Vang Vieng: blue skies and pet butterflies

A 5 hour drive in a minivan from Luang Prabang is the riverside town of Vang Vieng where we spent the weekend. Here’s what we got up to...

Nam Xay Viewpoint

Famed for its motorbike plonked on its peak, Nam Xay was our first stop- if you’ve been reading these for a while you’ll know how much we love a morning hike. We were excited to hear that this one should only take us half an hour, but we were less excited to find that the ENTIRE half hour was a steep incline. Once again, we lost our body weight in sweat and were hotter than the sun when we arrived at the top. But my gosh was it worth it. You could see for miles- down to the little village, over bright green rice paddies and across the jagged limestone peaks. What a view. So good that we actually just sat down and admired it for a while- we agreed that Laos is probably the only place we’ve been where views are consistently mad. Even in the middle of the cities and towns the backdrop is stunning. We hopped onto the motorbike for the required photo and then began the struggle back down, a large proportion of which was done backwards thanks to how steep and rocky it was. Another peak conquered.

Kaeng Nyui Waterfall

For this one we rented a cheaper-than-chips moped- 40,000 kip, that’s like £3.60. The moment we hopped on we found out why it was so cheap, it was the crustiest we’d ridden yet. The roads also turned out to be some of the worst we’ve ridden yet too, which made for an interesting journey. Ryan, who spent his teenage years riding bikes, had a whale of a time, I however had cramp from tensing so much and a high blood pressure by the time we’d arrived. Half way there I declared that ‘No waterfall was worth this drive’, but once again nature proved me wrong. A short walk through the jungle brought us to a secluded waterfall, the mist it was giving off working with the sunshine to form a constant rainbow. As soon as we arrived we were joined by a butterfly who landed on my arm. No word of a lie, she was on either me or Ryan or on our clothes if we were both in the waterfall, the entire couple of hours we were there. We named her Beryl.

The pool that the falls drop into are too shallow for swimming, but you can get under the falls themselves and feel the power of the water. If I’d not held onto my bikini under the most powerful parts, I’d have lost it.

It was the perfect little oasis in the middle of the jungle, people-free and coated in sunshine. My favourite. And yes, worth the dodgy drive.

Blue Lagoon 3

Vang Vieng is home to several blue lagoons, but we’d heard that number 3 is a little off the beaten track and therefore less overrun by travellers trying to cool themselves down. Ryan’s dreams came true as we hired a dune buggy to get there, which is just as well because 30 of the 40 minute drive was seriously off road. Again, he had a whale of a time, whilst I got absolutely coated in mud.

Blue Lagoon 3 was like a little-known playground in the jungle with tubes and bamboo rafts to relax on and zip lines and rope swings to play on. It’s hard to decide whether it was more fun playing on them ourselves or watching others belly-flop and back splat into the water. I spent equal amounts of time chilling and belly laughing. Wholesome fun.

Tubing down the Nam Song River

Anyone who’s heard of Vang Vieng has probably also heard of its sordid past with tubing. The river used to be crowded with travellers, off-their-faces drunk as they bobbed between the many floating bars, jumping off of questionable platforms into the river, resulting in tragedy. 27 deaths were recorded by the hospital in Vang Vieng in 2011 alone.

Today, tubing is a very different story. Imagine the biggest lazy river possible, and you’ve got it. We spent 3 hours lazily bobbing down the river in the sunshine, admiring the dreamy jungle and limestone cliff views. There was one floating bar early on, but this was a civilised affair of a game of cards whilst sipping a beer. Far from a riverside rave, this was the most relaxing thing we’ve done since we left England. Dreamy.

Ok Phansa festival

As luck would have it, we managed to land ourselves in a riverside town the day of the Ok Phansa festival- the end of Buddhist lent. In the months previous, the monks stay inside the temples, studying the teachings of Buddha and meditating. It’s also a time for fasting and when there are few, if any, weddings and parties in Laos. On the day of Ok Phansa, people celebrate with boat racing, and the whole river seems to light up as people let off lanterns, fire crackers, and set candlelit wreaths off downstream. Sickness, bad luck, and anything negative are thought to be sent away down the river.