Laos – Vang Vieng
For Carly’s April break last week we flew into Udon Thani (Thailand) which is a short jaunt from Vientiane and the Laos border. It was a relatively painless (but a bit time-consuming) process to grab a Visa on Arrival into Laos, although we were quite surprised that Visa’s for Canadians were the most expensive of the bunch – at USD$43 a pop. We’re used to seeing the Yanks get screwed for Visa prices – but apparently not in Laos (USD$30 for the ‘murricans).
Mike McCarney (hope I spelled that right) one of Carly’s co-workers was traveling solo that week – so he, Carly and I all grabbed a taxi up to Vang Vieng straight away. We didn’t want the hussle bussle of Vientiane – we wanted to chill out. Our cab driver was kind enough to stop in Vientiane for us to grab a bite of lunch (some awesome noodle soup with mystery meat from the morning market), and from there we were off to Vang Vieng – about a 3-4 hour drive. Our driver was kind enough to tell us he had “bad eyes” as he was taking us on our journey, and the cab was questionable at best. Regardless, we arrived in Vang Vieng without incident, and found some awesome accommodation at some place I can’t even pronounce.
The business card says “Suantham Machat Legardin Organique”. But for US$10 a night we scored our own bungalow with a queen-sized bed, hot showers, and a view overlooking the river and the sunset. Not a bad score at all.
View from our room at sunset.
Our room with the handy mosquito net that Carly hung up. Not too many mosquitoes around though.
Standing outside our bungalow.
From our room – during the day.
On day two in Vang Vieng, we rented some motorcycles and hit the streets (and the caves). The Shell Station with the blown out windows was too good a photo opp to miss.
Me and Mike at the gas station.
Gas anyone?
Just a bit down-river from our guest house was this toll bridge that didn’t look like it held much. Any trucks that needed to cross the river just…well… drove through the river. I very amusing site, in perpetuity while we were there.
Shot of some of the mountains from the other side of the bridge, on our way to the caves.
Boys on bikes.
Carly wasn’t comfortable on the semi-automatic bike, so she rode on the back of mine. That was a good time.
Carly taking photos while we were riding.
Bananas!
One of the coolest things about Vang Vieng were the countless modes of transportation. Everyone seemed to have one of these, what I would describe as a highly-modified rotor-tiller with huge long handles. They hooked these bad boys up to a cart, and you essntially had a gas powered horse. They drove ‘em on the roads, on the trails and yes, even through the river.
This is a shot of one of the school’s in Vang Vieng
Nice shot of the mountains in the area.
Pouring concrete frames for a 3-story building. Love to see if this was WCB approved back home 
.
This shot is money.
One of the streets in Vang Vieng.
We rode our bikes about 15Km north of town and came across this great shot. We had been looking for the organic farm that is famous for their mulberry shakes, which we eventually found, and drank a number of. Yum.
Later that night – we came back here. These bamboo footbridges cross this part of the river to a couple of outdoor bars. The bars have these cabana-like tent things set up with hammocks overlooking the river. When we got back to the bikes – Mike’s gas had been siphoned from his. A good time to be certain. He grabbed onto the back of our bike and we towed him home. Had a pretty good laugh while we were at it.
A few more sunset photos from our accommodation.
Vang Vieng was a great start to our trip. It’s definitely a relaxed place, quiet. Good food, and surprisingly excellent pizza (at pretty much every restaurant). The menu’s are definitely near perfect photocopies of each other, with a few words changed here or there. The best pizza we had was fresh pineapple and basil – might sound weird – but it was outstanding.
True to its reputation, Friends was playing at a number of restaurants, and Carly and I sat down to watch a couple episodes with a drink at some point. Thoroughly enjoyable. 
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