Day 224 - Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

We woke up earlier today than any other day in Laos. We were rewarded by the moon setting through the mist between 'our' karsts (it was very bright in real life - in the photo it's barely visible in between the smaller and larger dome shaped formations left of center).

By 9AM we were on the road again, heading for Luang Prabang. The road is mercifully paved, but it does switchback through mountains for almost the entire route. Because the curves side to side and the grades up and down, the less than 200Km trip takes nearly 6hours.

We were exhausted by the time we finally pulled into the minibus depot outside Luang Prabang. A part of Luang Prabang's status as a world heritage site forbids buses from entering the city. As a result, all buses stop about 4km outside of town, and weary travelers are forced to negotiate a tuk-tuk into the city proper.

That done, it is a simple matter to walk from guesthouse to guesthouse until one finds one with suitable rooms for a decent price. We (OK I) have decided to splash out a little for a western bed, hot shower, and blissfully solid walls. Even at those standards, a night at our guesthouse still costs less than a night at the movies in NYC.

After taking hot showers (our first in weeks), we headed out for dinner. We were looking for 'Dragon Girl' restaurant, listed in Lonely Planet in case N, a friend we met trekking, wanted to join us for dinner. After walking the length of the restaurants along the Mekong, we concluded that it must have gone out of business, and settled on an outdoor barbecue place with no name. As we grilled and cooked soup at our table, took in the location and the type of food, it slowly dawned on us that our 'no name' restaurant was in fact Dragon Grill. But of course everyone just referred to it as "Laos Barbecue restaurant". Oh wacky outdated Lonely Planet.

Thankfully our friend was not trying to find us, so we didn't doom her to a night of hungry wandering.

Day 223 - Spelunking...

...It's fun to say - more fun to do. The limestone karsts (there's a scrabble word for you) around Vang Vieng are pockmarked with caves of all shapes and sizes. Most are within 6km of our guesthouse, so today we rented mountain bikes and went bumping along through the woods and across dry rice paddies in search or underground adventure.

None of the caves are developed in the way of Laurey Caverns with lights and walkways. At each one, you pay 10,000kip (about $1) for an entrance ticket, headlamp (if you do not have your own), and guide if there is any chance of your becoming lost.

The first cave we stopped at, Tiger Cave, we did need a guide for, if only to show us how to wriggle through the entrances top the caverns. This one is not for the large, claustrophobic, or acrophobic (fear of heights). The adventure begins by scrambling up a steep narrow trail to the cave mouth, which is framed by stalagmites and stalactites like tigers' teeth. Once in, one soon must squeeze through a small hole, cross a rickety bamboo bridge over a dark, bottomless chasm, and and climb a ladder to another narrow gap (I barely fit). Scariest was where we had to scale smooth limestone formations on the far end of the bamboo bridge. Read: climb rocks with no hand or footholds over a chasm with only a few bamboo rods between self and horrible splatty death. It was grand fun.

We followed Tiger Cave with another cave that promised a pool where one could swim. Bolstered by our success in Tiger Cave, we opted to do this one solo, with only our little reading headlamps for light. They worked a charm, but the ratio of light to great, dark cave was definitely in cave's favour.

Unfortunately, being dry season, the pool was all dried up, though it left behind a sea of lovely red mud. Naturally 'war painting' was inevitable, sending the Lao girls at the entrance into fits of giggles when we emerged back into daylight.

We pedaled furiously back across the paddies to return our bikes in time to shower and be ready for sunset. Everyday we have planned to catch the sunset from our back door, and every day have been elsewhere. Today we made it.

Before our caving adventure, we spent some time in town itself. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world. During the 'Secret War' roughly a half ton of bombs was dropped for every man, woman, and child living in Laos. Probably no propaganda for the Pathet Lao was more successful than the US bombing runs in its bid to 'make the world safe for democracy'. Many of the millions of tons of ammo remain undetonated and are a leading cause of injury and fatalities in some provinces. Even in peaceful Vang Vieng, the beginning and end of bridge are decorated with old bomb casings.

The bridge itself is a toll bridge. I imagine they turn quite a tidy profit in the rainy season when the river runs high. In the dry season however, naked children and broke backpackers can find it much more economical just to wade.

Day 222 - The Good and The Bad

First The Bad. Or The Adventures of Drinky McBarfsalot. Or Why I Am SO OVER Bamboo Walls. This is not a tale for weak stomachs.

Some things you need to know.

1. Bamboo walls are not soundproof. Not even a little bit.

2. I. HATE. vomit. I do not like to sit in aisle seats on airplanes because I fear someone on their way to the toilet might throw up on me. Pregnant ladies make me nervous because of morning sickness. Ditto drunk people. I cover my eyes for vomit scenes in movies. And the list goes on...

So understand my horror when on our second night in Don Det we are awakened to the sound of a girl sobbing next door. Followed by...BLEAAARGH gurgle SPLAT and a man's voice saying sorry, sorry. It was all I could do to keep from responding "Well you should be!" Then more sobbing and frantic girl talking in Korean. Followed again by BLEAAAARG gurgle. gurgle. SPLAT. And more sobbing. Repeat ad nauseum (pun intended).

