Emma & Ben… Far From Home

 8th – 12th April 2017

The second half of our time in Laos included stays at both Vang Vieng and Vientaine. It would be quite appropriate to describe both places as nothing to write home about. Ironically, that’s what I’ll be doing here.

Vang Vieng is a small town with an interesting history. Up until a few years ago, it was party central. Backpackers flocked here for the tubing; basically floating down a river in a big rubber ring, stopping off for beers and shots at the riverside bars as they went. People would then be catapulted back into the river via ziplines, water slides and other contraptions.

Over time, the partying got a lot harder and a lot darker. Drugs, including opium and methamphetamine, were openly for sale on the menus. Towards the end, over 20 people a year were dying from a combination of overdoses, drowning and broken necks. Finally, the Laos government decided enough was enough, and shut down most of the bars. Those that are left are now carefully controlled.

Vang Vieng is now in a state of transition, as it tries to change from a hedonistic mecca to a centre for adventure activities including rock climbing, kayaking and ziplining. As a result, it’s an weird place. It reminded me of a crappy Spanish resort; lots of bars, western restaurants and tour agents trying to get you to book trips with them. It’s not quite Magaluf, but it really wasn’t a place we liked much.

Whilst we were here, we had intended to do some kayaking, but Em was unwell so we decided against it. In the end, we made a last minute decision to go tubing, as it involved less energy and figured if Em felt really rough we could escape it fairly quickly. 

We were transported to the start of the tubing in the back of a truck along with 3 American lads and 2 Swiss girls. We got chatting to them, and although an official decision was never made, we ended up all doing the tubing together. 

The first bar was 50 yards down the river. We all got out, and ordered beers. There were no drugs for sale; one of the American boys got a balloon of laughing gas, but this was as “crazy” as it ever got. The music was deafening (and no, that’s not me being old; it really was incredibly loud) so we decided to get back in our tubes and hit the next bar, which we assumed was round the corner.

An hour and a half later, having floated slowly down river past fishermen, motor boats and a dead pig, we finally got to another bar; it was also the last bar, and the end of the tubing.

Although I wasn’t expecting a huge party like in the old days, this was a bit of a let down. At the last bar, there were a few people milling about, including some if the traveller type I’d perhaps expected to see lots of during the day (dreadlocks, tattoos and looking like the dip in the river was their first wash for a week) but everyone cleared off by 7pm leaving us with the American guys and Swiss girls. We all finished our drinks and got our lift back to town. 

The next day we had booked a minibus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. In the morning, 2 minibuses pulled up outside our hotel; one absolutely crammed full, the other with just 2 other passengers. We were a little smug to find we were on the relatively empty one.

Our joy was short lived. It turned out we were one of the first stops, and the minibus proceeded to pick up lots of other people. In classic Asian style, just when you thought there is no possible way anyone else could fit in, we somehow managed to magically squeeze in a couple of extra people. The journey was cramped and we were glad when it was over.

Vientaine is the smallest capital city in South East Asia. We had 3 nights booked; we probably could have done it in 2 (or even 1). It’s famous for its cafes and bakeries, but not a lot else. 

In recent weeks, family and friends had noticed in photos that I’d lost some weight since we started travelling. Em was worried and jealous of me in equal measure. When I finally got round to putting myself on the scales, I found I’d somehow lost a stone since we left. With all the bakeries about, it seemed like a good opportunity to try and pile back on a few pounds; a bit like going on some kind of reverse Weight Watchers diet. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to eat as many pastries as possible.

Once we had tried several of the bakeries and cafes, there isn’t actually that much to see or do in Vientiane. We visited the Patuxai, a monument built with cement originally designated for an airport. It’s a little bit like the Arc de Triumph. However, the people of Laos clearly aren’t proud of it; it’s described as “an unfinished monstrosity that looks worse the closer you get”. And this was on the plaque on the side of the monument.

The most interesting thing we did was visit the COPE Centre. Following what was known as the ‘Secret War’, Laos has literally thousands of unexploded bombs (UXO) littering the country. You are always strongly advised to stick to well trodden paths.

The Americans waged a Secret War in Laos during the Vietnam War, partly in order to prevent the North Vietnamese Army transporting supplies to their forces through Laos. They dropped thousands of cluster bombs on the country at this time, and many didn’t go off. I guess the war didn’t get as much attention as the war in the neighbouring Vietnam, hence it was ‘secret’. Certainly Em and I knew nothing about it before we got here.

The unexploded bombs are still are major problem, 1 person each day is injured or killed by UXO. The COPE centre offers support to those whose life has been affected by the bombs, whether that be through physiotherapy, prosthetic limbs or counselling. The statistics were staggering and the stories very moving; although not exactly a fun place to visit we are definitely glad we went.

On both of the last 2 days in Vientiane we spent a few hours at the local swimming pool. This was mainly as it was so hot (nearly 40°C both days) which made sightseeing uncomfortable, but also because there wasn’t too much else we were bothered about seeing. For roughly £1.50 we got entrance to a pretty decent pool.

Although there were quite a lot of Lao children dive bombing and splashing each other it was very relaxing. To be fair that’s all I used to do at their age when we went on family holidays to the Med. At the time I didn’t really appreciate how annoying it can be to others around the pool, although I do now.

A bit of time by the pool was just what we needed, and it allowed us to work out our plans for our next stop; Vietnam.