With a little under 7 million citizens, Laos is known for its jungle countryside and the many villages that span throughout the land. There are just a few cities that have name recognition outside of Southeast Asia, one of them being Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng, shown above, is about a 4 hour (very bumpy) van ride from Vientiane

In the past, Vang Vieng has been one of the biggest sources of tourist economy in Laos. With the Nam Song River flowing just west of the town, people come from all corners of the world to kayak, tube, and drink while drifting carelessly in the muddy waters. Perhaps a couple dozen restaurant bars line the Nam Song in this area, but in 2012, the Lao government shut down every last one of these bars following 27 deaths in 2011, all related to alcohol and a dangerous current.

The incredible view from one of the open river-bars that we kayaked to

Recently the Lao government allowed just four of these bars to be open on any given day to reduce the danger level of floating in the river while bringing back some of the tourists at the same time. Slowly, the tourist scene has been building, but not enough to overpower the small town feel of Vang Vieng.

We each paid 160,000 kip (just under $20 US) for a private van to take the 10 of us both there and back and so we arrived on Friday night around 11 pm. A few of us were totally in the ‘we’re only here for 48 hours, we can sleep when we get home!’ mindset, so we decided to go wander the streets for a bit and explore Vang Vieng’s nightlife. There were street stands everywhere selling hamburgers, crepes with nutella, and french fries. We wandered through a couple of bars that were, surprisingly, a little empty, before we decided to try the one we had heard so much about: The Jungle Project.

 

A free tuk-tuk picked us up from the town center and took us a couple miles out of town to a gorgeous outside bar filled with (surprise!) foreigners. Living in Vientiane, we hadn’t seen much of Laos’ backpacker party scene, but we definitely found it in Vang Vieng. At one point, a couple of workers brought out a limbo stick and then lit it on fire. In what world?! My mother instincts were screaming inside of me, but it was actually super entertaining and no one was hurt, so win-win!

So we went out, we saw, and we…. left early! We needed some beauty rest because at 6 AM on Saturday morning, a song tao (pick-up truck with benches in the back) picked us up from our hotel and took us to the runway that was constructed for a Vang Vieng airport, but never finished. It was here that we waited while a crew inflated the hot air balloon that we were to take over Vang Vieng!!

Kyle, Mitchell, Mags, Lauren, and Myself pre-takeoff!

A huge item on my bucket list, you could say I was more than a little bit excited. We climbed to approximately 600 meters (2,000 feet) over the city with our operator, Ahigh, who has been doing the same ride for the past two years in Vang Vieng. He told us he had operated over 2,000 balloon rides in his career! As we ascended, all around us were beautiful mountains where the clouds seemed to rest among them. On our way down, we  nearly (key word nearly, Mom!) landed in a river… but other than that, there were no hiccups!

Top Left: View from the balloon at about 400 meters; Top Right: The aforementioned river… (more like a creek, Mom!); Bottom Right: Me!!!!; Bottom: The crew, celebrating dry land!

After our balloon ride, we rented dune buggies for 8 hours at just 300,000 kip each ($35 US) and took them all over the countryside. We ventured to the three Blue Lagoons to do some swimming and spelunking in the caves of Vang Vieng.

Left: Blue Lagoon 2; Top Right: The whole crew deep in a cave at Blue Lagoon 1; Bottom Right: Taking a break at Blue Lagoon 3

Not surprisingly, we got a little muddy along the way to the Lagoons. One of the things where Laos seems to be farthest behind in terms of development, is its roads. Covered in giant potholes, the roads easily flood and become extremely muddy in the rainy season, but when in Laos right?! I headed straight for the middle of each puddle, after all, we could just rinse off in the Blue Lagoons! Sorry you got stuck with me, Joe!

Left: Lauren & I in the first buggy; Middle: Joe and I after a muddy drive to Blue Lagoon 2; Right: Who let me drive?

After quite an active day, myself and five others decided to take it easy and kayak down the Nam Song. To say the current was quick would be an understatement as we didn’t even need to paddle and we still finished early!

Having had such a wonderful time kayaking, we decided to try to tube down the river immediately afterwards. However, our guide quickly had us exit the river just 20 minutes into our float as the current was too quick and we were at its mercy in the tubes. As we were exiting, I struggled to gain footing and I immediately understood how it could be so dangerous. It was no easy float down the Maquoketa River in Iowa! No problem, we exited the river with a few scrapes and bruises and grabbed some ice cream before heading back into town, feeling accomplished and (somewhat) relaxed.

Lauren, Me, and Mags

A long but wonderful weekend in Vang Vieng was definitely necessary after completing our five-week orientation. My next stop is Luang Prabang where I will be teaching English at both the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Engineering at Souphanouvong University – maybe even at the Faculty of Agriculture as well! However, school isn’t scheduled to start until October 3rd, so for now, I’ll just continue to explore Vientiane and all this city has to offer.

ດ້ວຍ​ຮັກ (With love),

Claire