Arrival in Vang Vieng

Monday was a quiet day of walking around Louang Prabang, and in the evening I booked a bus ride south to Vang Vieng. The plan was to head in the direction of Vientiane to pick up a visa for Vietnam. From there I could backtrack north again in Laos before crossing the border. However, I was informed by a fellow traveller that when crossing into North Vietnam there is little transport to the nearest city. I am therefore now considering doing South Laos before heading into Vietnam, and possibly entering Cambodia before I go to Vietnam.

The bus ride to Vang Vieng showed off the incredible scenery which Laos has to offer. As the bus swivelled around each hill top turn, the hills rolled on for miles. I was also thankful that I had booked myself onto a slow and steady VIP coach rather than a nippy and scary minibus.

I teamed up with a Swiss guy when the bus arrived at Vang Vieng bus station. Jarmo has been travelling for three and a half years, and I trusted his instinct to just walk somewhere despite the fact that we had no guide book. After ten minutes walking we were caught up by a Japanese girl from our bus. When we informed her that we had no idea where we were walking, she asked a local for some directions. It turned out that we were walking the wrong way! To make it worse, the sun was blaring down and the mosquitoes had recently made a meal of my ankles! After more blind walking and asking locals, we eventually found some more westerners who had recently arrived. They had a map and we soon realised the truth; we had been going the right way all along! When the local had given us some wrong information, we were actually only round the corner from Vang Vieng centre!

When we eventually arrived, Jarmo and me got a twin room and we had a quick walk round. Vang Vieng is a very tourist based town next to the river and with some great scenery. Many 'Friends Bars' are dotted around; bar-restaurants that serve western Food and play back-to-back episodes of Friends - constantly. One of the waiters genuinely appears to find it amusing to greet all customers with Joey's 'How you doing?' catchphrase - although in his Laos accent it actually does sound pretty funny. By crossing one of the bridges over to the river, however, it feels like I have been warped to a new place altogether! Busy bars blurt out loud dance music accompanied by psychedelic strobe lighting and the occasional camp fire. Herds of drunken westerners begin to crowd in as the nights draw on, and it's very easy to forget that you are in the middle of a third world country. It feels very bizarre and out of place.

On Wednesday, Jarmo and me hired some motorbikes and explored the beautiful surrounding landscapes. The ride was much more off-road than my explorations around Pai, thus pushing my biking skills a step further. I once again remained on the bike at all times, and the scenery was yet again spectacular. The highlights were probably the two caves we went to. A guide was there to help us around, and the second one contained a lagoon. Large rubber rings were waiting by the pool, and it was eerie and relaxing to float around amidst our echoed voices.

In the evening I relaxed with many hours worth of Friends. Tomorrow we have a tripped planned which will include kayaking and going through some caves on a rubber ring. I just hope my lack of swimming ability doesn't prove to be a problem!