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

Patagonia from the Navimag Ferry



Chilean fjords

 

Chilean fjords



We spent three nights on the ferry, sailing through the Chilean fjords.

 

Chilean fjords

Chilean fjords  

As well as being a convenient way of travelling the over nine hundred km south from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, it is supposed to have some great views and the chance of seeing penguins and whales.  It is not a cheap trip, far from  it, so we were hoping that it would live up to its billing.



Life on the ship was fairly basic.  The food was set meals canteen style.  They were OK, but not great and tricky with my no fish and tomato requirements, especially the day when we had tomato soup, fish in tomato sauce and a tomato side salad.  I could eat the rice pudding and thankfully they did eventually find me an alternative main course.

 



From the Navimag bridge



We went along to one of the briefings about the route and the flora and fauna of Patagonia.  Not overly exciting, but it did help us to identify the brown and black browed albatrosses and the steamer duck that we saw later in the trip.  I rather liked the steamer duck.  It doesn't fly, but it crosses that water by turning its wings in circles through the water, propelling itself along like a paddle steamer.  We saw a couple and recognised them by this very distinctive and somewhat amusing way of moving.  

We generally tried to avoid the entertainment though.  After the karaoke the first night, we were treated to a film on the second night.  Still not quite sure what was going on in the film, but it isn't ideal when you're in the bar and want to chat.  

 

Puerto Eden



And the third night we had the dual delights of bingo and a party.  This was so good that we and our stalkers put on our fleeces gloves and hats and sat outside on the deck instead!  Though not before we'd seen that winning on the bingo meant a Pontins style ritual humiliation of having to get up and dance to some dodgy tune before you could claim your prize.    



 But the scenery was pretty good.  A lot of it was general hills and mountains, but every so often you would have a beautiful snow capped mountain range, or pass through a narrow channel with little islands.

 The main attraction though was the Pio XI glacier.

Pio XI glacier

We took a detour into a glacier lake to see the huge glacier that was creeping down through the mountains and gradually melting into the lake.  It is apparently the largest glacier in South America and is 1265 squared km.  We could only see the end of it, but it was still pretty impressive.  With a mix of white green and blue colours, it had little caves eating into it and little waterfalls where streams ran through it.  It did look amazing. 



Capitan Leonidas

We also passed the Capitan Leonidas which is a wrecked ship that ran aground in the 1970s and now sits abandoned and skeletal in the Messier Channel acting as a warning beacon and covered with birds.



Albatross (I think!)



We also managed to spot a bit of wildlife along the way.  As well as the brown and black browed albatrosses and the steamer ducks that I mentioned before, we saw evidence of minke whales as they blew water jets into the air, other whales, penguins, and dolphins.  None were especially good sightings, and we didn't really get any decent pictures, partly because we are expecting better opportunities later, so we thought we'd just watch for now.

Lots of birds

We made our way through the Last Hope Fjord, so called because a ship trying to find the Magellan Strait to sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 1557 had failed in all its previous attempts and this channel was their last hope. It wasn't the right place do they failed again and gave up.

Penguin

However it was the right place for us, and we finally docked into Puerto Natales at seven pm, somewhat later than the advertised time of around midday, and made our way out through the bowels of the ship rather than having to wait while they unloaded the cargo.



Puerto Natales



Did the journey live up to it's expectations and price.  Well yes and no.  It was a good journey and we did see some nice scenery, and if this is the only chance you'll have to see scenery and wildlife like this then it is probably very good.



The Navimag Ferry



But it is really quite expensive, even if you take a dorm bunk, so whilst I would recommend the trip for itself, sadly I don't think it is good value for money.  But perhaps I would feel differently if we weren't in the lucky position of going to Antarctica later this year.