2km through rice fields and mild forest we paid 10,000 kip ($1.25) to enter and explored all around. There are caves everywhere in laos. We were pretty far in when our guide told us about a pool of water within the cave that we could go to for an additional price. We didn't think it was worth it and were happy with our cave exploration, but it was surprising to hear that the pool was another hours walk further into the cave.
Next day Renae and I rented some mountain bikes and set off in search of the Blue Lagoon, not before relocating to a nice little hotel next to the river. A nice clean private room with 2 beds was 60000 kip ($6.50) Well our bicycle quest was not one our butts would soon forget. The road was very similar to baja with an extra helping of large rocks washboard. We made the 7km trip out in just over an hour. Stopped to visit with a nice little baby monkey that the store owner had saved when it's mom was killed. I didn't ask how that happened, but you never know. Well we paid our entrance fees and were pleasantly surprised to find the Blue Lagoon delivered on its promise. Eerily Vibrant. And lots of fish too! (to Renae's disdain) Spent the entire day hanging out at the blue lagoon making friends and a planning to hit the infamous river float we left early, but did not make it back in time to complete the river float before dark. So we settled on a delicious dinner on the river listening to terrible tunes from the united states that everyone knew. lol Met a fellow traveler named Laura from Germany that showed us around a little. Unfortunately Laos has a nationwide curfew at around 12 am everything shuts down and people head to sleep or bonfires on the river.
The next day Laura couldn't make the river float as she was leaving that day so Renae and I ventured out on our own. Armed with newly purchased dry bags and drinks and phones we set out to experience Vang Vieng's main draw. Apparently late last year the Govt of Laos was urged to do something about the large amounts of deaths that were occuring on the river. People were getting too drunk and drowning. I heard numbers around 30 deaths in a month. Pretty Sad. So the Laos gov't respsonse? Call in the military and order everyone out of the bars and burn them to the ground one by one. It was immediately effective. not so many deaths anymore. We had a great time out on the river and made some more friends. One of the bars was having it's grand reopening and we hung out and got to sample what the river float used to be like. Fun times.
The next couple of days Renae and I explored around this fun little town and made friends with our awesome hotel companions. Good times and experiences shared from all parties. The food was excellent and prices even better.
Oh haha, so there are these wooden plank and cable suspension bridges all around Vang vieng as the town is centers on the convergence of rivers and streams. Lol late one night Renae found out just how safe these babies are. She was heading back towards the hotel when she fell through one of the rotted planks and got stuck. Haha, it was quite a site, and after a quick rescue she was doing okay and eventually a smile replaced the tears. She had been there a good 5 minutes before her cries for help were heard over the music back at our hotel (about 300 feet away).
I also forget to mention Renae tried to kill me earlier that day!!!! lol not really. we just had a little crash with the motorbike we had rented. Low speed involving crossing a river and mud. We both survived with minor scratches and bruises.
