Vang Vieng is a lovely little up-and-coming-queenstown sorta place. It’s nestled amongst some spectacular limestone mountains about 4 hours from Vientiane. The place is riddled with caves (probably loads to be discovered still) and will definitely become the climbing mecca of Laos. There’s just SO much rock around, so many unclimbed climbs.

We had a fairly lazy day after we arrived, not getting up to much during the day, and then went on a tubing trip down the local river. Lots of fun floating on a big inner-tube. Every 400m or so there was another stop where you could swing high and fall into the water (and drink beer). Mhairi and I both did one of the jumps – hopefully get some pics to put up at somestage.

Before leaving Vientiane we had time for a quick excursion out to the Buddha Park. A monk from here went over to Vietnam and lived in a cave with a guru. He came back from being enlightened and made this massive park blending Hindu and Buddha images.

For this he was persecuted and eventually had to flee the country. Then the government turned his work into a park and make cash out of it. Nice.

Our bus to Vang Vieng was at 2pm, and we got a tuk tuk at 11am with Chris, Emily, Martijn, Mhairi and I. At about 12:10 we got to the park… our tuk-tuk had played cheesy music at full blast all the way, anyway, thought we had time to see the park for 40 mins and then head back again. I am not sure what all the sculptures are (please help me out anyone who knows!), but the pumpkins mouth symbolizes time devouring.. There were 3 levels inside, depicting hell, earth and heaven. The pic beside is hell – people getting impaled ‘n everyfink.

So yes, well worth getting out to. The next two pics – are Martijn and Chris beside a 3 headed elephant, and Mhairi, Emily, Chris and Martijn all reclining beside the large reclining buddah.

Went to get the bus back. Tried to tell the driver to go fast, that we needed to get a bus at 2pm. He stopped to pick up locals… we decided to let whatever happen happen as regards catching our bus (but it was annoying)

Just got to our hotel at 2:05… apparently the bus had been and gone, but had only gone to pick up from the other hotels.. So we were fine.

5 minutes before the bus arrived to pick us up – our tuk-tuk arrived again (announced by the blaring of his music and the bright red seats). He picked up a suspiciously familiar shaped bag and walked towards the hotel. It was my camera bag!!. I’d totally left it on the tuk-tuk in the rush to get the bus (and had completely forgotten about it). IF the bus had been earlier I’d never have got it back – or if our driver hadn’t been so honest. What a guy. Totally restored my faith in everyone in the whole world ;) hehe, well.. it was a lovely surprise!

Arrived into Vientiane at 6am, found a hostel. Slightly amusing we went into one hostel (close to the one we wanted to check out) and asked where the one we wanted was.. he said it was just up the road and would telephone to see if there was space.

Funnily enough, there was no space.. we decided to go check out the hostel we wanted anyway.. The guy at the reception also told us there was no space (funnily enough) but that there might be in an hours time.. slightly deciding to call their bluff we sat down to wait .. and then, magically, there *Was* a room available. Dunno why the receptionist of a hotel would want to pretend there was no space.

No, actually I can make a small guess as to why he’d tell us there was no space… laziness!! I think most of Laos was out getting pissed the night before at the festival!! That and the fact that they have ‘happy meals’ here… you can get ‘happy pizzia’ (I almost did in Phnom Penh)… It’s happy because it has a large amount of marijuana on it! So not *quite* the same as a McDonalds happy meal… And I think perhaps it is the fact that 3/4 of the population are permanently stoned gives Laos a wonderfully laid back feel. Everyone is super cheerful and don’t hassle you at all. Loving it so far.

Anyway – had a look around town – walked up the Arch of Triumph (Patouaxi), a massive concrete arch (made from concrete the US donated to make an airport!), still decent views over the city.

Then walked on to That Louang, the most important religious symbol in Laos. Originally built in the mid sixteenth century, but was plundered for gold, rebuilt and rebuilt again.

The highlight however has to be the Massage and Herbal Sauna at Wat Sok Pa Louang. This is a must do if you come to Vientiane. For $4 you get a really great herbal steam Sauna, and then the best (damn!) massage I’ve ever had. The guy knew exactly where needed work (I think he cracked every bone in my body, twice) and it was just amazingly amazing. Really really worth checking out. (in fact I’m tempted to get a bus to Chiang Mai from Vientiane just so as I can have another massage)

Met up with Chris and Emily who we’d met in Saigon, and had a few cocktails and some food (and fun with helium balloons) down by the river, all in all an excellent day.

