Vang Vieng & Kayaking (February 22-23)

I would say I made the best of my second day in Vang Vieng. I went to the bar area next to the river (without tube) and had a lot of fun with the zip line, the big slide and the trapeze. As I love rivers and jumping into them, this was the perfect leisure activity for me. At the bar with the zip line there was a big group of Koreans. It was so funny watching them using the zip line because they were so clumsy. They were shouting all the time and seemed to enjoy in a lot. I had a few beers and a mojito throughout the day and returned early in the evening. As there were still no people for the tour I finally decided to do it on my own and pay the higher fee. I was looking forward to this kayaking tour for such a long time, so I had to do it. A positive side effect was that they offered me a transfer to Vientiane from the kayaking area, so I didn’t have to go back to horrible Vang Vieng. In the morning there was a surprise because two other people (from Australia) had joined the tour, so I only had to pay 55 instead of 113 USD. You can see that Laos is not the hardcore shoestring travel destination it once used to be. It’s still comparatively cheap but tours are very expensive.

The transfer to the kayaking area took around two hours. Again the road was unbelievably bad and we were shaked like bouncing balls on the pick-up truck. The kayaking was nice but not spectacular. There was only one decent rapid (where the Australians capsized) and the rest was quite calm. We arrived to the rock from where you can jump into the river. In the agency they told me that it is 11 meters high but it was maybe only 7-8 meters. I was a little disappointed but the jumping was still fun. At the end I was glad that the two Australians joined the tour because it wouldn’t have been worth 113 USD. We didn’t even fulfil the promised 4 hours of kayaking. On the other hand I had terrible muscle ache (and still have) from the trapeze and the zip line, so it was ok for me finishing earlier.

We were finally transferred to Vientiane with four Swedish girls who were spending a day at the river. It was comparably comfortable – in a Minivan with air condition. I normally prefer opening the window but in Laos this means breathing the dust from the road. I will tell you later about Vientiane (the country’s capital). What I can say so far is that it’s really hot here.