Onwards we march...

Mountains, jungle, rivers, beautiful skies, hundreds of drunk white kids… wait… what? Welcome to Vang Vieng, Laos! Karen and I have made our way up through Cambodia, the southern part of Laos, and all the way to (and since yesterday, past) Vang Vieng, where we were for the past couple of days. When people mentioned “tubing down the river” all through our journey, I never really knew what they were talking about or what to expect. So we show up, on the side of a dirt-ish kind of highway, and get a tuk tuk driver to take us to a guesthouse, and to figure out what the big deal is. When going through this small and quiet town, it was strange to come upon the very large tourist section that has formed here. Basically, this is how it goes:

You come here, rent an inner tube, go on a day long pub crawl down the river to the numerous bars that are on the waters edge, and then continue after the sun goes down (at about 6 o’clock) at all of the more land-oriented bars. That is the main draw of this place, and it has its good and bad points to it. I realized today that even in a crazy place like this, I still don’t like top forty music, nor do I appreciate fist pumping, backwards hat-wearing people. I don’t mind having a drink or two whilst floating down the river though, and it was a pretty fun way to spend a couple of days.

Now, however, we are in another town called Laung Prabang. It is a town full of french influence, as well as SO MANY good restaurants and bakeries. The night market is bustling, bright, and full of a lot of great things. The general atmosphere here is really great; it is peaceful, and quaint. Tomorrow we are headed on a three day tour, which is going to be the best tour we have done or even though about, for sure! It is a combination of trekking, cycling, kayaking, home-stays, and playing with elephants! So good! As our trip is nearing it's end, the rest of our time in Laos will be spent well.