Phonsavan - Vang Vieng

I got up very early for a 7:20 but to Vang Vieng. The bus was a bit better than the previous two rattletraps I had taken but was still quite ancient. The road was quite bad though, with many twists and turns. There was a Lao family (parents and a child) sitting across from me and they were throwing up for the entire trip. The bus only took six hours, very fast for Lao standards.

Vang Vieng has a reputation as being awash with drugs and according to the Lonely Planet, is 'soulless'. Paul, who had just been there, reinforced this, by saying that all the restaurants served food laced with drugs, and that the tubing on the river was dominated by drunks. When I arrived in Vang Vieng, I immediately decided I did not like it. It feels like a backpacker ghetto. There are white people everywhere, and it does not feel Lao at all. One of the most bizarre things about the town is the ubiquity of so-called 'TV bars', where people high on drugs recline in long chairs watching episodes of Friends. Yes, some of the TV bars just show Friends over and over again.

I found a reasonable guest house, although it is not as good value as the one in Phonsavan, and then went to book my way out of town. Paul recommended me a good travel agent, which is visited. There, I decided to book a kayaking trip to Vientiane for tomorrow. I thought about doing the tubing, but decided against it, as I don't think it would be fun alone, and because I only had a couple of hours left in the afternoon. I decided to go to a cave instead, which was quite impressive, being located in one of the karst peaks surrounding the town. For dinner, I went to the Organic Farm restaurant which specializes in food containing mulberries and its derivatives. I had vegetable curry and mulberry leaf tea. Since I had nothing to do after eating, I decided to get a Lao massage, which cost about $4 for an hour. At that price there was nothing to lose. It was relatively relaxing. While having the massage, the power went out in the entire town, and the children hanging around the massage parlor all burst into tears.