Friday, December 19, 2008
Finding Neverland
When we arrived in the tiny town centre of Vang Vieng, I was somewhat bewildered by the numerous, deserted restaurants and guesthouses that lined the streets. It seemed the town was all geared up for a party, but guests had yet to arrive.
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that we discovered where the hundreds of Vang Vieng backpackers spent their time: in ‘tubes’ on the Nam Song river.
Tubing is an activity unlike any other I have witnessed. Sunburned backpackers float slowly downriver atop rubber tyres that are about one metre in diameter, stopping at bustling riverside bars along the way. The otherwise serene river is a hub of dance music, flying foxes and gigantic waterslides, and packed full of pink-faced tweens who are drunk, or high, or tripping off life itself.
So impressed were Max, Jim and I by our first tubing experience that we embarked on the exact same journey the very next day with new Vang Vieng arrivals, Joel and Viren, in tow. The five of us began tubing at Vang Vieng’s Organic Farm before noon and, thanks to our numerous bar stops, barely made it four kilometres downriver to the tubing centre before it shut at 6pm.
As if a full day of revelry isn’t enough, Vang Vieng backpackers’ drunken antics spill into stilted riverside bars in the town’s old market by night. Fuelled by 10,000 kip (~AUD$2) buckets of whiskey and mixer, the party at the neighbouring Smile and Bucket Bars is driven full-force until the government-regulated midnight curfew.
The curfew proved beneficial to our early start on December 16, when we left on a 10am bus to Luang Prabang. Despite being only 250 kilometres away, Luang Prabang took a nauseating seven hours to reach, owing to the tortoise speed of the bus along the winding -- and, at times, unpaved -- road. While I slept most of the way, I am told the boys and others did not fare too well, with Max throwing up at our halfway pit stop.
We arrived in Luang Prabang as the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind a surprisingly busy night market. Our outdated guidebook presented us with some initial difficulties in finding a hostel; however, we eventually checked into the comfortable, 40,000 kip per person Sokdee Guesthouse by the Mekong River.
Our next three days in Luang Prabang were spent sampling local food at the historic Villa Santhi, haggling with streetside vendors, marvelling at local line-dancing at the Muang Swa nightclub, and wandering among the city’s colonial buildings.
Formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Laos, Luang Prabang is nestled in the mountains of Northern Laos. The city was named a UNESCO Heritage site in 1995 and is famous for its Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum as well as the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls.
We visited the very pleasant Kuang Si waterfalls on December 18, hiring a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the site, 32 kilometres out of town. I very much enjoyed sitting in the sunshine by the largest of falls with droplets of mist lightly kissing my bare shoulders. Jim and I attempted a swim in the crystal-clear, turquoise waters of one of the designated ‘swimming areas’, but deemed the water too cold to be relaxing.
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that we discovered where the hundreds of Vang Vieng backpackers spent their time: in ‘tubes’ on the Nam Song river.
Tubing is an activity unlike any other I have witnessed. Sunburned backpackers float slowly downriver atop rubber tyres that are about one metre in diameter, stopping at bustling riverside bars along the way. The otherwise serene river is a hub of dance music, flying foxes and gigantic waterslides, and packed full of pink-faced tweens who are drunk, or high, or tripping off life itself.
So impressed were Max, Jim and I by our first tubing experience that we embarked on the exact same journey the very next day with new Vang Vieng arrivals, Joel and Viren, in tow. The five of us began tubing at Vang Vieng’s Organic Farm before noon and, thanks to our numerous bar stops, barely made it four kilometres downriver to the tubing centre before it shut at 6pm.
As if a full day of revelry isn’t enough, Vang Vieng backpackers’ drunken antics spill into stilted riverside bars in the town’s old market by night. Fuelled by 10,000 kip (~AUD$2) buckets of whiskey and mixer, the party at the neighbouring Smile and Bucket Bars is driven full-force until the government-regulated midnight curfew.
The curfew proved beneficial to our early start on December 16, when we left on a 10am bus to Luang Prabang. Despite being only 250 kilometres away, Luang Prabang took a nauseating seven hours to reach, owing to the tortoise speed of the bus along the winding -- and, at times, unpaved -- road. While I slept most of the way, I am told the boys and others did not fare too well, with Max throwing up at our halfway pit stop.
We arrived in Luang Prabang as the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind a surprisingly busy night market. Our outdated guidebook presented us with some initial difficulties in finding a hostel; however, we eventually checked into the comfortable, 40,000 kip per person Sokdee Guesthouse by the Mekong River.
Our next three days in Luang Prabang were spent sampling local food at the historic Villa Santhi, haggling with streetside vendors, marvelling at local line-dancing at the Muang Swa nightclub, and wandering among the city’s colonial buildings.
Formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Laos, Luang Prabang is nestled in the mountains of Northern Laos. The city was named a UNESCO Heritage site in 1995 and is famous for its Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum as well as the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls.
We visited the very pleasant Kuang Si waterfalls on December 18, hiring a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the site, 32 kilometres out of town. I very much enjoyed sitting in the sunshine by the largest of falls with droplets of mist lightly kissing my bare shoulders. Jim and I attempted a swim in the crystal-clear, turquoise waters of one of the designated ‘swimming areas’, but deemed the water too cold to be relaxing.
Labels: Laos
# posted by liz : 10:25 PM
