Vang Vieng 3/27/13 - 3/28/13

We didn't want to force ourselves to go through another overnight gauntlet ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, so we decided to break up the trip and stay in Vang Vieng.  This was only about a 6 hour ride on a "VIP" bus during the day (VIP is just a little better than local, rough transport).  What was once a small river village along the Nam Song has turned into a much more busy and bustling town for travelers over the years.  The town used to be full of backpackers there for one thing: tubing down the river.  We've heard  the town used to be a crazy scene with bars all along the river, free shots, rope swings, people jumping from rocks, etc, etc.  However, after some serious injuries and deaths, the craziness was removed and it's now more of a relaxing float down the river amongst the incredible scenery.  

The town is quite small, and only took us about 10 minutes to walk through and see it the first evening.  Although it was a for sure "touristy" thing to do, we really enjoyed stopping in one of the many restaurants/bars that had Friends episodes playing on their TVs non-stop.  We went in for dinner the first night and stayed for the next 2-3 hours.  We both love Friends!

We wanted to be active the next day so we went on a hike across the river to a few limestone cliffs (aka karsts) and climbed to the top where we could see rice paddies, cattle, forest, and a panoramic view of the town.  It was a great activity for the morning and got us sweating quite a bit.

We carried on to the Lus Cave and lagoon, but we had to go with a guide and we didn't want to take that much time, so we headed back to town to get tubes and float the river.  Surprisingly, the water was clean, clear, and cool.  There were a few bars along the way (nothing like it used to be).  We were with three other guys that just so happened to be going at the same time as us.  Kees and Bjorn from Holland, and Manu from Italy.  We had a good time and the surrounding views of karst limestone mountains and Laos countryside made it totally worth it.

After a quick stopover in Vang Vieng, it was time to keep heading south.