Trip review: Vang Vieng

The end of last week brought 2 unexpected developments:

1.     The Laos celebrate International Women’s Day and have made it a public holiday

2.     Apparently the public holiday was supposed to be on Monday 10^th, but the government changed it to Friday instead. Go figure!

Anyway, it seemed like too good of an opportunity to get out of town and explore Vang Vieng.

Many people have heard about Vang Vieng- the backpacker parties, the tubing and tubing “accidents and injuries”. That obviously wasn’t what we were going for with a 2 year old in tow. It was the other things that attracted us- limestone cliffs, kayaking, cave exploring, and some general relaxation. The added bonus was that by Laos standards it was close and the road was good. Only 160km away. 

It was a great trip; close, easy, varied. We came up with a new car game: spot the monk. I think Laos is one of the few countries where this game works!

We decided to give kayaking a go. We figured that Joff had enough experience that if I had to hold Bea onto the kayak while he paddled we would manage. We chose a company that had very small life jackets (that actually fit Bea) and set off for the 8km journey. Bea probably slept for half of it. The other half she spent trying to paddle, looking at the people swimming and diving for fish, and singing along. It was great.

The other activity was visiting 2 of the more popular caves. They were really incredible and Bea LOVED it. She loved that it was dark and slightly scary and spent some of her time in the second cave reciting “We’re going on a bear hunt.” Very cute.

I think we will be back.