Lovely landscapes, though not much else, in Vang Vieng - but at least we didn't get shot at!

Vang Vieng

Our next destination in Laos was Vang Vieng. We were getting the normal bus this time, with only very slight trepidation after hearing about the one a few weeks ago that was shot at by bandits.

Apparently it was going along the same road we would be using, and they fired about 50 shots into the bus. Thankfully, the driver saved the day by being quick on the uptake, he swerved - which both moved him a little further away and made the passengers fall away from the windows - and got out of there as fast as he could.

Vang Vieng

I am pleased to say that our journey passed with no such excitement - just one poor woman who got terribly travel sick for a long part of the journey. It is apparently a route where locals are more prone to it, because of the winding roads as you pass through the mountainous karst region. It is beautiful scenery, if you're not feeling ill.

As is often the case around here, we weren't quite sure where we would be dropped off. Most information, and man at the bus station we got our tickets from, said it would be about 3km outside of town. When we got off, we weren't sure - and no one seemed to be able to tell us. A tuk tuk driver was very keen to tell us it was some distance away, and wanted to take us and the three girls we were chatting to, for what seemed like quite a lot of money.

Vang Vieng

Thankfully, the girls had an internet connection and were able to look up where we were on their phones. It turned out that the big carpark we were next to was in fact the old airstrip that runs behind both of our respective hotels. We were a five minute walk away. Needless to say, we didn't take the tuk tuk; sadly this was just another example of someone trying to take us for a ride - this time both literally and metaphorically!

Anyhow, Vang Vieng. We nearly didn't bother, as its reputation is the worst kind of backpacker hell. To appeal to the young backpackers that started coming to Laos, Vang Vieng set up the river for tubing (for anyone not familiar, that is going down the river on a large inflated tyre inner tube). They opened numerous pubs along the way, and very soon this was a drink and drug fuelled party town.

Vang Vieng

Not only is this very hedonistic behaviour contrary to the Buddhist way of life, and presumably quite galling to locals who have to get by on so little, it also resulted in numerous accidents, injuries, and indeed deaths.

So even though people were getting a nice little income from this, they did clamp down. You can still go tubing, and there are a couple of pubs you can stop off at, but you are no longer supposed to be allowed back on the water if you are drunk.

Vang Vieng

However, the town is very much a backpacker central, albeit that now the whole scene has calmed down considerably, and many people now spend their time exploring the scenery of the karst mountain area and the numerous caves to be found here.

There are still multiple bars, including one which constantly shows back to back episodes of Friends, and places where you can buy 'happy' drinks and pizzas. But alongside that, we saw posters asking tourists not be disrespectful by walking down the streets in their shorts and bikinis, and one piece of graffiti that was rather more direct and told tourists to go home.

Vang Vieng

I think if you are going to head off exploring, this is still a worthwhile place to visit, because the area is beautiful, but aside from that, there really isn't much here, and the place is still far too overrun with tourists to make it a place to come to really absorb the culture. It is a shame really, as this is really an awful example of tourists ripping the heart out of the places that the visit.

Mind you, some of the locals know how to party too. We were here during some music festival or other, which was taking place late into the evenings on the old airstrip, not nearly far enough away from our room. Not that we'd have minded had it been any good - we'd likely have been joining in - but most of it sounded truly awful.

You'd also find groups of local teens down by the river, with their huge sound systems in the back of their, often equally huge cars, booming out music. This blast of modernity was an interesting contrast to the very rickety looking bridge, which you can hear creaking when traffic passes over it.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng