When we arrived in Vang Vieng I was initially taken aback by how different it was from what I was expecting. Prior to arriving we’d spoken to several families who had said they loved Vang Vieng and it’s natural beauty, yet here I was standing in the middle of town watching a bunch of young guys binge drink at noon. This is not what I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, the mountains in the background were absolutely breathtaking, but the minute your glance comes back down to eye level…it’s a different story.
Vang Vieng is a party town. It’s where millennials come to drink and do drugs, as was made obvious by all the “buy a bucket of alcohol and get one free” deals and that one bar that serves up doses of weed, shrooms, and opium…yep, opium. As you walk down the streets it feels like a town that has lost itself in the throes of tourism. No matter where you look it’s hard to get a genuine taste of the town’s Laotian culture. Or was this it? Had it spent so long appropriating its traditions to suit young backpackers that it no longer had a sense of the way things used to be? The further you walk outside the town, the more locals you see, and the more you realize just how out of touch both realities are. I’m torn between thinking tourism is good for this place (stimulating the economy) all while ruining it at the same time. I guess it’s hard to have one without the other- mutually assured destruction if you will. After all, its tourism that brought us here in the first place.
That being said, we did drink, and we had fun- we just remembered getting home the next morning (we’re like an old married couple, I know). Our favorite place was Smile Beach Bar, it’s a little tamer than the most famous bar in Vang Vieng (Sakura Bar-which literally sells balloons filled with Nitrous Oxide), but still a great time. They have these little huts were you can relax in a hammock or lounge right by the river and watch the sunset.
Our best day in Vang Vieng consisted of renting bicycles and going for, what started off as a very rough, bike ride to the blue lagoon. It’s been years….years since I’ve been on a bicycle, and it was painfully obvious. After multiple crashes, cursing my existence, and threatening to turn around and walk, I finally mastered it and we were on our way. The ride was spectacular. All along the road you pass through small villages and get a real glimpse of what traditional life in Laos is like. You see villagers tending to their farms- herding cattle, feeding chickens- and women knitting scarves and traditional Laotian skirts. Kids played in dusty roads and ran alongside us laughing. This is the Laos I was dying to see.
After we returned, while walking around we found a sign that lead to a very obscure path outside the town. I basically had to drag Mike down the dirt path to get him to go with me, and he immediately regretted it when we ran into a heard of cows and I lost my mind and took thousands of pictures (for those who don’t know…I love cows). But once we were on our way and the cows were out of sight, general moods improved and we could enjoy the incredible beauty of the view ahead of us- endless rows of mountains.
At the end of the path there was a sketchy little booth with a man selling tickets to a cave. Now the path to the cave was dubious to say the least. They had basically found a way to tether ladders to the side of the mountain so that you could work your way up, which we did every so gracefully in our worn down flip -flops (not advisable). When we got to the top we were both awe struck- there it was, an actual cave and we had it all to ourselves.
Now on the flight into Laos I had seen an article about a new cave they discovered that was still closed to tourists because it was full of vipers…(which apparently is standard in Laotian caves) so you can’t blame me for being very cautious about entering this secret cave of ours. So we went cave exploring, ever so slowly and making sure to check all the dark crevices for unwanted company. It was awesome.
For the first time on our trip, we were alone in a beautiful place, free to explore and wander as we pleased. We treasured our little cave and thanked it for giving us some peace and quiet, and a place to think.
When we got back into town we had a wonderful dinner (that I’ll talk more about on the soon to be released Food page), and watched the sunset one more time before heading to bed and preparing for the next stage in our journey- Luang Prabang.
