Va Va Vang Vieng

Main Street, Vang Vieng
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March 4, 2006

A trip to Vang Vieng is all about the activities you choose to do, not about the town itself, which is the epitome of how tourism can go wrong.  The setting of the town is stunningly beautiful, with a backdrop of steep, jagged mountains lining the banks of a pristine river.  The surrounding areas offer hidden caves for exploration, fields and forests for hiking, rivers for paddling, and other opportunities for nature lovers.

Backpacker Central...'Beer Lao! Beer Lao!'

On the Edge of Town
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Our time in the town was spent avoiding the abberations that have sprung up and robbed Vang Vieng of any local character or charm.  Most prevalent are the so-called TV bars, which boast the opportunity to watch Friends at all times of the day and night, while drinking oneself into a stupor.  The rumors are true: you can stand on one corner on the main road and watch five different episodes of Friends at the same time.  Vegetable backpackers have become a standard fixture of these rotting establishments.

Bomb Bell
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For our first full day we went for a trek, tube, cave, kayak outing led by a locally owned and operated travel agency.  We met up with a group of travelers at the tour office for a brief breakfast before heading a half hour north by kayak-laden sawngthew (truck with benches).  We stopped at a village to visit the Elephant Cave, a local holy place filled with gaudy Buddha figures and a rock that mildly resembles an elephant.  More interesting than any of this is a bell that hangs to one side of the cave, which is used to call monks to meditation. The converted US bomb is an amazing work of irony, as the pure tone emitted by this halved and eviscerated implement of destruction focuses one's attention on the peaceful energy of the moment at hand.

View from Our Hike
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We walked through the village and fallow rice paddies to a stream that emerged from under a sheer rock face.  We all hesitated to jump onto our tractor tire inner tubes in the frigid water, but once in, our adventure really began.  The cave mouth was only just high enough to squeeze under as we lay back on our tubes and pulled ourselves hand over hand along a submerged line.  Switching on our head lamps, we were greeted by a glistening, low ceiling of tiny crystals and scalloped rock worn away over the millennia of wet seasons.  We floated deeper into this giant geode and the echo grew as the light dwindled.  Bottoming out about 150 yards into the tunnel, we beached our tubes on the pebbled shore and continued on foot or, more accurately, on all fours.  Crawling through a tight passage, we emerged into a large room with a vaulted ceiling and paused there to learn a bit about the cave's history from our guide.  The cave had served as a bomb shelter for the local people for up to three month stints during the US and Vietnamese bombing raids of the 1960's, 70's, and 80's.  We all shut off our lamps and let the complete darkness and silence envelope us.  The blackness was almost suffocating in its totality.

Trekking
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After lunch we kayaked down the river back to Vang Vieng.  Along the way we hit a few mild rapids, which are touted during the wet season.  We also stopped at a riverside bar/fun area for some volleyball and trapeze swinging.  Back on the river we paddled into the sunset through the doldrums of the long flat water section, surviving a water fight with our guides, and past the sirens perched along the rocky shores tempting us with their melodious "Beer Lao! Beer Lao!"

That night Loren sampled his first banana pancake, if you could call it that, from one of the 50 or so roto cart vendors that lined the street.  He was instantly hooked, and if anyone ever tells you that it's totally safe and no one ever gets addicted from their first try, they are either lying or have never had a banana roto pancake fried in butter and oil, drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and chocolate syrup, and topped with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar (though the latter is optional).  He had another three before the night was out, and in his pained and bloated state still managed to voice his new found love and his unquenched, life-threatening urge for more.  To this day, he will still indulge occasionally.  In fact, given the opportunity, it is unlikely that he will walk past a roto stand without leaving with sweetened lips and sticky fingers.

A Nearby Village
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We spent our last full day in Vang Vieng in typical backpacker fashion with a lazy tube down the river.  The four hour float through the beautiful scenery was broken only occasionally by the now familiar cries of debauchery: Beer Lao! Beer Lao!

We ate about half of our meals at a diamond in the rough, aka the Organic Farm Cafe.  Hidden on the edge of town, this cafe serves cheap, high quality food and, most notably, mulberry dishes of all kinds made with their local, organically grown stock.  Tempura mulberry tree leaves was one of our favorite specialties, along with mulberry shakes, mulberry pancakes, mulberry tea...

Trapeze 1
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Once we had had enough of the Vang Vieng scene (and our last mulberry shakes), we caught the noon o' clock bus up to Luang Prabang, an overloaded, pink clatterbox on threadbare tires.