Shadow of the Mountain - The Other Vang Vieng

Ask any backpacker travelling South East Asia about Vang Vieng and you can guarantee the vast majority of them will start talking about Tubing. The wild, potentially dangerous pastime whereby the ballast (think 18-24) is carried down a sometimes wild and dangerous river, making stop offs en route at a variety of bars designed solely to get the occupants, for lack of a better phrasing, obliterated. More renowned now for its poor safety record and the frequency in which serious injuries or even deaths are reported each year than anything else, the real Vang Vieng, remains somewhat of an enigma.

I’m not going to pretend that I know the real Vang Vieng. In fact, the real Vang Vieng, sadly, may be something that paradoxically doesn’t exist anymore after the speed that the small rural village in Central Laos has transformed (and continues to transform) itself to accommodate the swelling numbers of backpackers that visit it each year… Evolution or devolution, the real Vang Vieng is hard to pin down. So rather than gush pretentiously about how this once idyllic paradise has been ruined by Western Opulence and Capitalism, I would rather take a step to the side, as opposed to taking a step back. There is a best of both worlds in what Vang Vieng has now become, so let’s look at that and embrace that for what it is!

Coming off the back of a year working holiday in New Zealand, I was all ready to travel back via the heightened adventure that was South East Asia. On looking back at my journal as a naïve 24 year old planning my trip back, I made no mention of Laos in my plans for the region, sticking vigilantly to the even more well-trodden path of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. I don’t even recall the moment when I first heard about Laos as a country and have even less recollection of the moment I made the decision to travel there. But whenever that moment was, I am forever thankful that I did take that leap because from the moment I stepped foot in Vientiane, I was sold.

That Laos was so far off my original radar may have helped in part but primarily, I fell in love with the warmth, kindness and spirit of its people and, certainly in the case of Vang Vieng, the incredible natural beauty on offer - simply for the price of turning up.

Sunset across the Nam Song river, Vang Vieng

My first foray to Van Vieng was in November of 2005. Having travelled the entire length of Thailand from Pai to Hat Yai and from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Phangan, I was deeply immersed into and comfortable with the culture of travel (in that region) by that stage. The overnight bus ride from Khaosan Road to Vientiane went as smoothly as I could have hoped with a coffee by sunrise at the border crossing in Nong Khai to cap the journey off before the short hope through immigration and the final short ride to central Vientiane. After a couple of ‘bedding in’ days in Vientiane, I initially travelled south via Pakse to visit Si Pan Don before heading back north, via Vientiane again, to visit Vang Vieng. At this stage, I still knew very little of the small provincial village on the Nam Song river, other than it was a short hop (normally between 2 and 3 hours) from Vientiane, and that a lot of people were starting to go there.

Travelling alone might have heightened the experience but I remember so vividly the 3 nights I spent in Vang Vieng. It’s as if it were yesterday! Jumping off the “backpacker bus” that conveniently drops you at a hotel (in the hope of the driver to draw commission by people staying there), I was still perhaps cautious enough of this new place to at least stay my first night at my base location, the Dok Khoun 2 hotel / guesthouse at the bottom end of the main road. Not quite able to believe my ears, the price for my private room, with en suite and hot water shower (fan only, no AC) was a heady 25,000 kip. By the exchange rate back then, that put my night’s accommodation at about £1.50. I was off to a good start. Over the next few days, I resisted the urge to go tubing and instead just enjoyed the exceptional beauty of the surrounding countryside. With possibly the best decision of the entire trip, I also hired a motorbike and managed to escape the small backpacker hub in the centre of Vang Vieng and make it out to the North to explore the scenery on the road that eventually leads to Luang Prabang.

One of the many 'vistas' on the road north of Vang Vieng

And this is where the odds turned and everything fell into place. Suddenly, when free of the pulsing centre, I was free to experience and absorb the silent majesty of the panoramic landscapes. Beyond the tubing, Vang Vieng is famed for its range of Karts (limestone mountains that jet up asymmetrically from the ground). That these Karsts, in places line the Nam Song river is all the more impressive and by the time you have ventured 15-20km out of the main hub, you are truly in a world of your own. I remember taking my small 25cc scooter off road to try and steel a photo of some mountains by a river bed only to get stuck at the bottom of a very flaky dirt road back up to the cemented heaven of the main road. A group of Laotian workers stood and watched with growing smiles on their faces as I upped the revs and lowered the gear to get out of this mess I had created for myself. Eventually on reaching the top, I was treated to a round of applause and cheers, the kind one would assume are normally reserved for the national sports teams! At various points on the road, wanting to flex my lingual muscle, I would shout out “HELLO!!!” or “sa-by dea kap” to the small gangs of children that would flock and sit on the decking of their wooden, stilted homes. In England, shouting hello to a stranger’s young children could result in significant jail time or at the very least, a suspicious and stern stare from the accompanying adult. In Vang Vieng, it resulted in beaming, ear to ear smiles and the children waving back returning my greeting. This was never just a one off, it happened every time and if I had cared to count, it would have been nearer 50 maybe even higher!

