Vang Vien

Well, I'm writing this about 2 weeks after I was there...

First of all, let me say that the minivan ride form Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng was a disaster! So many mountain roads and traveling at 60 million mph made for a long 6 hours. Three out of 8 people vomited in the car (plastic bags came in handy) but Leighton held out. His normal car sickness was well-abaited by being able to see out the front window. He felt the sickest when our journey took us above the cloud-layer in the mountains and NO ONE could see more than about 15 feet in front of us.

Vang Vien was about what I expected. After Luang Prabang's scenic streets and quiet cafes VV seemed a bit of a mess! The roads were flithy and constantly noisy. Everyone was either drunk or hungover or both. It had none of the charm of LPB! But... it wasn't supposed to.

It is essentially the party stop in Laos. Everyone goes there to get wasted and "float down the river" which actually entails very little floating and a whole lot of drinking at riverside bars.

We enjoyed that quite a bit! Our first two hours were spent at the very first bar basking in the sun and zip lining into the river (quite deep). Free whiskey shots and roasted cashews rounded out the beer and "buckets" we had to pay for. The group of Argentinians we had met in LPB and on the slow boat were there as well and we spent the whole day with them drinking and laughing and dancing and swimming.

At one point I decided to wade into the river... unfortunately the steps I was descending weren't so great and my right leg went right into a crack. I was well scraped up and punctured the bottom of my foot through the callous. Mostly superficial, a few of the deeper scratches have since become a bit infected. I'm treating them myself for now but some over-the-counter antibiotics might be just what I need to save the leg!

I had a solid limp for a good week there but I'm better now!

Anyway, Tubing Tuesday led swiftly to Hangover Wednesday which we spent laying around in the bars that play either Friends, The Simpsons, or Family Guy episodes all day. We chose Friends.

On Thursday we boarded another minibus headed to the capital, Vientiene!