We arrived in Vang Vieng after a very interesting bus journey. We knew the road was going to be bumpy as the road quality in Laos is very poor, but we didn’t expect the journey we had. This trip would have laughed in the face of the journey from Chiang Mai to Pai. We were told it would be about 4 hours… it was 6.5 hours and every 10 seconds or so we were thrown the opposite way as we winded through mountains. Don’t get me wrong, the views were breathtaking, but Simon was still weak from his illness and wasn’t really ready for that journey. We stopped twice, once for the toilet and again for lunch. We had never been given an official ticket for our journey so therefore weren’t entitled to the included noodle soup, even though we obviously had just got off the bus. I got one away as Simon wasn’t hungry anyway. The whole journey was an experience, but I would definitely look into getting a smaller more modern car for the trip next time, despite the added cost.

We made it to Vang Vieng relatively late, settled into our accommodation and watched the sunset from a lovely little bar called Earth. We later learnt that the bar was owned by Geordie guy which would probably explain the most Western tasting burgers we have had since getting to South East Asia.

The next day we decided to go tubing. Vang Vieng is known for tubing. Tourists coming here to ‘tube’ down the Nam Song river put this small town on the map. The problem is… is that in the past it didn’t always end very well. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s it was common for backpackers to come to Vang Vieng, walk through town in barely there bikinis, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and being generally offensive to the Laos culture. Tubing used to be a drunken affair with people hiring a tube, floating down the river and then stopping at the bars along the way to drink and party. This resulted in way to many deaths and in 2012 foreign ambassadors told the Laotian authorities that it had to stop! Now, tubing is very different. There is a limit to the number of bars open on every day (we only saw 3) and the whole experience seems very relaxing and calm.

We hired our tubes were taken to the start of the tubing run in a Tuk Tuk. We would be floating down a 4km stretch of river. With it being dry season we were told this would take 3 hours if we didn’t stop. Just to put it in perspective, in the wet season, you can make it down the river in an hour, obviously very very dangerous if you are intoxicated. We have always aimed to be respectful to the local culture and read that it is NOT acceptable to go in the tube in your swimwear and bikinis. We both wore swimwear underneath and a tshirt and shorts over top to ensure modesty. However, when we stopped at one of the bars for a BeerLao we weren’t surprised to see that most people were walking around in their barely there bikinis and topless for the men. They didn’t thrown clothes back on over top when they returned to their tubes either.

We had a lovely relaxing time travelling down the river. We had started relatively late in the day, about 1pm, so had the first 1km pretty much to ourselves. After stopping at the bar we were joined by about 20 other tubers as they started to head back to town before sunset. The bar was as you would have expected, playing pretty typical music of any nightclub in the UK. Watching pretty drunk people do the macarana and the YMCA was pretty funny though. One thing I didn’t like was watching 2 young children, probably about 10 and 8 encourage the tourists to play beer bong. They should have been at school and definitely not exposed to this at such a young age.

We left the bar and slowly made our way back down to town. Unfortunately from about 4.30pm the sun was being blocked by the cliffs which meant it got a little chilly. We had a great time though and felt like we had a really relaxing day.

That evening we went to have some local Lao food. Simon is struggling with the food, which is kind of frustrating haha. I love most of the local food, but he would rather have Western food all day long. We went to a very highly ranked restaurant, but I have to admit it wasn’t that good, which was frustrating because it put me back to square one a little with my mission to get him eating more local food. I’ve decided that in Hanoi, Vietnam we are going to do a walking food tour on our first full day so Simon can try lots of different foods early on and learn what he likes and doesn’t. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The next day we had a full day tour which took us to 2 different caves, for a lovely lunch, kayaking and a visit to the Blue Lagoon. We were picked up early and drove straight to our first cave, Water cave. Luckily with it being dry season we were able to tube for around 40 minutes through the cave by sitting on rubber rings and pulling ourselves along on a rope. It was really brilliant fun. Way better than we both expected.

Our next stop was to Elephant cave which sounds way better than it was. The cave had a rock which looked a bit like an elephant and had been turned into a bit of a shrine with some Buddha statues. Pretty to see, but we only had to stay about 10 minutes to see everything in a lot of detail.

Next, we headed for lunch at the point of the river where we would be starting our 8km of kayaking. We had a beautiful lunch of chicken kebabs, fried rice and crunchy baguettes, whilst sat in a little wooden hut right on the river. I didn’t take a photo, which I’m a little annoyed about, but the water was the most stunning blue colour. I lovely spot.

We kayaked down the river for about an hour taking in the very quiet stretch that we hadn’t seen the day before. The water level is VERY low at the moment so at times we were scraping the bottom, but we all managed to get through in the end.

We stopped for a Somersby cider at a more local bar and took some very beautiful photos of the area. By this point we had rejoined the 4km stretch that we completed the day before and were zooming past the tubers. We didn’t feel bad.. that was us the day before.

After about another 45 minutes of kayaking, with pretty sore arms we finally made it to the end where a tuk tuk took us all to the Blue Lagoon for 90 minutes of swimming and relaxing. We crossed over some pretty hairy bridges on our way there (we’ll show you the videos when we get home) and weren’t surprised by what we saw when we got there. A lot of people. No-one can deny that the Blue Lagoon is a beautiful spot. The waters are a gorgeous blue colour and nice and deep so people can jump in and mess around on the swings that are there.

If there weren’t endless amount of tourists the Blue Lagoon could be pretty enjoyable. We both went for a swim in cold water, had an icecream and that was enough for us. We didn’t jump in and we didn’t play on any of the other bits. Why? It was too busy and not massively safe. There were people jumping in and not paying attention to people jumping from the higher level. People were swinging into the water just after others had jumped it. Something didn’t sit right with us. We might be getting old and boring, but at least we’re not hurt.

The next morning couldn’t come soon enough for us. We were going for a hot air balloon ride!! It has been on both our bucket lists for a long time, so were very excited to tick that one off. We were up at 5am ready for our ride to the launch site. On arrival we saw the massive balloons laid out on the ground and were lucky enough to be able to watch them be inflated. Magical!

We made it onto the first ride, but unfortunately were separated to different sides of the basket. It turned out ok though as we were still close enough to get some photos together (ish). Watching the sun rise over the mountains was just.. WOW. There are no words to describe it. The ride was smooth and not once did I feel unsafe at all. Watching the pilot steer the balloon and change altitude with the fire was magical. I honestly can’t recommend the experience enough. Vang Vieng has been described as the cheapest place in the World to take a hot air balloon ride and if you are passing through.. you HAVE to do it!

Vang Vieng is the kind of place where you could while-a-way a week or two and not even realise it. It’s a common spot for rock climbing and abseiling and if we had have stayed longer we definitely would have had a go at that too.

Cute Laos teddy bear dog