When back in central Vang Vieng, not tubing still presented options aplenty for the discerning traveller to enjoy themselves with. The then cliché of every bar / restaurant showing a different season of Friends was in fact a blessing. Admittedly I wasn't receiving my cultural injection by watching Chandler and Phoebe feuding over who was the funniest / kookyest, but I was able to relax and enjoy myself. Travelling alone, sometimes would make the evenings a little lonesome. Not in a bad way, before the invention of the eBook, I always had something to read in paperback form. Where Vang Vieng differed from a lot of other places was, back then, in giving the solo traveller a place to sit, eat out, watch some familiar, accessible TV, having a few drinks, then stagger back to your hotel room with no damage done. By the very nature of these places, they were also populated by others like me. Not to the extremes of a Rucksack Singles Club, but more in the sense of a way for people to meet, talk, share stories, share experiences, share travel tips and most importantly, only if they wanted to. A great option to have!

Vang Vieng scenery

My first experience of Vang Vieng left me wanting more more more. Specifically, I was desperate to share the experience with someone. At that time, Vang Vieng felt like my little secret. Not to say that there weren't tens if not hundreds of thousands of other backpackers passing through who would happily spread their tales of Vang Viengs and its “amazingness.” But not so many who had ventured out and explored. Seen that river bed with the tricky exit ramp, seen the children happy to wave and laugh at the silly foreigners riding past on motor bikes. That was my secret. That was my beach!

It wasn't until January 2010 before I was lucky enough to return to Laos and Vang Vieng. This time round, my future wife along for the ride as well. I had my chance, to share my secret, to expand on my experience and find new and better ways to enjoy this paradise!
5 years hadn't dampened my enthusiasm or diminished my memory of the place and I remember vividly on the bus ride from Vientiane, sunny on this occasion rather than overcast and grey the last time, widening my eyes as the Karsts and Vang Vieng came in to view. No word of a lie, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, such was my excitement and realisation that some things might last forever. A rule I quickly came to learn was very true and very false in its own unique Vang Vieng kind of way…

On arrival into the centre of Vang Vieng this time, we re-located back to the place of my original success, Dok Khoun 2 providing our first invitation to quote for a cheap but suitable room. Remembering my 25,000 kip bargain, I was hoping the prices hadn't gone up too much and was over joyed to be told that we could get a double bed, en suite, hot water shower with fan (no A/C) for 40,000 kip. Things had started well.

The view from Xayoh restaurant, Vang Vieng

We had decided to break this visit to Vang Vieng up by heading up to Luang Prabang for a few days before returning back south to complete our time in Vang Vieng so that said, we didn't have an abundance of time to venture very far. The initial time was spent introducing Emma (my wife!) to the delights of Vang Vieng pizza, drinking cheap as Beer Laos, while watching western TV in a comfortable and fun setting. What we did discover in those first few days was the ‘then’ Xayoh Restaurant, housed in the gardens of the Ban Sabai Bungalows Resort. Xayoh sits on the river facing west towards the Karsts and the rest of Vang Vieng’s. The view, if ever you've seen photos or had the pleasure of going in person, is unbelievable. The food, over the course of our few visits there, has ranged from good to average, the service occasionally lazy but the prices fair relative to the other options. What you come here for though, is the view.

Discovering a new bar opening up in the centre of town along with the Australian Food Bar claiming to have the coldest beers in town, we had arrived back in Vang Vieng and for the most part nothing had changed. The bars showing friends had evolved past the 90’s and were now showing Family Guy as well in equal share. The food in most places and the prices along with them were largely the same, only the post-recession exchange rate made things slightly more expensive that they needed to have been – and even at that, they were still cheap! Vang Vieng in the first part of its second phase, was doing fine.

