Vang Vieng, the Moab, Utah, of Laos??

From Luang Prabang, we ventured southwards, via the spectacularly scenic Route 13, to Vang Vieng,  a very picturesque city of 30,000 folks.  It only took 5.5 hours to drive the 180 kilometers over a windy, pothole-filled mountainous road.

The busy outdoor activity scene here immediately brought to mind Moab, Utah, a Mecca for outdoor pursuits in America's Southwest.

Vang Vieng is an outdoor sports destination for many backpackers and adventurers.  Tubing and kayaking down the Nam Song river is hugely popular.  The cliffs around VV are gaining worldwide renown as a rock climbing destination.  Numerous caves throughout the area can be accessed via bicycle, scooters, or, as we did it, as a part of a caving/kayaking adventure. VV is also a mecca for backpackers and it certainly has that vibe. There were many bar/restaurants along that river that featured non-stop showing of "Friends", "South Park" and "Family Guy" as youngsters were relaxing wtih large Lao beers watching endless reruns.  A very strange scene indeed.

The Nam Song, as viewed from our hotel

There has been a tendency, after a day of drunken tubing down the river, for out-of-towners to parade around in violation of the rather conservative expectations of the Lao locals, Buddhists they are.

Much of the partying along the river has been curtailed, due to repeated injuries and deaths among foreign river tubers, 24 last year, in fact.


Just guessing, but perhaps the alcohol fruitshakes contribute to the problem in Vang Vieng.

But the river is an active scene of longboats, fishing boats, inner tubes, kayaks, and locals washing themselves and their laundry in the Nam Song.

A bicycle was our mode of transportation for exploring the river banks and inland cave areas.


As part of our river adventure, we sat on our inner tubes, turned on our headlamps, and pulled ourselves along the white ropes affixed to the walls of the cave, as seen below, and we disappeared, floating along the lake inside the cave.

Some caves had religious artifacts, serving as mini-temples, often sacred places for the locals.

Our Lao guide led us down the river.

At a break spot, the guides started playing a little footy ...

as Karen became friends with the checkers-playing guides.


And sometimes you just have to sit in the middle of a river... just because you can.

And there you sit, even as other kayakers pass on by ... .

Our Dutch paddling buddy, eager to get moving again down the river.

Tubes piled up on the riverbanks

as the tube occupiers whoop it up at one of the few remaining riverside bars.

We met some rowdy drunkards from Iceland who were rather impressed that we'd been to Iceland in the wintertime.

Aarrrrrr, matey, always good to see the Jolly Roger floating along.

After our river trip, we needed a couple, or three, cool ones.  (Why do I only have two hands????)

And in our spot of leisure, Karen finally saw Psy's "Gangnam Style" video, and we were entertained by South Park episodes playing on the tvs.  A bit surreal, really.

Biking everywhere we go.

Hot-air ballooning is a fairly new activity in VV, just taking off ... so to write.
Hee hee.

We absolutely liked Vang Vieng more than we thought we would, and we would return, no doubt about it.

But we left, for the beaches of Phuket, Thailand beckoned, yet we had to head through Vientiane, the capital of Laos, first.