Jarrod and Sara’s Site

What’s up everyone? Hope everyone had a great holiday and is excited to be back to work… we missed you all for the holidays.

Sara and I just spent about a week around New Year’s in Vang Vieng, a small town located across a nice river from some dramatic limestone mountain/cliffs. We had heard that this was a big party town and had lost its cool atmosphere due to the huge volume of backpackers that come through the place. In some ways this was true. I’m sure that before any travelers were coming here, it would have been that much more beautiful and mellow because there would have been no development, but this was still one of the more beautiful settings for a small, laid back town that we’ve seen.

You can tell the difference basically by looking at the two sides of the river; one side is vast rice fields and some small villages, the other side is packed with guesthouses, small hotels, bars, and restaurants. This separation, we think, has enabled the place to still have a great atmosphere, and tons of things to do. On the “nature” side, we spent two days, one riding mountain bikes down deserted dirt roads and over little streams and through villages to a huge cave that you could explore, all the while having the dramatic limestone cliffs as a backdrop. The other day we just went for a hike (we really liked that this was a place you could just go hike by yourself and not have to do with a group tour) and climbed to the top of this small, but steep mountain that was all rocky with some cool vegetation and “surprisingly” had a great view from the top. We followed that up by going to one of the many riverfront bamboo huts where you can sit in hammocks and relax as long as you want - one of the most relaxing spots we’ve been - while watching the boats go by on the river, eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, writing, or absolutely nothing. On the other side of the river, we did things like eat at a bunch of different restaurants, drink at a bunch of different restaurants, and sit at one of at least 5 bar/restaurants that, for some unknown reason, play the TV show, Friends, one season after the next, from open until close, everyday, and many people sit and drink and eat and watch… we did for a little while and really have no idea why, other than it was nice to watch TV. If it had been Seinfeld, or the Simpsons, I would have understood, but ??? Anyway, that side of the river is cool too, we met some nice people and had fun, but you could see why some travelers (especially the ones who complain about how travelers ruin places and how everywhere was better when they first went there 10 years ago…) would find this development of Vang Vieng depressing. I think most people that we saw there loved it and spent there days on one side of the river or the other, depending on what they wanted. We loved it, sorry, now I’m rambling…

Now that we’ve covered both sides of the river, we also spent two days ON the river, which was also quite an experience. The first day on the river was with a group kayaking tour. It was really nice, a couple of somewhat fast spots - we did flip over once, but for the most part very calm water that you could sit back and just take in the scenery. We stopped for lunch at one spot and went for a short hike to check out a really cool cave while lunch was being BBQ’ed. One of the coolest parts of the cave was the spider we saw - black with red design on body, the body was the size of a thumb, and the legs were ridiculously long and creepy, making the whole thing about the size of one huge hand. Another was when, about a 15 minutes walk in, we all blew out our candles and turned off flashlights, and didn’t talk for a minute - wow - your eyes can’t adjust, there’s no light to adjust to, so you can’t see your hand in front of your face and its totally silent, really eerie. And during the Vietnam war, a whole village lived inside this cave, can’t imagine. Very cool experience to check it out. After the cave, we went back and had the best “tour” lunch ever: shish kebab with buffalo meat, tomato, onion, and pepper, and fried rice with egg, and a baguette, and a banana - so good. Then I was able to jump into the river off a 30 foot wooden tower which got the adrenaline going for the rest of the day of kayaking. Great day.

The second day on the river (New Year’s Eve) was spent floating down the river on an inner tube…. this is one of the most popular backpacker activities in Southeast Asia, some people come here and do it every day for a week. Basically, you rent a tube in town and a small pickup crams as many people and tubes as they can into the truck and takes you up the river and drops you off. You then jump on the tube and float down the river back to town. Its super relaxing (if anything the river is too slow at this time of year) and you have the spectacular scenery that you eventually start to take for granted being in Laos. Due to the popularity of this, the enterprising locals have set up bars alongside the river. Some as simple as a woman sitting on a mat with a cooler full of beer and soft drinks, some as elaborate as the one shown in the picture we posted with this entry. Not sure if the picture does it justice, but basically on this 250 yard stretch of river, you are fished out of the river via a man throwing a bamboo stick to you and hauling you in. On the bank is a huge bamboo structure that has three levels high of small square decks overlooking the river, a huge bar, two volleyball nets, speakers blasting music like you were at an outdoor concert, and finally the huge bamboo tower that people climb up and swing from. The swing is like trapeze (no safety rope or anything remotely resembling one) far out over the river… and then back towards the shore… usually a few times before letting go into the water. This was amazing to watch, and I can’t lie if there wasn’t a huge line I probably would have done it, but also one of the craziest/dumbest things I’ve seen. As you are over the water (which is most of the time) the worst thing that could happen is you do a crazy belly or back flop… or land on a tuber or kayaker or motorized canoe, but as you swing back towards shore if you let go at the top accidentally you would land (after a 20 to 30 foot drop) on either a bamboo structure, rocks, or a tree. People couldn’t get enough and it was fascinating to watch. This is what attracts many people, the party all up and down the river, and I could see why some people would hate it. We certainly enjoyed it, but I think the sheer number of people and how much has popped up along the river is definitely overboard. The river is extremely long (don’t know how many thousands of kilometers) and this takes up about 3 kilometers and brings in a ton of money, so I’m not sure really what to think about it, but it was certainly quite an experience and a good way to spend New Year’s Eve. After arriving to town and taking a shower, we had a great dinner and went to a big party on the banks of the river with tons of cool people, bonfires, and music. Great way to end the year and it would have been about the best New Year’s party we’ve been to if all our friends and family were there as well…

Hope you all are doing well and had a great New Year’s. Please keep in touch.

Jarrod and Sara