Drinky McBarfsalot as I have now christened our lovely neighbor was sharing his bungalow with two women. Between the guesthouse owner, the Turkish guy in the bungalow on their other side, and I, we deduced that he and girl 1 were probably an item. He got exceedingly drunk and made a pass at girl 2. Resulting in A: Girl 1 crying and B: Him projectile vomiting. Jackass.

This would be somewhat OK if the story ended there. But oh no, the saga continues. The very next night, I am awakened to a girl with an Aussie accent saying "Oh I feel so sick". Followed shortly thereafter by URP URP Bleagh Splash. URP cough splash flush. I can be a little more sympathetic as she tried to be quiet, and probably just had food poisoning, but still two nights in a row?!

The bus ride was mercifully vomit-free. BUT our very first night in Vang Vieng...It was like Drinky McBarfsalot revisited, minus the sobbing and the Korean. At least the next day his girlfriend apologised for him. Food poisoning apparently - he actually wound up in hospital. But not before causing me to vow to NEVER EVER rent a bamboo-walled bungalow again!

And now the good. And it's very good.

As mentioned before, tubing the Nam Song is the main activity in Vang Vieng. So this afternoon, we rented ourselves two tubes, hitched a a ride upstream, and flopped into the water. In rainy season it's a fast and furious float with even a few rapids. In dry season (now), the river meanders along just strong enough to make paddling redundant.

All along the way, entrepreneurial Laos have set up open-air bars and rope swings into the river. The water didn't seem deep enough for the rope swings to feel really safe, so we opted out of those. Most of the bars seemed to cater to a much younger clientele, where everyone's bits seemed to not yet have heard of gravity, and to wear anything more than a string bikini positively prudish. So we drifted on. After the first glut of 19-year olds doing mating dances, the bars mellowed out considerably, often being just a collections of bamboo platforms built into the river with a sign offering up Beer Laos. We stopped at one of these, and watched bemused as the Beer Laos gondola poled its frothy load to our side.

After drinking our lukewarm beer and baking like lizards for a while, we flopped back into our tubes to continue floating our way into town. By the time we drifted back to the tube rental place, the sun was going down, and we agreed it had been an afternoon well spent.

Every night the moon has been getting fatter and fatter. All over town today, we have been seeing signs advertising a full moon party at one of the riverside bars. Having never been to a full-moon party, and having heard tales, we decided to take the plunge. As we walked towards the sounds of revelry, the moon did its best to prove its fullness.

Once at the party, we bought the drink of choice a 'long island bucket'. As the name implies, it is a little beach bucket filled with long island ice tea. As we sipped our 'tea', we watched the rest of the crowd dancing and drinking. It all seemed a little pathetic. I would guess the average age of the crowd to be about 19, and they all seemed to be trying to get as drunk as possible as fast as possible and to prove that they were having a good time - which very few of them actually seemed to be doing.

That said, the fire pits and lights were nice, but as soon as we finished our drink, I was ready to leave. BUT, as we got up to go, the DJ finally put on some Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Queen, ACDC, and even some Beatles. We found a little pocket of people that might have been closer to our own age who actually seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. The final half hour of the party was a total blast.

And we left before anyone started throwing up.

Day 221 - Professional Nomads

Our Queen of the buses arrived in Vientiane at about 6:30 this morning. We quickly caught a jumbo (jumbo-size tuk-tuk - like a three-wheel bus) into the town center and began our quest for a room. Because we decided to leave for Vientiane a day early, we had not booked anything. We figured that being the capitol city there would be plenty of options. We were wrong.

All of the decent places were either fully booked or weren't sure if the people who said they would be checking out (and thereby freeing up rooms) would in fact be checking out. In my quest for a guesthouse, I found one with with twice-daily service to Vang Vieng, the next stop on our itinerary. Seeing as the only thing we really wanted to do in Vientiane was see the Beer Lao factory, and seeing that Vientiane suffers from 'Capital City Syndrome' (everything costs more than elsewhere in the country), we decided to go ahead and catch the 10AM minibus to Vang Vieng rather than waiting around for a room that may or may not appear.

This proved to be a wise decision. We arrived in Vang Vieng at about 3:30, and by 4:30 had found a guesthouse for a paltry $4 a night. And four dollars a night in Vang Vieng buys this view (actually taken from the rear door of our room).

While wandering about Vang Vieng before finding our guesthouse, I met a girl traveling alone who wanted a tubing buddy (tubing the Nam Song is one the prime Vang Vieng activities). Within minutes of checking into our bungalow, we met up again and walked to the tubing place. Unfortunately it was already closed for the day, but a friend of hers was sitting in the outdoor cafe next door. We joined them, planning on just having a few fruit shakes. An hour and half, sandwich, and noodles later, we decided to meet up again in a few hours for dinner.

In case you hadn't gathered already, eating is a big deal in SE Asia - very cheap, and very good. Vang Vieng is not generally known for its cuisine, but there is an organic farm near town that supports a local school through its two cafes. we opted to do our part for the community by eating large plates of stir-fried veggies and fish and by drinking local fair-trade sugar palm beer. By the time we finished stuffing ourselves, it was past 10PM, and apparently most of Vang Vieng's bedtime. Failing to find and open coffeeshop, we settled for a another round of fruit shakes - I could easily get addicted to fresh lemon-mint smoothies - and then to bed.