Vang Vieng has the reputation of being the party capital of Laos, famous for riverside bars, drunken tubing, and resulting frequent injuries.For this reason we weren't planning to go there. However, we heard there was also good kayaking and caving, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. After a 6-hour drive along a very twisty mountain road, we found a nice hotel just outside of town for $6 a night. This is the view from our window.
At this point it had been raining almost non-stop for about 10 days and we were growing a little restless being stuck indoors.
We needed some excercise, but it was still raining, so we decided to go on a kayaking and caving trip the next day.
It started out with a paddling lesson from the guides, and then we were off.
After a short paddle down the river and a walk through the rice paddies, we arrived at 'elephant cave'. Named after this supposedly natural rock formation shaped a bit like an elephant.
Crazy Laos caterpillars.
Next stop was the 'water cave' where we would float through the cave on a tube.
After kayaking down some river rapids, we stopped at a bar where you could try your aim with a slingshot, appropriately named 'Slingshot bar'.
The next day the weather was beginning to clear up and we decided to try some rock climbing. The trail to the base of the mountain was rocky and steep, giving us a good warm-up.
The climbing area was all along this sheer limestone wall, covered with impressive rock formations.
A friendly stick bug!
The view from the climbing wall.
Our faithful guides.
Our guide 'Chan' doing a really difficult route with no shoes!
Our guide Li leads us back to the road after a long day on the wall. This trail lead through an orchard where we could pick and eat fresh rambutans, and witness some more crazy Lao insect life.
Another trip we did was to Blue Lagoon, a beautiful swimming hole with a well-situated fig tree for jumping off.
James and Malena, a couple of our climbing buddies from the previous day came with us.
After a refreshing swim we ventured into Phou Kham, an enormous cave nearby, full of stalactites and stalagmites.
These rock formations made a deep resonant tone when you tapped them, so Frank jammed out by stalactite drumming for a little while.
This was one of several hollow stalactites we saw. There were tree roots growing down the center of it, so presumably the hole leads all the way to the outside of the limestone mountain.
Razor sharp limestone formations near the end of the cave.
We stopped for lunch at this restaurant on our way back.
We also made this lady very happy by purchasing a couple of her hand woven scarves.
The next morning, we signed up for another adventure which involved a day long trek through the jungle. Within the first few minutes we were crossing over the most rickety bridge we'd ever seen.
We traversed across some rice paddies...
...and then into the jungle. This is how pretty much every hike in Laos starts out.
After a few hours we arrived at a small farm where they had some odd looking buffalo.
Here is what our guide referred to as a crocodile...he also said it is 'good barbecue'.
After a couple more hours of trudging through ankle deep mud we arrived at a beautiful waterfall.
Our guide prepared a tasty lunch of barbecued chicken and rice.
Frank's abused feet after the muddy trail.
On another day we went to a different cave called Tham Jang to do some exploring.
It turned out we had the place to ourselves.
Tiny plant communities found a way to grow using the the artificial lights.
On our last day in Vang Vieng we bicycled out to a waterfall.
Barbecued bats! ...oh dear
Before we knew it we had spent 10 days in Vang Vieng and we never even went tubing. But we made up for it with all the kayaking, caving, rock climbing, hiking, biking, and swimming! Now it was time to head down to Bangkok for our flight to Japan!
No comments:
Post a Comment