Sunday, February 12, 2012 Trying not to die
VANG VIENG
As I mentioned before, I had parted ways with my friends and was in Luang Prabang alone when setting off for Vang Vieng. I was worried the journey would suck alone and/or I wouldn't meet up with my friends once there. But, alas, I met my two Dutch "brothers" in the van and we instantly bonded and spent the next few days together in Vang Vieng. Job ("Joe") and Steven ("Steven") are students from Amsterdam and remind me a lot of my real brother Dave—same witty sense of humor and genuinely sweet guys (unless they are talking about "money" in Dutch). The ride was HOT and long, but they made it more than bearable. Once in town, we found a hotel and went to eat. While there, we saw two of our friends from the slow boat, Maarten (Belgian) and Elmer (Dutch) as they walked by. Later that night, we ran into the rest of our Dutch friends, Jeroen, Ronald, Eddie, Hilda, and Jorien (Seriously, who is actually IN Holland at the moment?!) and 3 others from the slow boat too: Natalie (USA), Elena and Lee (Brits) while out at the Bucket Bar (aptly named for the drinks served in buckets, yes, buckets). My Dutch brothers and a Belgian

Vang Vieng. If you say this name to any backpacker in SE Asia, they will immediately laugh and ask "how many nights did you last there?" It's a crazy place. A riverside town (see a pattern here?) that is famous for riverside bars and deaths. Basically, you can rent an inner tube for $6 and party at the river all day. Theoretically, you tube down the river (it takes about 3 hours without stopping) but I only met 3 people who actually made it all the way down. Everyone else, myself included, end up making it to the first few bars and then running out of time and taking a Tuk Tuk back to town. We did give it a good try though!
My friends and I made plans to meet up the next day on the river so I could try my hand at tubing. While waiting at the first bar for some of my friends to arrive, who else showed up but Tania, Ashley, Chad, and Ian! I love how you see people in cities without planning it! We all spent the day trying not to die on the various water activities like rope swings, water trampolines, zip lines, etc. But seriously, people die there almost weekly. Mostly in part from the combination of too much partying (drinking, drugs, mushrooms, you name it) and water, but also from shallow water and rocks below. I only had one mojito (it was RELALY good and it was for the children). No really, all proceeds from the stand went to a local organization to help under-privileged children.
Appropriately dressed for cave climbing
I didn't do any swinging activities, but I did try the Slide of Death. Google it, it will come up with the stories of deaths from it. Of all the things to try, I don't know why I picked that one. I'm weird like that. It was really long and was safe as long as you landed far out. I watched everyone before us be propelled far out and land safe so thought I'd give it a go. On my run, of course, I could feel myself going super slow and getting nervous that I wasn't going to make it over the edge. I had a split second to decide if I should try to stop myself and jump (as Hilda had to do when she didn't make it over the edge) or just go and say a prayer. I chose the latter, and luckily, made it. But, according to my friends watching, I was pretty darn close to those pesky rocks. Sorry mom, won't do it again.
That night, we watched the sunset over the river while eating dinner and then watched two movies at a bar. All around town, there are bars that play Friends and Family Guy ALL day long, and ones where you can chose from a book of movies and lay on sofas and watch. They also have menus around town to order marijuana, opium, and any food item can be made "happy" (with any combination of these in it). After the movies, we went to the Bucket Bar again and ran into more friendly faces from travels. At 11:30, everyone is herded to the bar next door that has a fire limbo bar, dj, and bamboo bungalows until closing time (never made it that late so not sure when that is). It's good fun and nice that there are only a few places in town so you meet up with everyone without planning it.
Day 2 in Vang Vieng, my friend Maarten and I rented a dirt bike and set off to see some caves in the area. We got a late start and stopped for lunch at an Organic Farm/Restaurant on the river. The food was good and they are famous for their mulberry so I tried a shake. While there, I read the menu and it informed me that the owner of the farm had inadvertently started the inner tube craze just a few years back. Seems he bought a few tubes for the workers on his farm to relax in the river after work and it somehow turned into the crazy drunkfest that it is now.
He, and many in the town are trying to protest it because of the noise and trash pollution it brings to the town. This, on top of the scantily clad tourists running around town half-naked, intoxicated, causing scenes, is affecting the culture and disrupting the Laos way of life. After reading this, I decided I would not tube anymore and contribute to this. Just to clarify, I was not half-naked (even bought a cover up just for the day) or intoxicated before, but I didn't want to support the ambiance anymore.
After lunch, we set off to find the caves and had a fun adventure day. We ran out of time to see all the caves we wanted to see and decided against the Blue Lagoon ones and opted for the farthest ones instead. The first cave was easy to find and contained a Buddha and a table with fortunes. You donate in a box, pick a stick with a number and then find the corresponding fortunes. I later had mine translated and it said I would have a beautiful daughter. Well, duh, all I have to do is look in the mirror to know that one : ) We got a bit lost trying to find the next 2 caves and wandered through some farmer's rice fields before finally finding the right path. At the first one, we were offered a guide but opted against it. We started in and then realized we didn't have any headlamps and couldn't go. Luckily, the guide took pity on us and lent us his. Nonetheless, after our ability to get lost trying to find the entrance to the cave in daylight, and having no supplies, we decided not to explore on our own. Probably a wise decision. Tubing in the cave

The last cave was amazing though! Right before entering, we ran into a couple that Maarten had met the day before (French guy, Dutch girl) and spent our time in the cave with them. For this cave, they gave you a headlamp and an inner tube and sent you on your way. Inside the cave, there was a rope (for most of the way) and you pulled or paddled your way through the cave. It was a fun little adventure with a childlike sense of danger and exploration!
Day 3 in Vang Vieng: I had planned to head south to Vientiane but decided to stay one more day and have a "nothing day" again. Steven, Joe, and I did this very well together. Watched movies, ate food, and lounged around all day. We tried to be social at night and made it to the Bucket Bar for all of 30 minutes before we went back and watched another movie. We suck at being social : )