A very happy Pi Mai to you – HEATHER'S FREAKING BLOG

After being in Luang Prabang for 8 or 9 days I felt like I had to get a move on! The opportunity came up to travel to Vang Vieng with some cool people so I hopped on a bus and we were off.

Vang Vieng is actually how I first heard about Laos so I knew that I had to come here. But the way I heard about it was through tubing. It is known for letting drunk gap year students rent rafts and float down the river. In its hay day it had many Riverside bars that would tow you in, give you drinks, and have things for you to jump into the water with (the infamous death slide, rope swings, platforms, etc).

After more than 20 tourists died one year (2011 I believe but I should fact check) the Laos government got upset and shut the river down for tubing. I’m sure what ensued wasn’t very good for the people that had started up businesses in the town and they had to problem solve, how can we attract tourists without having so many of them die? So is born what exists today.

Vang vieng is now an adventure tourist destination. With so many activities (mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, caving, swimming) as well as a plethora of well decorated bars, and everything from dorms with holes in the floor to fancy Riverside resorts, the town attracts a variety of types of travellers and all seem to be entertained. There is still tubing but it is subdued, and I think they took down the death slide (for obvious reasons).

But now that I’m here at this drunken party town, I really could care less. Oh well, it is a pretty fun place to be spending the Laos new year, Pi Mai. Pi Mai is mainly celebrated by having a massive countrywide water fight for 3 days, and drinking your face off. The Laos people are fairly mischievous and love to see a drunken tourist, so they will offer you whiskey and insist you do it. They are very hard to turn down. So just drink lots of water and eat lots of food to keep it under control. And dance! To some sort of Laos band playing everything from Laos pop music, rock, a little ska-type stuff, and Bon Jovi -it’s my Life!

I spent the day yesterday on a bike riding through towns soaking children with my backpack water gun. We veered off to go to a cave that said it had a swimming pool. 5 Russians were also at the front and we joined them. A Laos guy guided us, but didn’t speak much English and we (me and two Brits) followed at the back without receiving any indication of what was going on from the people in front of us. I never could have imagined what happened and it was amazing. At the end of crawling down into this limestone mountain for nearly 30 minutes, there was a 4m long swimming pool that we got to dunk in. Not exactly a swimming pool but it was a pretty unique experience.

And that was only day one (this officially goes on for 3 days, but in all likelihood will go for 5).

First sunset in Vang Vieng