Vang Vieng: A bizarre but beautiful tourist island in the middle of Lao

Some kids carrying goods along the side of the road on the way to Vang Vieng
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The town where I am now, Vang Vieng, is described in my guide book as a place that you either "love or loathe."  I think it is a pretty apt description...  At the end of the Buddhist New Year in Luang Prabang, Stefano and I grabbed a 6hr minibus ride down the winding road here to Vang Vieng.  The drive itself was beautiful, though a bit rough on the stomach.  The landscape that we cruised through was massively impressive, with jagged limestone mountains looming on either side of the small river valley that we followed down.  Along the way we passed through many tiny little villages and a couple military checkpoints (standard).  And about every 15 mins along the way there were also little village "guard stations" (I don't know how else to describe them), each with a few ragged-looking village guys and their AK-47's hanging out under makeshift shaded areas.  Also a fair number of younger guys (teenage/20s) walking down the street with their AK's slung over their backs.  Fun fun.    There were also tons of little kids running around all over the place throughout the villages.  Lots of happy, smiling kids often playing in the road or very close to it.  Five year olds carrying around their 2yr old siblings, some asking for money, but most just waving or wai-ing (a 'wai' is the traditional greeting, a prayer like motion).

Beautiful limestone mountains along the valley that we drove through.
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When we arrived in Vang Vieng we instantly encountered the flip side of the traveler coin.  This town is about half way between Luang Prabang and Vientienne (the Lao capital) and is a stopover for most travelers in route between the two.  After seeing so many tourist over the years, the town itself has taken on a tourist personality of its own.  The main activity here is tubing down the river, a beautiful stretch running in a narrow valley with the limestone peaks to one side and little villages stretching along the other.  That being said, it's not what I would describe as anything resembling a cultural experience.  Along the entire section of the river, on both shores, are bars and restuarants packed with foreigners and locals enjoying the day and basking in the sun.  Each bar has a 'pole guy' who sits next to the river all day with a massive bamboo pole to pull tubers into their particular establishment.  They then all have a bunch of riverside bamboo porches for hanging out on, and my favorite part... each place has their own rope swing, zipline, etc.  It all makes for a day of big smiles and new friends.

Marnie and I, tubing day.
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The other main attractions in the town oof Vang Vieng is lounging and indulging.  The bizarre thing is the TV's.  Everywhere has tv's going all the time; bars, restuarants, guesthouses all playing movies or Simpsons reruns or Friends reruns.  Most of the places are set up with floor tables and lots of lounge cushions, and oriented toward the tv.  It's weird to walk past a restuarant at dinner time and not here a single conversation... it can kill an atmosphere real quick.  But for many people, they've been on the road for months and months, and I can understand where some down time infront of the tube could sound wonderful.... I myself and not innocent either, and have been pulled into several movies.  But on the whole I tried to avoid it.  Stefano and I ended up hanging out in one place pretty regularly, one of the only with music playing, not just laugh tracks at high volume.  Good food and good prices (plus their special 'happy' menu, but that was just an added bonus... honest :-)

Chillin in the tube, friends all around, shore bars in the background.
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One of the nice thing about this town being a main stop on the travelers path through Lao is that since everyone comes here you're bound to run into people that you know... many people.  On arriving into Vang Vieng, Stefano and I almost immediately ran into folks we knew from Pai, to begin with some British girls, Sarah and Maria.  Then when we went to grab some food, sat down, looked over, and I was sitting right next to Marnie (Canadian girl that I had hung out with in Bangkok a month earlier, also in the group with me for the memorable birthday evening...).  She had a new friend with her, a French girl, and we all ended up hanging out together for the next few days and nights.  It was also with that group that we started out our tubing expedition, though many new friends were made along the way too.

Marnie and Stefano in the cave
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Stefano, Marnie, and I also had a fun day where we rented motorbikes and went off with a map to find some of the massive limestone caves that are in the mountains surrounding the town.  We found several of the caves, but without good lights (packed safely in the backpack back in the guesthouse....) we ended up exploring the dark (tight!) passages with the light from the LCD screen on our cameras.  The first one that we went to was the deepest, we only went in a little ways but then were unsure of where to go... then the little 6yr old village girl who'd been walking behind us poked her head in the cave, didn't say anything and just started leading the way deeper and deeper, no light, not a word spoken.We ended up going in for about 15 minutes before the winding labrynth became too narrow to weezel through and we turned back.  A very cool experience, but it would have been great to have a real light along...

Our fearless 6 yr old cave guide...
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Later that day with the motorbikes we also cruised through some tiny little farming villages in search of some more caves.  The caves were closed for the day, but the real experience was seeing the villages and village people going about their evening routines, cooking, mending, and planting.  We asked directions from the guys driving his water buffalos home... that sort of thing.  Different.

After a few days of fun together in Luang Prabang, Stefano was on his way to Vientienne (the capital) to get his visa for Vietnam.  For me it was off the the Organic Farm about 5km outside of town, where I was hoping to be working and staying for a while.  It had been a lot of fun traveling with Stefano, a good friend to share a lot of fun experiences with, split a room with when things got too expensive, and a quality wingman to chase the girls around with...  From the time in Pai it had been about 2 weeks that we ended up on the road together.  Vietnam and Cambodia are a bit later on my itinerary than his, but I think that we'll probabally meet up on Ko Pan Yang (spelled wrong...)  in the southern Thai islands for the massive Full Moon Festival at the end of May.  But only time will tell...

Marnie and some village kids we met exploring some small villages by motorbike.
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The last bit of my time here in Vang Vieng I had though would be a chaper of its own... my time on the Organic Farm.  I had heard wonderful things about it from several people, most notably Brett, who spent almost a month there.  But on arriving I had a different type of feeling from the place.  As in anywhere that you go, it's the people who really make the scene.  I could see the farm being a wonderful place to spend time and be productive if you're surrounded by good friends.  My time spent there was rather odd, with the few people that were there seeming very clicky (what's the adjective form of clic?).  The other people that I met liked me, but after a few days together they really started to annoy me.  I travel alone for a reason, so that I can live by my own schedule... no debate needed.  I had been hoping to find some solo time at the farm to kind of organize and center myself a little bit.  Instead I found apathy toward my being there, and annoyance from my company.   I spent one afternoon helping out make mudbricks that they use to build all sorts of things around the farm.  One evening helping out with the English classes for the little village kids  But aside from that I didn't really get up to too much.  Went for another day of tubing down the river with new friends... met a cool kid from Saratoga Springs, NY , very close to where I grew up.  But on returning to the farm I felt like I was returning to an unhappy place.

Mouth of the 'Tiger Cave'
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So after 3 nights on the farm I've left.  That's the beautiful thing... if it doesn't make you happy, just change it.  Now, instead of being on the farm for a week or two (as originally conceived) I will be using the second half of my 30 Lao visa to head down to the Vientienne (the capital) tomorow, and then working my way down to the far south of Lao, near the Cambodian border, to a place called the '4000 Islands.'  It's supposed to be absolutely beautiful, and instantly got me excited once I made the decisions for an exodus from the farm.

Sun setting over the mountains, fields, and a small village road.
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That's about it for now...this is the first time I've been caught up on the writting for a couple weeks now.  I hope everyone a love and care about are doing well, and it'd be great to get some emails from all of you instead of just opening my email to a bunch of viagra messages every few days.  :-)

much love

evan