And so it was time to leave Vietnam and head into Laos. It was a totally painless border crossing. Well, except for the $30 visa (didn’t even need to bribe anyone ;)

The border guards did look at me a little oddly with the tear – or at least point it out (and yes, I do like to worry – if I don’t have something to worry about then I’ll worry about not having something to worry about.. sad life really ;) hehe. The other thing is, and I’m not sure if it’s a peculiarity of Irish passports (doubt it) but the cover harp symbol on my passport is totally faded – so they often look at the passport, turn it over, and again, and then ask me where I’m from.

Either way, cruisy border crossing, 8 hour bus ride passed smoothly (even with no A/C), and we arrived into Savannakhet.

Then there was a decision to be made.. see Laos only give you a 15 day visa if you get it at the border.. (you can get a 30 day visa – for the same price – if you apply in advance..(worth doing this if you have the time)). So after looking in our guide books decided to head straight on North to where the good hiking, climbing, rafting etc. was. Booked on the 8:30 pm bus (another 9 hours on a bus) and set off to look around the town.

Then there was an even more important decision to be made.

Which was which (or really, how many) ice-creams to get. First magnum (classic) I’d had in months, and it went down a treat, oh, and I had a triple-choc cornetto too (because I am a pig) Mhairi opting for a vanilla-choc cornetto.

Wandering around the town – we happened across a stadium and thought there might be a game on we could watch. Inside we saw a thousand or so – maybe 2 – people dancing about.

It was the end of the boat racing festival. The tradition is that during the rainy season – the Naga (mystical serpents) come out of the waterways and inhabit the earth. This festival is held at the end of the wet season to entice the naga back into the waterways so that ploughing etc. can commence.

When it rains it pours. At least that seems to be the case in Hue. It has rained solidly for the last 2 days (stopped tonight). The reason has been a typhoon nearby (what they call a hurricane round here). Winds up to 74mph apparently.

Matt tells me (3:36 in the marathon…) bbc news says at least 9 dead in Vietnam from typhoon.

You can see the rain is up to our calfs. Everything was flooded, it was actually heaps of fun – powercuts (and resulting candlelit restaurant)…

However, it did mean we didn’t get much done, and today were going to do a tour of the Demilitarialised Zone (DMZ) but it was cancelled. Not to be caught sitting around for another day, we rented bikes (again) and had a tour around the Emperors Tombs (of the Nguyen Dynasty 1802-1945 for the date seekers ;) ). I was glad we got to do this – as even though I’d done it before I was hoping Mhairi would get to see it before leaving.

First Tomb was that of Khai Dinh (ruled from 1916->1925). It’s all concrete, though it does look pretty funky. We all had fun (Mhairi, Seamus and I) messing about in the Honour Courtyard

All of the Tombs are set in large parks – seen from afar you can see how green the whole area is – it’d really be quite a nice place to make the transition to the afterlife.

We also checked out the Tomb of Minh Mang, much more parkish than the others – far more water around. In this pic Mhairi is walking through 3 terraces. Representing the three powers : heavens, earth and water. The pool beside the walkway is called The Lake of Impeccable Clarity. Hmmmmmm.. I *don’t* think so – at least not after the amount of rain we’ve just had.

Then it was onto the Tomb of Tu Duc (reigned 1848->83). Now this guy had it right, he built this Tomb/Park for use before & after his death. He had 104 wives and countless concubines. He also didn’t manage to produce any offspring. Bad luck with smallpox they think..

He was quite modest, and admitted his mistakes freely.. he did this in a most modest way – by carving inscriptions on a stone weighing about 20 Tonnes to clarify aspects of his reign. The pic on the left is his modest inscription. The pic on the right is of his tomb….

…..or is it of his tomb.. (drum roll). See he’s not actually interred here… he was buried someplace else.. with all his treasure. Sneaky guy. In order to keep the secret (as anyone would), he had all 200 of ppl who built & knew where the final resting place was – beheaded. Good job too. So there’s a huge pile of golden cash floating around somewhere… excitin’ really.

So – finally outa here into Laos at 6am tomorrow morning. Assuming I get across the border with my slightly ripped passport, the adventures will continue in Savannakhet – Laos.