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Rating
:  (
4.6 ) ( 11 votes )
Vang Viang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Jan 09, 2004 01:37
Pros: friendly locals, interesting
place
Cons:
scamming
As many travellers must do when they move on from Louang Phabang,
we had to take the "chicken bus" to our next destination,
Vang Viang. We shared the bus with a bunch of locals, the majority
of whom proceeded to be very sick into plastic bags so that you
could see exactly what everyone had been eating for lunch (the smell
when combined with live chickens on board is ... unique), the only
people who seemed to be coping well with the 6 hour bus ride were
other travellers and a couple of militia men carrying ex-Russian
AK's. This made for a very interesting bus ride, and lack of toliets
on route meant that we had to scramble down the side of the road
every now & then (trying not to stray too far for fear of UXO's-unexploded
ordnance & bandits). All in all, the ride was very scenic as
we wound through the mountains and past many roadside villages where
the women still wear traditional clothing. It wasn't until much
later (in Thailand) that we were told by a fellow traveller that
the bus ride we had taken had been held up by bandits last year
and everyone on board was killed. Good thing we (Nari - Kevin couldn't
care less) didn't know at the time!
We arrived to Vang Viang with a shock. It wasn't a bad shock though
as we found we were going to get value for money accomodation &
free Laos coffee! We loved Vang Viang so much that we lingered for
2 extra days, sunbathing on the river side and eating lots of roti
(filled with banana & milo, topped with chocolate and condensed
milk). The town is fully geared to backpackers, offering mats &
hammocks on a river island reached by rickety bamboo bridge, restaurants
showing more vcd movies to entertain you at every meal (one of the
ones we went to showed nothing but friends episodes & was always
packed!). The highlight was inner tubing down the river against
the background of Limestone Karsts, incredibly relaxing... and if
you should want a beer while you float down the river there was
several rafts offering beer Lao ... hell why not the tour company
is called Beer Lao Inner tubing. The other touristy thing we did
here was to visit the caves in the area, not quite as fun as the
tubing, and typically a scam (pay for 2 caves, 1 is barely more
than a hole in the wall, and find that the cave you really wanted
to see is not included, its an 'extra' charge and you can't access
it 'til you're leaving the other caves).
Reluctantly we left for Vientiane some days later as our time is
limited with a 15 day Visa. To sum up Vientiane we found it to be
overpriced, & not particularly attractive, so we stayed just
one night before hopping over the border back to Nong Kai, Thailand,
and to Pizza Company (we both got addicted to this pizza during
our time in Thailand, its our one western food indulgence).
Our time in Nong Kai was brief as we were anxious to get back to
BKK. There is however a very noteworthy mention in Nong Kai, Dan
Nam Nuang - The vietnamese roll your own fresh spring rolls restaurant.
For around 100 baht Nari & I stuffed ourselves full of these
delicous little parcels of food, leaving us the fattest we have
felt since Chiang Mai Cooking School. We are now really looking
forward to Vietnam and the chance to eat this again.
Last thoughts on Laos, well worth a trip but the experience would
have been greatly enhanced if we hadn't been scammed so badly, and
repeatedly by the boat operators. Otherwise the local people were
very friendly and generally seemed more happy to see foreigners
than in Thailand where tourists are more commonplace. Overall we're
glad we took this path rather than a Thai hill tribe trek which
can be very commercial.
Sabaidee, K&N |
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