Vang Vieng, the party place, until you get sick...

So, it has been a while since I last updated- ignore that last blog as it was the whining of a very sick girl who wanted some motherly love. I can walk and eat small portions of food. I rely on pain killers, but that is better then what I was.

Last time I wrote I was in Luang Prabang, meandering along the Unesco Heritage listed streets and meeting some fantastic people who I eventually teamed up with to travel to Vang Vieng with. The group consisted of my German friend, Sarah, a New Zealand couple, Harriet and Sam, a dutch guy, Aron and two french guys, Guilliame (sp?) the real French and Philippe, the fake Frenchman (French Canadian).  We had a wonderful few nights having large loud dinners that may or may not have included the drinking of snake whisky and visiting of bars and other activities that may be classed as illegal. It was really very fun times.

So we decided to share a minivan to Vang Vieng. The road snaked it's way around the many mountains of Laos (I am quite sure now that Laos is just mountains and thin valleys) and hd some reaching for their motion sickness pills. The further we headed south the more scenic our trip became: bigger, bolder limestone mountains pushing towards the clouds, mist flaoting around their circumference. Beautiful. Waving to the villagers as we passed, shouting 'Saibadee' to the children as we slowly motored on. Beautiful.

Vang Vieng is a little town overshadowed by many massive limestone mountains (maybe they are called Karsts?) which makes the town very dramatic looking. But what so many come here for is the famous tubing that started here and became an essential on the Indochina backpacker route: Tubing.

And after a god nights rest this is, of course, what we did.

Tubing involves floating down a river in an old tractor inner tube being tempted into the many bars along the way. These bars have as an extra incentive: extremely high flying foxes and swinging ropes. This all equals FUN, if you hadn't already guessed/assumed/deducted- unless you are parents who may think this equals danger (which it does also).

The first bar, after having floated for all of two minutes down the river, had a very high swing that would be a good bravery boost and, I believed, would set me in good stead for the rest of the day.  I raced for it. As I held the handles, my knees knocking, I repeated my mantra 'Noone has died doing this' - not true I later hear- and flew off the platform and Kersplashed into the water.

The rest of day goes along these lines, except every bar we pulled up in we were a little more drunk and dancing about a lot more. And Phillipes face as he went on the last set of swings: Priceless- it summed up the day for me. Biggest widest smile and eyes open wide to capture the whole experience as much as possible.

Vang Vieng is also known for its happy shakes, pizzas and teas, none of which I partook in, but walking around you see that most people have, are or will. Another further reason to visit this little town is it's strange showcasing of American Sitcoms, or namely Friends, which is played in many of the cafes along the main road, often at a very high level, people flopped around the low lying tables, propped up with cusions. Go figure. As I write this I realise that this is the sort of place James might think is paradise...

And then I fell sick. Most people from our happy travelling caravan have departed and if they read this then I would like to say how much I appreciated the great conversations and good times we had. Oh Memories.

I feel obligated to add one last warning for those thinking of visiting Vang Vieng. As with any popular travellers town in the world, while it is very fun, it also has it's darker side. For example marijuana is actually illegal and you could end up with a very big fine if you get caught with it. The local police are very rich by Laos standards and drive flashy cars bought off the proceeds of stoned travellers.

More importantly, though, is the danger to women here. Since I have been here and despite being sick and not getting out much I have heard twice of women being molested or attacked when alone at night. One, when a girl was nearly finished tubing a Lao man swam across the river to 'help' her come to shore, instead he molested her and it took a while for her to get rid of him: she was very upset. The second was my next door neighbour and friend Rachel who while returning home to our bungalows after the bars had shut was followed and attacked on one of the bridges. She fiercely beat him off and roared that she would kill him, which was enough to scare him off, but she now has a nasty Lao-sized handprint bruise on her upper arm. Girls, if you are traveling alone, be aware that walking alone at night in Vang Vieng can be very dangerous. After I heard of these attacks, I was glad to note that our Riverside Bungalows had 24 hour security patrolling tohe grounds. I think it happens more then you'd think.