Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

Luang Prabang

The following day was mercifully kinder to us as we had some nice things planned and one of those was a ride on an elephant. Our tour manager assured us that the elephants were treated well and that coming from a sanctuary in Laos they were guaranteed this. The experience was a tick off the bucket list for me as I had always wanted to go, and it was amazing. We trekked through the undergrowth and a large area of swampy ground where some of the elephants decided to fill their trunks with water and spray it up into the air, meaning we nearly got drenched. I also filmed an Attenborough style commentary on the back of our elephant but I’ll spare everyone the footage. Which is just as well, because this version of WordPress doesn’t allow for videos anyway.

After the elephants our local guide Doua very kindly invited us back to his home (we all tentatively crowded into his ute!)

to have a look around, mainly so we could be shown his pride and joy, the butterfly garden. He told us he’d created it himself, as a retreat, and how happy it made him to be able to sit in it every day. We were amazed by how many family members were crowded into the small house with little to no furniture, not to mention that his wife was pregnant.

Our next port of call was at a beautiful spot called Kuang Si Falls to swim. Any type of water activity in this heat is welcomed and we stayed several hours.

The day wouldn’t really be complete without any drama at all, as in the evening we went for a walk around the night markets and a motorbike decided to drive into me and nudge me out the way so it could park. No apologies, no warning – just nearly drove over my foot. Standard. I began to think that if we could make it alive out of South East Asia with all our limbs intact we’d be doing very well.

Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

Our last activity in Luang Prabang involved getting up at 4am to feed the monks. Kneeling on cushions in a long line that stretched all the way down the street, we prepared for the monks to walk past and receive our rice offerings. We were given small baskets of sticky rice and encouraged to roll balls out of them beforehand so as to be ready when each one of them walked past our basket. This was easier said than done as they were of all ages and walked so fast that we were in a race trying to get a ball into each bowl.

En route to Vang Vieng we stopped for lunch high up in the mountains, with unusual bathrooms that had open air views to the amazingly lush scenery below. Not very private but worth it.

Arriving in Vang Vieng some time later, we were randomly dropped off on a US airstrip used during the Vietnam war. This was a little distance from our hotel, as unfortunately our coach wasn’t allowed to park there. Easily the hottest place we had been in so far, the walk to the hotel, which usually may have taken 5-10 minutes, seemed to take forever and this was prolonged by locals wanting to have photos taken with us. The view from the hotel was one of the most stunning I’ve ever seen. It looked out over the Song river which we would tube and kayak down the next day.

Sadly the room itself wasn’t so appealing with an ancient and dodgy looking air con system, the size and sound of which seemed to make the heat even worse – and not only that, but it didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of cooling the room down. The temperature was difficult to describe – a kind of humidity that makes it virtually impossible to think anything other than the desire, if it were possible, to remove not only all your clothes but your skin to cool down. My fault for going in August, I kept thinking.

Drinks on the deck overlooking the river later was lovely. We were all (marginally) cooler by then and more smiley.

Dinner was at the Kangaroo Bar in town after that and then Jonny, another guide, joined us for karaoke. He was always a lot of fun and vaguely out of it.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng. 8am. Music. Beer. Transport. This can mean only one thing, party on the Tuk tuk!

We made the most of our fortunate predicament and partied onboard until we had been transferred to the rice fields, which we needed to walk through to reach the caves for our tubing experience. But this wasn’t just any rice field, oh no. This was like an adult version of the 80s kids TV programme ‘Fun House’, where we needed to scale a ladder over a fence, navigate narrow, slippery muddy paths and cross unstable, swaying bridges.

Not forgetting the anorexic cows.

Once safely over to the other side, we were handed our sexy tubing gear (helmets and head torches is always a great look on anyone) and descended into the dark, swirling rapids of the caves. Luckily there was a safety rope as it really was quite dodgy in there, what with the strong current, slippery rocks and lack of visibility. A bit of screaming ensued – once when somebody let go of the rope and another when someone thought they felt something in the water grab their leg. I doubt there will be many other times in my life when I sit on a large black rubber ring and rope burn my hands to get from A to B, but it was definitely an experience I’m glad I had.

