Following the terrifying bus journey down from Ponsavan we opted for what appears to be the most popular form of mass(ish) transport in the mountains of Laos, a mini-van. And with the memories of seven hours of narrow windy mountainous roads still fresh in our minds, it is easy to see why this is the preferred mode of transport. Though we were crammed in, sardine stylee, with zero leg room it was still a vast improvement and with the fear factor down to a bare minimum, it was possible to finally appreciate the dramatic landscape that enveloped us for most of the journey. The rolling soft sided mountain jungles gave way to saw toothed peaks the closer we got to Vang Vieng and 5 ish hours later we arrived at the destination we hadn't intended on visiting, thanks mainly to the discouraging lonely planet review we had previously read.
Having being dumped at the bus station out of town (the tourist bus stations always seem to be just far enough out of town so you have no choice but to take a taxi or a Tuk Tuk) we had to take take a Tuk Tuk to the heart of the town via the now common detour Tuk Tuk drivers take to their mates guest houses. Having failed to find any accommodation within our budget price range - (we did try hard I promise!!!), we settled in to our rather luxurious, by travelling standards, guest house, dumped our bags, showered off and went off exploring!
Vang Vieng is famous for its surrounding limestone cliffs which rise vertically from flat farm land 100's of meters in to the sky, most of which house caves which carve deep in to the sides of the cliffs and, it is also infamous for "tubing" and the easily marketable and profitable hedonism that supports this local industry. As we stepped out of the hotel for the first time we were greeted by our first vision of a victim of tubing, a chap covered in mud and unable to walk without the support of his friends and who had clearly succumb to one too many opium pipes or a vast quantity of booze, either way he was in a bad state. Not wanting to interfere and as he had friends around him, we simply stepped over his muddy body, whistled as if nothing had happened and continued exploring.
15 minutes of wandering later we concluded that this part of Vang Vieng at least, is set up for people to drink/get high, go tubing, drink some more, get higher and then have hangovers. The shops of the town were either Internet cafe's, bars and restaurants weirdly all with the same menu one for food and one "happy menu", and video bar,. lots and lots and lots of video bars all blasting out Friends or Family Guy 24 hours a day. A first Alicia and I found the staff of these video bars a little frosty but it didn't take long to sympathise with their constant life of Friends on loop.
Despite my depressive and grown up initial musings on our new surroundings Alicia and I both new deep down that come two days time we would be at one with the town, making full use of the same same menus(the food and not the happy ones), enjoying the video bars and the tubing....which will be explained in more detail very soon!!!
As we had put the next day aside for mountain biking round the cliffs and for cave exploring, we put our heads down early, trying to block out the trance music from the "bucket bar" across the river, and quickly drifted off to slumber land.
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