Week 23: Laos

We have just had so much fun during our last week+ in Laos!

We were sad to leave Luang Prabang, but knew Vang Vieng had a lot of great activities in store for us. We had heard that the drive down Route 13 was spectacular, but it was cloudy and raining for a lot of our drive, so we just saw little glimpses of it. The rain clouds stuck around for our first day in Vang Vieng, which just made us appreciate all of the sunshine we got later on so much more!

The slopes surrounding Vang Vieng are just covered in caves, so we set out to explore a few of them during our stay. We first visited Jang Cave, which had a large opening and lots of pathways leading into the depths of the cave. 

We then rented bicycles and rode out to visit Tham Phu Cave, which was very dark and slippery, and had lots of large holes to avoid while exploring. This cave was conveniently located next to a blue lagoon, where we enjoyed a refreshing dip before riding back to town. 

The next day, we rented a scooter and enjoyed a gorgeous drive out to Hoi Cave. This cave felt like a very long and narrow tunnel, and was very smooth to walk through. It felt like we walked for ages before being stopped at the point of either getting very muddy and wet, or getting stuck in a small hole. We finished off the cave lineup with Lomb Nam cave, which we had to climb down a rickety ladder to get into. This cave offered lots of opportunities to climb up and over and in and under. It also had a lot of tiny Buddha statues hidden in various crevasses. My favourite moment inside each of these caves was turning off our headlamps to experience just how dark it was.

Vang Vieng is very well known for it’s history of wild tubing adventures down the Nam Song river. It has calmed down a lot from what we had heard and read it was like in the past, so we happily jumped in some tubes and had a great river float. There were a few small rapids and shallow rocky areas to navigate, but there were also long stretches with nothing better to do than lay back and enjoy! While floating, we passed a bar called Neverland, and it suddenly struck us that that is exactly what this country reminds us of! 

Vang Vieng offered so much to keep visitors busy, and we saw it as a very family friendly destination. Between dune buggy rides, hot air balloon rides, power delta wing rides, kayaking, tubing, caving, swimming in lagoons, great restaurants, gorgeous sunsets, and lively markets, there’s something for everyone!

After a few days in Vang Vieng, we took a bus down to Laos’ capital, Vientiane. It was a much larger city than we had expected, and we had a good time trying out new restaurants, walking the streets, and listening to music on stages that competed for the loudest sounds with the most bass. It was here that we also visited the COPE museum, where we learned about the UXOs dropped in this country. We learned that from 1964 to 1973, the US dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance over Lao PDR in 580 000 bombing missions- the equivalent of one planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years. Lao PDR is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita in history. The cluster bombs dropped were large bombs that open mid-air, each releasing 670 tennis-ball size munitions known in Lao as 'bombies'. Up to 30% of these failed to detonate, leaving 80 million unexploded bombies throughout the country after the war. It was horrific reading about the injuries and deaths caused by these bombies, especially to children. The COPE museum works to get prosthetics to people who need them and to develop educational programs to teach children about the dangers of touching these bombies if they see them in their fields. It was an eye opening, heart wrenching experience.

Our last stop in Vientiane was Patuxay arch, supposedly modeled after the Arc de Triomph. We were able to walk to the top of the arch for a great view of the city!

We ended up celebrating New Years in Vientiane as well. We enjoyed ringing in 2018 on the rooftop of a restaurant in Nam Phou square. It was a bit of a surreal experience as we watched a stage with singers making music that didn’t always sound like music, and observed the execution of approximately one billion selfies. As midnight neared, we listened to a Lao countdown, and then watched as children and adults alike set off fireworks in all directions.  

We left Vientiane via double decker sleeper bus. We have been on overnight buses, but never a sleeper bus with beds. We were provided with blankets, pillows, and a bed a little wider than a twin. During the very bumpy ride south, our main goal was to stay on the bed! 

Early in the morning, we switched to a sitting bus, and then a few hours later, to a small boat in order to get to Don Khone island. Don Khone is one of the islands that makes up the 4000 Islands in the south of Laos. We walked to explore the island’s beaches, hidden waterfalls, and restaurants with great views. We watched movies and saw beautiful sunsets. We enjoyed our bungalow with a front porch and hammock. 

We spent most of a day at Tad Somphamit, where we watched rapids race through large rocks, creating an incredible sound. We hung out in a little beach bungalow and went for a couple dips. 

We even went out on a boat ride and spotted the nearly extinct Irrawaddy dolphins!

Our walking trail included a little broken bridge crossing

Irrawaddy dolphins really don't like us taking their photo. See if you can spot the back of the one we caught on camera!

In between our activities, this last week brought a lot of down time. We lounged in cafes and restaurants in each city we were in, watched a couple movies, played lots of cards, enjoyed delicious fruit shakes, and read in hammocks.

While walking around Don Khone, Will decided our top 10 this week should be focused on Lao transportation, so here it is folks- our top 10+ modes of transportation we have come across here:

• Walking- this has been our most common mode of transportation… we love how much more you see when you’re on foot!
• Bicycle- normally a townie complete with basket
• Scooter
• Motorcycle
• Minibus/Bus- ranging greatly in comfort
• Sleeper bus
• Boat
• Tuk tuk
• Motorbike taxi with side car
• Song thaew- small truck with sideways benches in the bed
• And our new favourite, the modified rototiller with wagon

Act of kindness: During our days on Don Khone, Will made every decision. We have made most decisions together or have just gone back and forth with choosing what we want to do, but it was so fun to simply wake up and allow the day to unfold without any sort of planning whatsoever. I really appreciated him thinking about activities we would enjoy, and making sure there was lots of time to recharge!