Another small pleasure to be taken from visiting Vang Vieng, especially if you continue further north to Luang Prabang as we did on this occasion, is the incredible scenery of Northern Laos. From the moment you leave the concrete buildings of the Vang Vieng suburbs and reach the first range of Karts to the west, you feel like you've been transported back in time to, to use a cliché, another world. The scenery is so incredibly dramatic with large karsts covered in green shrub towering above you and by the time you've ascended into those mountains, the views around and back down are unbelievable. It’s worth going to Vang Vieng, almost solely so that you get to enjoy the journey getting there!

The main street in Vang Vieng

On our return from Luang Prabang, we felt a little bit more savvy and having been dropped at the out of town bus station, built, a cynic would say, to provide extra revenue for the local taxi services, we asked to be taken to the centre of the main hub. We were going off road and trying to barter for accommodation. This isn't so much a Vang Vieng thing as something you learn to do when in South East Asia. It doesn't matter if you arrive somewhere without a booking, chances are you can pick up a bargain, even if just for a night while you find your feet and / or something better! Having asked around at a few hotels and not fancying their rates, not because they were expensive, but because we felt we’d know when it was right, we eventually landed at the door to Dok Khoun 1. The parent hotel of the chain we had stayed at before (I use chain in the loosest possible way!) The price we were quoted for a double room, en suite, hot water shower and a view as spectacular as anything I had ever seen before…. 50,000 kip… Just under £4 (in most part due to the exchange rate again – in 2005, this would have been just over £3!). We snapped it up!

The view from Dok Khoun 1, Vang Vieng

Over the following 5 days, a lot of things happened. A motorbike was once again hired and with it, we managed to venture out not only further in the same direction, but also exploring in the opposite direction as well. Heading south for around 25km put you in the middle of a sleepy fishing village sat on the side of a large lake, hundreds of dried fish hanging from the outside of the stalls that lined the streets. Curious locals eyeing you up to see what you were taking a photo of, some more spectacular scenery usually! A small note that when we returned from that particular bike ride, we wound down with a beer and a snack at Xayoh’s riverside restaurant again! At this stage, Xayoh was our go to place!

One of the views to the south of Vang Vieng

Getting as much out of our bike rental as possible, I also ventured out north for around 25-30km putting me right in the middle of some more incredible scenery I have and will ever see. One distinctive memory of this particular bike ride, came near the end of the section of road I travelled, when a 2 large karsts loom up ominously either side of the road forming a canyon through the middle. I remember seeing the shafts of light creeping over the top of the horizon line as I approached the entrance to the canyon, I remember the temperature drop from being in the sunshine to entering the shadow of the canyon being quite sharp as well offering a nice contrast to the usual humidity of the region. On the other side of the canyon I found a small stream sitting in front of some rice fields and some mountains in the distance. Further along the road, a small village made up of a handful of small one room wooden huts on stilts. In a location like this, you really feel like you've made it somewhere unique and special.

The view on the other side of the "Canyon"

To put all of this endeavour into perspective, the cost of renting the bike itself was, for 2 days 80,000kip. Only needing to fill the tank of petrol once at a cost of 20,000 kip, making the overall cost less than £10. That’s why I fell in love with Vang Vieng.

To round up the experiences, I was lucky enough to visit Vang Vieng a 3rd time in February 2012, this time, taking my parents along for the ride as well as Emma! Ending up at Dok Khoun 1 again, we found our solace on this trip in the centre of the hub, experiencing a tower of beer for under £5 (about 4 litres of the stuff), having a wander on the other side of the river and heading out to explore, enjoying breathtaking sunset after breathtaking sunset from a whole new set of bars that we had never been to before. And lastly, doing some shopping, something we weren't able to do previously at the back end of almost 2 years travelling. While we cautiously made plans to go tubing on this most recent trip, the moment never came and as yet, we still haven’t taken the plunge yet one other thing remains constant with regard to Vang Vieng.

Whatever my age and whatever the circumstances  Vang Vieng will always remain one of ‘those’ places that I would happily go. In the grand, more realistic scheme of things, that may translate to I’d never NOT go back again but you get the picture… Vang Vieng may change, evolve, indulge, over expose, be juvenile and do a lot of things unnecessarily loud and to needless excess. But it will always be beautiful and is the sort of place where you would always be able to find something good to take from a trip there. 

Take the tubing out of Vang Vieng and all you remove is 1 aspect, albeit the most well-known, boisterous and in your face aspect of most Vang Vieng experiences. That one aspect does not, or at the very least, should not define Vang Vieng as a place to visit… The other Vang Vieng, the one that most people miss out on, is beautiful, is peaceful, is a secret… The quieter, more subtle experience… the road less travelled which in this case, definitely does not involve a tube!

@TheGrandMadness