Vang Vieng to Vientiane

On my first day alone in Vang Vieng I went on a kayak and caving trip. The water is very fast in spots, but does not classify as class 1 rapids so I felt fairly safe. The kayaks are inflatable 2-man boats. Since I was alone, I had one of the guides in my boat. One would think that this was a bonus, but it was also a bit bothersome. We had to stay at the back to make sure everyone was okay, which made things a bit slow. One of the couples were the worst paddlers I've ever seen and just went back and forth across the river from shore to shore. They spent much of their time backwards or spinning in circles. The woman thought this was absolutely hysterical and laughed incessantly through the whole thing. Meanwhile, we didn't even really paddle, as the current kept us in line with them and we even had to stop regularly to let them catch up with us even though we were just drifting. Also, on the first "rapid" another couple got hung up on a rock, so the guide jumped out from behind me and went to rescue them. I had to finish the rapid alone, which I think I handled admirably and was even able to go back and pick him up. Fortunately by the end of the day, things picked up a bit and we actually got to do some decent paddling in the afternoon.

Over the course of the day we stopped at two places on the river to hike and do some caving. Both caves were large and went right through the mountain, so we entered and exited at different sites. The views were beautiful and the caves were amazing. Lunch was cooked and served at one of these spots - it was fabulous.

After we got back to town I went for a foot massage and had an early dinner then home to bed.

I enjoyed the river so much I decided to spend another day in Vang Vieng. My plan was to go for a nice quiet tube and then a massage before dinner. I thought I might even have time to hang out with my book at one of the tanning platforms by the river. Needless to say, along the way I met up with some people and ended up spending the entire day tubing. At least I made it back to town before dark this time, but just barely.

At one of the bars that has a particularly high swing, we ran into a couple of guys from Calgary. They were absolutely hammered and kept doing outrageous things on the swing. They would both take off together, and inevitably fall off the swing the minute they stepped off the tower. This made for a very long drop into the water where they landed on top of each other. I'm not sure how they survived.

Interesting note: As Vang Vieng exists mainly to support water sports, you can rent dry-bags at virtually every shop in town. At least half the bags carry the Mountain Equipment Co-Op logo. One more reason to love Laos.

This morning I hopped a van to Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos. Two of my traveling companions were the guys from Calgary, who turned out to be pretty decent conversationalists when they were sober. We had lots of laughs about the previous day's antics.

Vientiane is not really much of a city, but I will have to stay here for 3 more days as I couldn't get an earlier flight out. It is very hot here, with no opportunity to cool off other than to sit inside in the air conditioning. There look to be lots of really nice restaurants here so at least I'll be well fed. Unfortunately the national museum is closed at the moment, which is a big disappointment. I had heard really good things about it. There is, however, some kind of festival at the cultural house so I'll be able to check out some local culture.