In comparison the kayaking experience after was a walk in the park. I shared with Justin, who sat behind and proceeded to use his oars to purposely flick me with water. I just about let him off as he had cut himself in the caves and no doubt needed a respite.

That afternoon a couple of people went rock climbing, while others visited the Blue Lagoon, followed by a hangout at the riverside bars. Some sound advice was written on one bucket.

Back in the old days of only a few years ago, these riverside bars would have featured heavily when tubing down the river – which they severely discourage you from doing now as there were sadly a few tourist fatalities from the combination of alcohol and fast flowing water.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that we ended up back at the Kangaroo bar later.

Pakbeng to Luang Prabang

An early start to an action packed day that we wouldn’t be forgetting in a hurry. It was something of a novelty that our mode of transportation was not the traditional Contiki bus, but a boat on the Mekong River, and back onto it we piled. Our first (literal) port of call was at the Pakbeng caves, containing hundreds of different coloured Buddha statues, and several hidden corners to explore.

Once we arrived at our final river destination it was time for more exercise. This involved pulling all our suitcases off the boat and up the stairs on a precarious looking hill, and in order to do this people had to stand in a production line of sorts, passing each suitcase along and up to the next person (some, however, were not productive at all and stood to the side watching us do the hard work ;)) We were like a sweaty, reluctant, relay team. The several tuk tuks waiting for us at the top to drive us to Luang Prabang were a welcome relief, but not for long.

As we rounded a corner, our Tuk tuk – and of course it was the tuk tuk I was on – suddenly lost control of its brakes. Gathering speed down a slight gradient, we whizzed past the others, heard a scream, vaguely noticed that we were going through still traffic and before really fully registering it, had ploughed into the back of a stationary motorbike. We were violently jolted and clinged like stag beetles to the bar above our heads. A baby seemed to fly into the air and land on the ground. In horror, we clamped our hands over our mouths, unable to believe what had just happened. You’ll be glad to know the tot was fine and uninjured. Practically running off the Tuk tuk, we stood there in the middle of the road slightly shaken as the rest of our group rushed over to check we were alright. As it happens, we were fine, but one of the girls on a different tuk tuk was not, as she had had her arm casually hanging on the edge of the vehicle, and so when ours charged past it neatly scraped over her entire lower arm. That was the scream and the poor thing was bleeding and bruised, so a trip to a sketchy hospital for an arm bandage and sling was the order of the day. The driver of our Tuk tuk, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found – he simply got off and walked away from the scene, leaving us and the vehicle behind him. Our tour manager kept calm and told us to get on another Tuk tuk to our hotel. “I’m not getting back on another one of those” I said, “I’ll walk” but unfortunately it turned out the walk would’ve taken me forever so Andrew and I piled reluctantly onto the back of another one full of luggage. We could barely fit and also had to cling on for dear life again.

The hotel was nice and it was around this time that I discovered my bank card was missing. In a panic, I turned my belongings upside down looking for it and almost slapped myself when I realised I’d left it in a card machine in Thailand. Machines over there don’t automatically give you your card back – you have to press a button to retrieve it and this wasn’t the last time I’d nearly forgotten and left it there. Neither did I have a back up. The first thing I did was phone my bank to cancel it, then, well, I’d just have to borrow from people, and the most logical option seemed to borrow from the other Brits on tour. (Thanks Tom!) I phoned my aunt. “You did what?” she said, kindly offering to transfer me some moolah if I got desperate. I managed to omit the Tuk tuk incident so as not to worry her.

It was a slight struggle to properly appreciate Luang Prabang that day, but amazingly we headed off on our bike tour of the town after the accident. Everyone was understandably a little twitchy about doing this and especially amongst sketchy traffic that looked as if it had no intention of slowing down for us. Our little pit stop along the way was at Wat Xieng Thong and a shot of…snake wine. Yes, I kid you not. A snake sitting and fermenting in a large glass jar. The liquid surrounding it of which we drank.

That night at the restaurant I used up the last of my meagre funds I had on me, counting out coins and anxiously waiting for the beers to arrive. Justin was also anxiously waiting, and as they took so long we accidentally stole three other peoples in our eagerness.