Caves n' Rivers

We had mixed feelings about visiting the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng. Our guide book warned us of sub-standard eateries who loop old re-runs of the TV show 'Friends' (a sad, sad truth as we found out) and wild parties that thumped loud music until dawn. On the other hand, the scenery was described as amazing and the activities endless. How could we resist.

Although the town itself was a bit of a stretch in its efforts to entertain the young backpacker crowd, we did manage to find one excellent organic food restaurant, and the surrounding landscape was impressive.

The limestone formations that shoot into the sky are filled with massive caves--some of which go into the mountains for miles. There are really too many to see, but we rented a motor-bike and had some cavern fun. All over this country are caves that government and military leaders lived in while in exile during the Second IndoChina War (aka Vietnam War). There's a lot of really interesting history in this country that we had no idea existed--I'll save the lessons of yesteryear for another time. The point is that there are lots of caves and we went to some of them.

Beside walking through several huge grottos, we also took a strange tube ride into a cavern that is still being shaped by an underground river. There were fixed ropes through the first 300 feet, making it possible to pull yourself into pitch dark. Luckily the same guy who rents the tubes also rents a massive battery pack that powers a headlamp...live wires and battery acid while floating in a river in a dark cave--nice, but a bit creepy.


In the interest of floating in daylight, we also rented a tube for an afternoon and floated down the Nam Song. It's a pretty raucous ride in some areas as the locals have learned that it's a profitable business to sell booze to the mobs young 'falangs'. Again, the scenery along the ride was amazing, but the party was a bit over the top for the likes of us. Unlike many others that day, I'm the sober guy who's upside down in the shot below, trying to pull off a back-flip from one of the many (large) rope swings that lined the shore. Good, clean fun.Our stay in Vang Vieng was better than we anticipated, and we decided we liked the river so much that we booked a drive/kayak trip to get to the capital city of Vientiane. It was a small group, and the river pretty mellow, but there was one small set of rapids that got the better of us--of course no photos to prove it since we were upside down in the water. In the end we conquered the white-water and made it to the country's very laid-back capital.









Since the history of Vientiane is relatively new there's not a lot to do/see here, but it doesn't feel like other capital cities. The mellow vibe here is packed with good restaurants, swanky hotels and plenty of foreign financing. Locals and foreigners who know the country will tell you this place is growing up fast, so we're luck to see it now. Those looking into foreign investment might want to take a look--but you didn't hear that from me. Onward!