laos: in the tubing.

i love laos.

So on March 31^st we finally arrived in Vientiane LAOS!  We decided to stay here for a few nights…we were tired of buses and wanted to stay in once place before hitting the road again.  We wandered the streets around the river trying to find a decent, cheap place to stay for a few nights.  We found a nice little place next to this amazingly delicious restaurant/fruit shake place.  We ate a LOT of our meals here.  We were pretty exhausted after our long day of buses and border crossings so we just passed out for a while before heading out to grab some dinner.  We went to bed pretty early and woke up refreshed and ready to explore!  I have to say, Vientiane is probably one of the most livable capital cities I have been to.  It was easy to get around, enough stuff was in English to understand things, the people were SO NICE, and there were tons of bread/pastry shops everywhere!  Each morning we went this little Scandinavian bakery and shoved our faces with delicious chocolate croissants, fruit salads, and sandwiches.  After filling our stomachs we decided to take a tour of the city and check out its main highlights.  We went to one of the oldest wats in the city, saw the Victory Gate of Vientiane which is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in France, and went down to the Mekong River to enjoy some Beer Laos while the sun set as we looked over the river into Thailand.  We booked tickets that night for the next day to head up to Luang Prabang, a town that sits up in the mountainous region of northern Laos. 

 

We had to be up and packed super early to be ready for our 7am bus ride.  It took around 10 hours to get to Luang Prabang, and it was the most miserable bus ride I’ve ever been on.  I would take the 24 hour bus from Vietnam to Laos over this bus ride any day!  It was just all winding roads, up these huge mountains, and although the views from the bus were beautiful with little bamboo houses perched up on the sides of cliffs, it was just suuuper uncomfortable.  I was so so happy when we finally got off the bus and caught a tuk-tuk to take us into the main part of town.  We walked around for a bit to find a place to stay and finally decided on a little hotel off the main road.  We dropped off our stuff and headed out for the night market.  Every night Luang Prabang shuts down the main street and turns it inot a night market filled with amazing food and crafts.  We went to a food stall that let you fill your plate up with an assortment of noodle and vegetable dishes for 10,000 KIP, so cheap!  After filling our stomachs we explored the market.  There were so many things I wanted to buy, but we decided to just look and scope things out before going back and actually buying them.  We ended the night getting delicious fruit shakes (watermelon and pineapple) and headed to bed.  Woke up the next morning and went to the same scandiniavian restaurant that we went to in Vientiane and then headed out to rent bicycles for the day.  We grabbed some sandwiches from a street vendor and set off on our bikes.  We were hoping to bike to a set of waterfalls we had heard about, but soon realized that it was further away than we thought.  The further away from the main road we got, the more rural the streets became.  We rode down some bumpy dirt rounds, waving at everyone who passed by us and taking in the beautiful countryside.  The roads got to be too much for our bikes so we turned around and rode through town to the river where we posted up and ate our sandwiches.  We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around, hanging out by the river catching up on the internet and loving our A/C room and eating lots of sandwiches and shakes.  The next morning we woke up early and caught a songteau to the waterfalls!  We made the right decision not trying to bike there, it was quite the trek on a windy dirt road.  It took about 30 minutes to get there in the truck.  There were several tiers of waterfalls and they were gorgeous.  We swam at some of the pools and at one there was a rope swing so the girls and I took turns flying off of it into the water.  It was a great afternoon and we had a great time exploring the falls.  Right outside the waterfalls was a small sun bear sanctuary that had 8-10 sun bears!  They are adorable and we spent way too much time watching them play around.  It was our last night in Luang Prabang, which meant our last shopping opportunity so we hit the night market for our big shopping spree.  After a lot of deliberation I bought this amazing handmade blanket from a little old lao lady.  It’s purple and beautiful and I can’t wait to be home so I can use it!  

The next morning we woke up early and left for Vang Vieng.  There were tons of seats on the bus so we all spread out and passed out for most of the 6 hour bus ride.  We didn’t want to suffer through the bus ride like we did last time so we bought some OTC sleeping pills so we could just pass out and they worked amazingly!  Vang Vieng is a backpacker town and its main street is full of guest houses, bars, restaurants, internet cafes, tour agencies, western tourists, and various stands selling “In the Tubing” tanks and Ray Band sunglasses.  Vang Vieng is also known for its bars and restaurants that play episodes of “Friends” and “Family Guy” ALL DAY.  It’s so random, but we loved being able to watch “Friends” at every meal! Inner tubing down the Nam Song River is a popular attraction amongst backpackers.  The river is lined with bars selling Beer Lao and equipped with rope swings, zip lines, and large riverside decks.  We were able to meet up with Chelsea here and the 4 of us spent 3 days tubing down the river and having a great time!  The first day only Kianna and I went out to the river and we were able to scope things out and made some friends that we hung out with the next 2 days when we went tubing which was a lot of fun.  The river was pretty clear that day, but thanks to a big rainstorm that night, the river became super muddy and dirty for our next 2 days of tubing.  Unfortunately, the dirty water somehow made its way into my waterproof camera and it broke, so I wasn’t able to get many pictures while on the river, but I have memories that will last a lifetime!  Laos was probably my favorite country we visited during our travels.  So many good times there, the people were so friendly, the food was great….just an amazing experience!

  After our 5 nights in Vang Vieng we were ready to head back to Vientiane and spend a night there before we hopped on a bus on April 11th to Chiang Mai, Thailand for our next adventure….SONGKRAN!