Vang Vieng

Well! It must be time for an update, I must apologize for my lack of authorship this past week as I have been literally lost in a whirlwind of buckets, techno and motorcycles. Sounds fun? It is!

I arrived in Vang Vieng on monday, after a harrowing mini bus ride that claimed the lives of two piglets crossing the street. I asked if anyone knew what Canadian bacon was, which didn't go over very well. We finally arrived 6 hours later, and with heads high and our 'independent backpacker' attitude flaunting walked off into the woods while dogs and bugs chased us. We finally relented and got a taxi, where we are currently sharing sharing a 3 bed room with wonderful air conditioning and and even better view of the limestone cliffs overlooking the river.

First impressions of Vang Vieng...picture the biggest college party you've ever been to, add about 1000 people and not even close. There are people roaming around with no shirts and intoxicated grins stumbling the streets at all hours, while local Laotians return the smiles with a somewhat forced demeanor. This is a place where people bring a couple thousand of there dollars, especially euros and pounds, and party like there life depended on it. It all seems a bit soul-less, but tourism is booming and my god is it a blast.

The first night we got acquainted with the city, which is about 4 streets long, then made our way down to the bar below for some poisonous buckets. Buckets, by the way, are basically sand pails with a pint of local whiskey and red bull or something of the sort. You can get them for about 2$ and they are the bane of everyone's brain cells in this mental town. There are also the options of 'happy shakes', which simulate shifting vision and ridiculous conversations, but if shakes aren't your bag than order a vegetarian pizza, which my friend quickly realized spares no expense on the 'mushroom' topping. The party doesn't wind down until about 4 or 5am, and I honestly don't know how people do it. I usually pride myself on my partying abilities, but this town has honestly kicked my butt.

The second day we hit the infamous tubing, which was an equal mix of fun and terror. There are swings where you climb 30 feet up a tree and drop yourself in the river. Combine this with free whiskey shots and hundreds of young, retarded revelers and you got yourself a PARTY! I tried to get in on beer pong and the guy somberly looks at me and goes 'just a minute man, some girl just died' Shocked, I looked over the rail and see a girl holding her arm crying from a bump off the swing. I turn around and tell him it's all good, where we jump right into a deadly game of pong. Just a taste of the attitude on this murky, ridiculous river. We didn't actually buy any tubes, because you have to get them back down the river by 6:00, and we barely made it a third of the way by 7...even though my floating skills are top notch, my not getting sucked into bamboo bars with free drinks skills aren't that great.

The second day I am sorely not proud of, but please don't judge me until you've tried to boogie in this town, it takes a lot out of your soul. We woke up around noon, holed up in one of the bars that constantly reruns Friends, and sat there for 7 HOURS. We kept trying to get up but then just moved to purchase another sandwich and coca cola. Yuck. But I do like friends and sandwiches, so not a total loss.

As far as yesterday goes, I was making arrangements to get out of dodge, before I end up working at one of these bars and sleeping all day, yelling at people to come to such and such bar for a such and such drink. There are heaps westerners in that gig, and I salute there tenacity, but the road is long you can party just as easily, if not infinitely more expensively, back home. I rushed a Vietnam visa for 60 bucks, which I wasn't stoked about, but at least I will have it and not have to sit in some consulate twiddling my thumbs for three days. Tomorrow I have a kayaking tour that will take us down to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. and then a cheap (relatively) flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. The kayaking takes two days and takes your through rapids and gives you more SANDWICHES. And I do love rapids and sandwiches. Anything with sandwiches come to think of it.

We also found a little slice of paradise yesterday, after a manic search through the jungle. I rented a bike in the morning hit the road and searched for 3 hours for 'the blue lagoon'. One of the scams is that young kids will buy those stupid little dollar store tickets, stand beside a road that leads nowhere and charge you to go down it with promises of big beers and crystal cool water, which I promise you is all you want in 40 degree jungle heat. So we dropped a good amount of cash getting lost to these little punks, until we finally found this amazing, sparkling clear lagoon. You plunker in off a rope swing (people love rope swings) and float in this refreshing pool of love while little fish nibble at your feet. It was excellent, and made all the better by our owning failing idiocy to get there.

Last night we sat and talked about movies and shows for 3 hours, hit the bar where I broke into a massive dance sweat, excused myself and jumped in the river off the end of the bar. It must have looked very strange but it felt glorious, and I will do what I want in a country where no one has any trepidations. I wish I had a little more insightful world wisdom to instill in this posting, but Vang Vieng is not where you find that. Vietnam early this week, where I have a a couple people to meet and show me around, which is always a blessing in a new spot. I'm not doing too bad with the languages but everytime I get a small grip on one of them, I change countries. 'Hello', 'Thank You' and 'Where the F am I?" are usually my initial go-tos. Ciao Ciao!