Trip of a Lifetime

The Extreme Sports of Laos

Well hello everyone. Glad you could make it back here for another installment. Today's topic - Vang Vieng. A beautiful town full of pot smoking hippies, in the heart of the Laos countryside. It's an awesome town, and we ended up spending 3 nights there. There's a bit of everything in Vang Vieng; you can tube down the river, watch episode after episode of friends in one of the many dinner-and-a-movie-loungeabout places, or even enjoy a "Happy pizza" (You can bet the "special mushrooms" on these pizzas will make you somewhat more than happy) - all in all, Vang Vieng is pretty much the most laid back place I've ever seen. And so, we went tubing on Tuesday. Ever been on a tube on a river/lake and wanted a nice cold beer? Well on this river all you have to do is utter two magic, fantastical words - "Beer Lao". After hearing these words, you will see numerous long bamboo shoots extending towards you from the shores, as a few Lao entrepreneurs attempt to pull you into their riverside floating bars. And of course, they smile widely and also say "Beer Lao, Beer Lao!". We even met two Canadian fellows while tubing, Reed (who's actually from Calgary!) and Callahan. Awesome guys, and we traveled together for the next few days. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010014.JPGSo, does it get any better than this? Well... The next day, we went caving, in a place called Poukham Cave, about 6 clicks from town. The ride there was very interesting indeed, since we had to cross a few shallow rivers and dodge cattle, as usual. For the special the special task of taking people to the caves, the local people have invented an amphibious tuk-tuk like tractor thing, which manages to run poorly both on land and in the water. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010045.JPG T'was a bumpy ride, but well worth it. Take a look for yourselves. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010020.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010024.JPG The cave even continued for another 400 meters or so, beyond the first cavern. Luckily we brought our flashlights, and so we explored the immense cave, eventually discovering that it's shaped like a sour key, with a big loop on the end. How convenient :) So it definitely doesn't get any better than this, right? K well... The NEXT day, for about 14 dollars US a piece (including food, water, and everything else), we went kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and our gateway back into Thailand. We got to do some class 3 rapids (or so we were told). Decide for yourselves I suppose. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010046.JPG We also got to jump off 10 meter cliffs into the river. It was so much fun... Here's a picture of me in the air. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010052.JPG We also got a few videos of us jumping, although the video of Kailyn, Reed and Callahan is too big to upload... But you can still watch me take the big plunge. I think this is a QuickTime movie, but I'm not sure - good luck with this, tell me if it works or not! http://us.share.geocities.com/spiker43910/P1010048.MOV After the kayaking we took a rather sketchy pickup truck into Vientiane. My seat was... Well, I was hanging on to the back of the truck :) It was actually not bad back there, being able to see the landscape of stunningly green rice fields, with the wind in my hair (and sometimes bugs in my eyes), but the only thing holding me and Cal up was a bolted set of metal bars. http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010062.JPG Good thing I'm fearless (Stupid :D) That night, in Vientiane, us Canadians (now 4 strong) went out to do some midnight bowling (heavy drinking included, hangover sold separately). Kailyn annihilated me both games, but she's freakishly strong so I don't feel bad. Seriously, have you seen her arms? It was awesome fun, and marks the first time I've been inebriated in Asia! http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010065.JPG Mom, I SWEAR I'm not an alcoholic. Well, that's all I've got for you guys this time, it's been an amazing few days over here. We are now in Thailand, in Nong Khai, just across the border from Vientiane. Saying goodbye to Laos was a bit sad, but there are so many amazing things left to see, we don't have even one day to waste. Thanks for the tremendous support we've been getting from back home - every time I get on I've got more and more emails to read. Keep reading the site and remember - even though this trip has already been unimaginably great - the best is yet to come :) Spiker

posted by Spiker @ 5:30 am