VIP means that it might have air con (technically it did, but it was broken); there is an on board toilet; you hopefully get an actual seat (we did), and that the amount of extra stuff (chicken cages, smelly foods, boxes, produce etc) packed in to the aisle, under the seats and on the roof is kept to a minimum. Judging by the horror stories we have heard about the local (ie non-VIP) buses, our trip was excellent in terms of space; everyone looked like foreigners - or maybe they were locals who just left their chickens at home.
The toilet was at the rear - trying to use it while going over a road worse then the Rimutakas was tricky - no handles!
Vang Vieng used to be a tiny fishing village (and bus stop) along the Mekong river, but the locals found a good way to make money: hire inner-tire tubes for foreigners to float down the river on!
Enterprising locals also set up bars on the rivers edge all the way down the river! The town has since mushroomed in to a tourist-fest of hostels, bars and water-shennangins, restaurants playing reruns of Friends and other sitcoms. Its not really an authentic local experience but it is still a backpacker right-of-passage to many people. Including us.
We bumped into an English lass who shared the trip from Thailand to Luang Prabang, and so we decided to come along with her posse of travel buddies. The more the merrier, right? This is us getting ready. On the far left you can see the red water-tight duffel packs given to us. Toolman took his old (backup) camera in case it got wet.
We got driven about 12km north up the river, donned our gears and set out down the river! The scenery is amazing, the karst hills stick out of the flat ground so sharply right next to the river. The first 8km was just floating down - very nice in the hot sun. First thing to do was set off down the river.
On the way to the first bar, Princess learned that you do need to paddle a little, otherwise you are likely to find the banks when you go around corners. She also managed to collect a branch island in the middle of the river. Thankfully, our guide in his Kayak fished her out. What will happen after a few drinks?
This is the view from the place we spent the most time at. The last 4km of river has many riverside bars, all trying to lure in people with their funpark freebies. In the distance you can see another swing from the neighbouring bar.
Our chosen stop had a swing and a zipline, as well as a volleyball court and loud music blaring out. This is Gemma (one of the English posse) demonstrating how the swing works. Its bloody high, and so most people swing back and forth a few times before letting go. If you let go too early, you enter the water sideways.
All afternoon we witnessed belly flops, unintentional back flips and the occasional classy landing as we sipped our drinks and had lunch. Toolman loved the swing and managed to survive without any major bad landings...
The 40 minute tube further down to the town and hotel was a bit blurry, and it got cold as the sun was setting. We managed to lose our group and get out at completely the wrong place! Thankfully, all the tubes are owned by the one cartel, so we could just hand them back in anywhere. Finding our dry-bags, on the other hand, took a bit longer. One of the English crew took them for us so we were reunited with our gear. An awesome fun day!
The next day, we hired a scooter to go and visit the caves that line the karst mountains next to the river. Laos drive on the right hand side, but as this place is so sparsely populated, there is little in the way of traffic and intersections; Toolman had no problems on the wrong side, aside from the scooter being so cheap and crappy: the brakes didn't really work, and changing gear required a leg contortion!
We had a poorly drawn map, but managed to find the first one easily. The scenery here is simply stunning...
We scootered along that muddy bank for about a kilometer to the first cave. We paid our entrance fee, took our complimentary torches and headed in.
The entrance was not terribly obvious till you got close up - it was a "Robinson Crusoe" kind of entrance, with bamboo ladders and rocks to climb in.
Once we got inside, the formation was amazing. Water must have once flowed through, carving out this huge cave. They went in hundreds of meters, as far as we were game to venture - in parts it got quite tight, and neither of us like confined spaces much. The floor was mud, but the roof was limestone, with stalactite everywhere.
Some of the stalactites were very large and impressive. There were no safety signs, railings or anything, so we just wandered around them. We know not to touch them, but no doubt plenty of other tourists finger them plenty. The floor was thankfully pretty flat and dry, so it was quite easy to walk in.
It was very dark in here, the flash on the camera makes it look like you can see lots, but no, you can only see what you shine the torch on!
This is a stalactite with water dripping off it ...
... and its corresponding stalagmite growing up from the ground. There were lots of these!
Toolman inspecting the stalag-tikes.
As you can see, the path got a bit treacherous further in, so we turned around to see the next one. This cave was really interesting - lets see what the next one has in store!
Along the path to the next cave, a gang of young Laos lads started following us, and tried their best to be helpful in finding the next cave.
We wandered through rice paddies, which are the most beautiful green color. The irrigation technique used is raised mud banks around the edge of each football field sized patch, so you can walk without damaging the crops. it also keeps the water in!
We walked to this small peak to have a look inside its cave.
Buddha was inside the cave, so we paid our respects, then moved on to a more exciting cave....
We were headed into the next one, accompanied by the boys following us and the guy who rented us the light systems - very rough! The wires are simply twisted together, and taped onto the battery. Still, Toolman helped fixed them up and we soldiered on...
The cave got progressively slippery and wet. It was apparent that we hadn't prepared correctly for this cave - no waterproof bag! Despite the little Lao kids offering to catch us if we slip, we decided to just walk slowly. Either of us would simply crush one of them if we slipped onto them!
And eventually, the inevitable happened - Princess slipped up in the mud :(
We had ventured in probably 600m, and there was only another 1km till the amazing waterfall that you could swim at - if you had your swimming gear. We decided to turn around as we had nothing. As half expected, the young boys expected money when we got out. I didn't really want to give them anything, but settled with a small amount as a compromise.
Laos is a funny place, many places have TV dishes but no running water.
This modern world has funny priorities huh?
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