Vang Vieng - Tudding (Rachel wain's reference to tubing)

We arrived from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng at 3ish with the eye(s) infection still intact, in the pouring rain. Possibly the most bizarre bus journey we have had yet. Our bus stopped off at a streetside restaurant for some lunch which was fair enough. As we got back on the bus to carry on, they decided the bus would stop there for good!..sure
That meant about 15 of us had to squeeze onto another bus which had 2 spare seats! 1 at the back in the middle of the 'boyz' (locals) and another well, half a seat next to some, how shall we put it....large Lao who wasn't going to make any effort to make space!...Luckily as we were first on we claimed those 'good' seats and the rest sta on plastic stools in the aisle way. Chickens and everything were on this bus, sqwarking every bump of the way and as I volunteered to take the middle seat on the back row... 1 of them slept on my shoulder the whole way....a little bit strange!
Anyway, we had arrived in the rain which meant getting on a tuk-tuk and heading to the centre of town, what a shock from 2 years ago!! Last time there was about 1 tarmaced street and the rest were dirt tracks. Vang Vieng had become this modern tourist town full of typical English f-ing and blinding every second. The only thing that was still recogniseable there was the Family Guy and Friends cafes (although there was about 10,000,000 showing these shows now). The only good thing that has come of the sudden tourism overload is the surrounding countryside...Still as amazing as we remember and this time we decided we would get away from all the tourists and head off on foot (ofcourse) away from the town to a nearby cave across the river.



We had 3 full days in Vang Vieng; the first consisted of us arriving and deciding how to spend the other 2 days, while we walked around, stopping off for pancakes and baguettes and before long we ended up watching family guy and having a pineapple shake and a beer Lao. We had found the cheapest cafe in the word with the most amazing food! 10,000kip for each meal, and I never thought I would say this but I found my new favourite dish that beats a Pad Thai...a Pad Lao (Original I know). It literally was a Pad Thai but with curry sauce on it....and the curry sauce was just like the 1 in the Golden Fry chip shop! We have been craving a chippy for 6 months now and the closest we got was that taste of curry sauce....soooooo good!



On our first day we contemplated going tubing but based this on the state of Sar's eye(s)....a slight improvement but decided it would be best to go the following day with hope that her eyes will have cleared up by then! (no chance, we are now 2weeks into our stay in Thailand and they're still there :-(). Instead we thought we would go for a walk to a cave, an apparent ex hideout from the Chinese. About a 20min walk away from the town and crossing the river via a suspension bridge we arrived. Just outside from the grounds of the cave were some springs, turquoise water - a dip was a definite, for free too! after a cool off we got into the grounds of the cave and were greeted by about 100 huuuge steps up a mountain where the cave was! Sar wasn't too happy!haha (usually I don't tell her if there is a climb in advance and she finds out as we arrive...that way it's too late to turn around! :-p).
Nevertheless the cave was pretty impressive, although a little bit flooded, but offered some amazing views of the cool surrounding landscape, the original draw to Vang Vieng. We headed back after another stop in the springs and got some lunch, another Pad Lao and a banana pancake!
The rest of the day was spent looking for an appropriate tubing vest for Sar to wear the next day whilst tubing. We were successful, and looking forward to the next day.



Tubing came around quickly and luckily it was amazing sunshine, a beautiful day AND Sar's eyes were looking better than the previous day. After grabbing a tuna baguette we headed down to the tubing station, got our tubes and were on the tuk-tuk to the drop-off point. Sar made some friends with 2 girls and their mum all safe in a life-jacket!! (just the place to take your mother!!) who were intrigued about the state of her eyes!
We decided to stop off at the first bar, with a slide and a good way to start it off!...sadly the girls and their mum didn't stop with us...
We had a beer, and a shot of lao lao before giving the slide a go and heading to the next bar. Floating down the river was pretty scary, the current was flowing wayyyyy fast! (Sar's comment: I like tubing but hate the actualy tubing part!!) we were pulled in by a bottle tied on the end of some rope and were at the 2nd bar. This bar we knew all too well, from our previous trip this was the first bar. After nailing another beer and a few more shots, I decided to climb a tree to the rope swing and let go at the highest point, landing on my testicles....OUCH! although I put on a brave face until I was sat next to Sar!...still it was worth it
On leaving that bar we bumped into a fellow Bollywood star, Jessy who was an extra with us....turns out he is now working in Vang Vieng for a bar...small world (he comes running after us, hey do I know you? nope sorry...oh wait a minute!, bollywood!...yeah you were the waiter guy!...ofcourse!)
We arrived at the next bar after floating about 5 yards to find out they were connected to the previous bar and we could have walked...ah well. This bar we decided to hit the Whiskey buckets and have another Lao Lao shot! good times. We got talking to 2 Australians, Bodee and Lauren. They were leaving Australia for 2 years to go and work in England, so we got talking about each others travels and decided to move on to the next bar.
Back in the tubes for a little bit longer and we stopped at a bar giving away free whiskey shots, free whiskey buckets, AND they had about 5 puppies which were the cutest dogs in the world! they all hid under the floorboards though but we managed to drag them out! Sar spent the rest of the time with the dogs and me and Bodee hit the free whiskey....The next bar we had a go at some mud volleyball but were seriously bad at it, I didn't get a touch so had a premature exit! Sar had met 3 girls who were also in love with the puppies and it turns out they were from Chester!!...so ofcourse they had lots to talk about!
The next bar had a massive slide which was AWESOME and then we hit the last bar....we stayed for about 5mins realising that we had about 10 mins to get back for 6, to get our deposit back!
By the time the girls were up and going, I had just got back with a full whiskey bucket. Deciding not to waste it I attempted to get on my tractor tubing and float down the river drinking it. The river went on for a bit longer than expected and Sar and the girls were out of sight. Struggling to get off my tube, swim with it and drink the bucket I lost my ray bans in the process....In saying that I arrived around 6.20pm and managed to still get my deposit back! YAY!

We arranged to meet the girls and the Australians for tea and then called it a night. A heavy day but a lot of fun!!
The next day we had a bus back to Vientiane where we stayed for a day and then caught the night bus to Bangkok where we would meet Rach and Mike!...
Laos was awesome! and we were eager to get to our beloved Thailand and Khao San Road!!!