Oct 19, 2012 - Vang Vieng!! Party Town

We had a very gruelling 7 hour journey in a public bus to Vang Vieng and I’m sure I must have some bruises, it was like a torture ride. The roads are so unbelievably uneven and have the hugest bumps and potholes, a couple of times I went flying. However the time went fast as the scenary was just amazing so green for all 7 hours and lots of mountains with a clear blue sky and so interesting watching undisturbed village life. There are lots of women in the rice fields with really cute triangle hats on just like you see the movies! When we...

Jun 20, 2012 - Laos

We write this entry from Vang Vieng in Laos, having spent 3 nights here and prior to that 3 nights in Luang Prabang. Loas has been full of ups and downs. In Luang Prabang we took two tours to the Tam Ouc caves and the beautiful Kuang Si falls- the falls are quite literally paradise. The water in the lagoons is aqua blue and the waterfall itself is spectacular- got some great pictures! Wish we could have stayed there longer. Ollie enjoyed the rope swing- took him a few goes to perfect his technique with the back flip! Loas is very laid back...

May 22, 2012 - Vang Vieng

I don't even know how to begin this email. There is so much to describe about our travels in Laos. My last email was just before we jumped on the bus to take the 2 day slow boat to Luang Probang. We literally made a last minute split decision got off the bus and decided that taking a bus directly to Luang Probang would save time and we would be here in Vang Vieng a day earlier. We found out about this from some other travellers. We had no idea it was possible to drive and thought that everyone had to take the slow boat. Turned out to be a...

May 16, 2012 - Thailand to Laos

Hey Fam Jam, So everything is going really well we just crossed the Thailand border into Laos. We were supposed to take a 2 day slow boat to Probang luang i think it is called and then bus to Vang Vieng. We just found out last minute we can take a bus which is way faster and we should arrive in Vang Vieng tonight which gives us more days to hang out instead of being on a crammed boat on a river. My ankles still are sore but it is not preventing me from doing anything which is good. I am hoping the river in Vang Vieng where we do the tubing...

May 15, 2012 - Laos - Days 10 - 14 - Happy Pizza's & Magic Mushrooms

Vang Vieng, anyone who has traveled in South East Asia will have heard about tubing, an activity that dominates the town and its visitors. Originally opened up by hedonistic backpackers, the atmosphere of the town itself is one of lethargy by day and debauchery by night: tourists sprawl out in the pillow-filled restaurants, termed "TV Bars", watching re-runs of US sitcoms, Friends, South park and Family Guy episodes until the sun goes down, and then party heavily until the early hours. A couple of km’s upstream, the pulsating music,...

Feb 26, 2012 - Vang Vieng

Feb 26 to 27 Vang Vieng Took a four hour bus ride through the rolling hills and around sharp curves to Vang Vieng. Hiked to a really cool cave high in the mountains. The cave was really big and long into the side of the mountain. Then we went to a natural spring coming out of the cave at the bottom and swan into the cave. Next we went tubing down the river and it was sooooo much fun!! There's bars all along the first part and they throw ropes at you on your tube to pull you in. Each one also had fun activities and Ian went on the zip line...

Feb 15, 2012 - Vang Vieng Tubing Times

Hello all, We had a great time in VV. Pictures will be up soon. I'm just wrestling with this computer. Vang Vieng is the tubing capital of Laos. Basically it's a pub crawl in a tractor inner-tube down the Mekong. You float along minding your own business while bar staff throw plastic bottles on rope out to you with the hope of pulling you into their bar. Each bar tends to have its own slide, swing, zip wire or floating cushion. I had a few goes on the swings and slide and have to say it was brilliant! We took it easy as we had heard a few...

Feb 10, 2012 - Stray gone wrong

Our Stray tour continued with another 6 hour drive. When we got there we went to a cave that during the Secret (Vietnam) war, over 300 villagers and the provincial governor lived in hiding for 6-7 years. It was surprisingly small and very fascinating to imagine that it had once housed and sheltered so many lives. We spent the night in very cosy bungalows overlooking the Mekong river and the surrounding countryside. The next morning the whole gang from Stray loaded into a little boat that would take us from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang in 6...

Feb 9, 2012 - Laos

The Laos part of my trip is quite packed with whole-day activities and I rarely have internet connection, so I'm going to tell about this as soon as I have more time and better connection. See ya ;) Vientiane: sleepiest capital in the world, exploring the city on my foldable race bike, arc de triophe, wonderful temples north of the center Vang Vieng: Tubing through caves, bathing with elephants, partying on the beach island without beaches in outdoor bars with hammocks :)

Jan 24, 2012 - Visite de Vang Vieng

Allo tout le monde Aujourd'hui, nous avons loué deux vélos de montagne (tous neufs) et visité la région de Vang Vieng. On a parcouru environ 50 km (ce devait être 32) mais on s'est trompé à une fourche et rallongé notre circuit. En bout de ligne, la distance était OK et cette boucle nous a permis de vraiment apprécier la nature unique de ce coin du pays, ainsi que les multiples villages isolés qui s'éloignent de Vang Vieng et qui sont beaucoup plus sympathiques. La réaction des touts petits est sublimes (surtout ceux de 3-5 ans), ils...

Jan 23, 2012 - Arrivée à Vang Vieng

On a repris le chemin du sud pour quelques jours et nous avons quitté Luang Prabang ce matin pour se retrouver à Vang Vieng en fin de journée aujourd'hui. D'abord, quelques derniers détails sur Luang Prabang et la journée d'hier. Très tôt en matinée (6h00AM), nous sommes allés voir le rituel de la quête matinale des moines, un rituel qui se déroule un peu partout en Asie mais qui est plus formalisé à Luang Prabang, où environ 200 moines descendent à partir de l'aude (monastère par monastère) la rue principale et recoivent dans leur grand...

Jan 14, 2012 - Vang Vieng

The official travel numbers were to leave Vientiane at 10am and get to Vang Vieng at 2pm. Given that the distance between the two places was 175km, that seemed a little generous in saying we would be there by 2pm. Travel in these countries rarely reaches an average of 50kph and usually hovers at around 40 kilometres travelled per hour of actual pedal to the medal. We had booked travel on the VIP line through our hotel of stay in Vientiane. The brochures show nice shiny buses and happy travellers (slogan: "Smooth as silk".) Who am I to...