Our first experience of Laos was at the Nongkhai border crossing from Thailand. You are able to receive a 30 day visa at the border for $42.00 Canadian. It’s a slow three step process followed by a cheap bus ride and a fairly cheap taxi ride to get to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. We got lucky a few times in this process. The first was taking a tuk-tuk to the border with a tour guide. He was very helpful. The second was when we hitched a ride with a couple other travelers in a taxi to Vientiane.
Upon arrival in Vientiane you can already see the French influence, not to mention every menu you see while in Laos has baguettes on it. We got off along the river and made our way one block in to Saysouly Guesthouse. It’s only 100,000 (roughly $12.00 CAD) Kip for a TV, AC, and a hot shower. We hadn’t had a hot shower in weeks at the time, so it was a must. We only spent one night in Vientiane so that we could get the most out of northern Laos, mainly Vang Vieng.
We hopped on a bus and 5 hours later we were in the small party capital of Laos. Filled with tons of young travelers this small town has tons of activities. You can tube down a river and have beer while you do it, go kayaking, cave exploring, rock climbing, or just enjoy countless Family Guy and Friends episodes in the bars. We spent 8 days here.
Our first day in Vang Vieng we moved our bags in to Popular View Guesthouse for 120,000 Kip a night for AC, two beds, and the most amazing view I’ve had at a guesthouse to date. We were on the top floor in the corner room, which had windows all around it which opened up to a great mountain view.
Later that day after getting settled we decided to try tubing. You just walk down the street and there are many tube renting outfits that will rent you a tube and drive you up river. So a few minutes later we were getting off our tuk-tuk outside of town at the original bar that started it all. It was all open and had a slide and a swing. They also give free shots before you jump in the water. So 2 shots later we were holding our beer and sitting on a slide ready to embark on our adventure. Both of us lost our beer on that slide but lucky for us they re-surfaced. About 10 minutes in to our tubing ride you see 4 bars on either side of the river pounding out music and packed with party goers. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do any work to get to these bars. They employ locals that have water bottles slightly filled with water for weight attached to a rope which they use to catch and pull you in. Getting out of the water is no easy task when you’ve had a few, very hard on the shins.
Steve and I ended up stopping a few times for beer, but the one bar that captured us was Slide Bar. It has a huge slide made out of bathroom tiles. The slide is roughly two stories above the river. You need to buy a beer to ride it, which was not a problem at all. So up top Steve asks me to take a picture of him going down it. I was to shocked at how fast he flew down the slide that I forgot about the camera. Next I was up, and waiting for people to clear the landing area. I was joined shortly by 2 drunk ladies telling me to go I said what about the dudes neck that I could land on, she said just do it. So I was off, with a waterproof bag full of cameras and beer. Steve and I are certain we have the all time distance record off the slide. I ran down a quarter of it flying off then end and landing some where in the middle of the water. My bag nailed me in the chest but I was to excited to care.
An hour or so later we were back on our journey. Stopping at the last bar on the strip to warm up near a fire and grab one more beer. It had already gotten pretty dark at this time so that was a brief stop. Now tuk-tuk drivers start flocking to the river banks at around 4:30 picking up tubers that were running out of light and getting cold. Steve and I being Canadian said no to them, and I quote “We payed for these tubes, and by god we are going to use them”. Long story short it was dark and cold when we finally came ashore at the River View Island just down from our place. Later that night we enjoyed the nightlife on the “Island”. Three bars that pump different music and all have different attractions. Rock Bar for rock and roll, Limbo Bar for fire limbo and fire shows, and Bucket Bar for bucket hi-balls.
The next day we vowed to get on the river sooner. We got on at about 1, which is the latest any one should attempt to do the full tubing trip at. We stopes about 10 minutes in at a bar for some jungle ping pong. The tabs was warped and cracked and the paddles were nearly garbage. But we played the hell out of that table. And the Laos bartenders were more than happy to bring us beer. A few hours later we were back at the Godzilla of slides, Slide Bar. With intentions on sliding we bought beer and got the stamp to ride the slide. But before we could do that Steve had made some Laos friends. I came over to see what was up and found myself sitting with them eating buffalo skin, sticky rice, dried basil, and morning glory. We soon found out one of the people at the table owned slide bar and the only nightclub in town. The owner really took a liking to Steve. It took a little Canadian charm but we soon had the owner and his butler playing a drinking game. Drink your full cup of beer if any one says full. After it was quite late and we were the last people there he drove us with our tubes back to our place where it was an early night for me. Actually his butler drove.
After having our fill of tubing steve and I signed up for kayaking. You start your day tubing through a cold cave. Ou wear headlamps and pull yourself along by rope. Then you hit a very shallow point where you walk for 5 minutes crouched over. Then you make a big chain of tubes and ever one paddles. Lucky for Steve and I we got the back, which meant we could enjoy our beer with little effort. After the cave they feed you and toss you in the kayaks which are double seaters. And off you go down the same river the tubers are all on. You then stop and have a beer at the first bar along the way. Close to the end of our trip we challenged the Brits and a couple randoms to a race. Steve and I had them all until we gambled and flipped our kayak 5 seconds away from hitting the shore. Took that corner to fast.
The next day was spent caving which was a great experience. We rented pedal bikes and biked 6 km into the Laos country side where you see tons of small huts and farms. All under the beautiful mountains that tower over this small river town. Upon reaching the main cave, we payed for headlamps and a cave guide. It cost about 8 dollars combined for Steve and I. You get an hour of cave trekking in the pitch black, wet and dirty caves. It’s definitely worth it. The best memory from caving was when Steve farted, which echoed and caused our guide to laugh uncontrollably.
The small town of Vang Vieng is quite an oddity having seen the rest of Laos. Considering Laos has a curfew of 11:00 PM, Vang Vieng makes the best of it and really pushes past that curfew to 3:00 AM on good nights. And if I forgot you get one free shot of whiskey for ever drink you buy. We won’t forget this town anytime soon.
