I arrived at Vientiane around 11:30 on Sat night and found a tuk tuk to take me to the hostel. My hostel provided a taxi for 20 USD, but I said fuck that. I flagged one down with 3 other guys in it and the driver asked for 50,000kip (a bit more than 5 bucks) but I haggled him down to 30k which the driver very easily conceded to. I couldn't believe the hostel was going to charge me 20 bucks for the same ride. The cool thing was that the 3 other guys were Laotian American brothers who were visiting family. They gave me some tips and suggestions on what to do as well as interpreting what the driver told me.
The next morning I ran into my friend, Julie, at the hostel putting on makeup. We set out to get sim cards, exchange money, and get our ride to Vang Vieng. Vientiane seemed to have nothing to do so we decided head out right away. We went to another guest house that could set up a minibus (really a van) to VV for about 8 bucks.
Our bus was 30 min late, which isn't surprising in a country like Laos. A tuk tuk with a bunch of other foreign travelers came to the guesthouse and took us to our van. We got into the van randomly so I ended up sitting between this fat Israeli dude and some blond chick. The Israeli guy was friendly but he fell asleep and spread his legs out all over my space. In a 5 hour ride over shitty, bumpy roads, it wasn't a pleasant experience.
Transportation in Laos is shit. The roads suck and are narrow, which is why it takes so long to get anywhere. Vang Vieng also doesn't have an airport so there's no other way to travel there. It's all part of the experience but man I do not miss that part about Laos. I also have a small bladder so I can't eat or drink anything during the ride either.
We arrived at Vang Vieng 1 hour later than expected which was expected. It was too late to catch any of the organized activities like ziplining or tubing so we decided to rent a motorbike and explore. This is where things fell apart. We decided Julie should drive since she's been backpacking around South East Asia for months and is more experienced with bikes than me. She's never had an incident before. But the roads are worse in Laos and she's never had someone as heavy as me in the back. She has only biked with other girls before. I'm a small guy but she is tiny.
At one point she missed a turn and had to make a u-turn. She turned fine but right at the edge of the road was a mat with some kind of beans or something being sun dried. She tried to brake but the bike slipped on the beans, hit a table and we fell sideways. I was okay but the bike fell on my friend. A side of her leg and a part of her arm was scraped real bad. She was in a lot of pain. I just had a small scratch on one arm.
The beans were scattered all over the place and the people inside the building came out to cleaned it up. I apologized profusely to them with "Sia Jai" and "sorry" but one guy indicated it's cool. I guess they couldn't be mad since my friend was really hurt. My friend and I drove back to the hostel to clean up the wound. At first I thought it was just a scrape that wasn't that big a deal, but my friend is a former nurse and worked in ICU in the States and she assessed that the wounds were going to get infected especially considering how unsanitary the country was. She was hurting real bad but there was no modern medical facilities in the rural area of a 3rd world country with dust flying everywhere. She had to take care of herself and I had to do the best I can to help.
With the wound clean, I could see it was pretty damn bad. Small part of her leg were basically skinned. Later when we talked to other backpackers, I found out that motorbike injuries among backpackers are very common in SEA, but more so in Laos due to the road conditions. I saw a lot of people with banged up legs but none as bad as Julie's. My respect for my friend grew tenfold. I know a lot of people who would freak out and mentally fold in her situation.
She told me take the bike and explore by myself. I felt terrible for her and a part of me was now a bit scared lol. She assured me it was okay. We already paid for it and there was nothing more that could be done, so I went, very carefully to Blue Lagoon 1. It's a lagoon where people can swim and jump from trees and stuff. I would later learn there is a small cave one can explore but I missed it.
The surrounding country side of VV is beautiful. The weirdly shaped hills that shoot straight up really highlight the landscape. A lot of cows blocking the road though. Parts of the road were covered with gravel and I also slipped and fell when I took a sharp turn. I banged up my knee but it wasn't too serious. Welcome to the club I guess. I also realized one of the brakes didn't really work which might be a factor in my friend's crash. I went back with no more hitches. I returned the bike and the girl working there checked it for damages but didn't notice a difference. The bike was already fucked up anyway.
When it got dark we had this awesome clay hot pot dish for dinner. We explored the night market and the nightlife. We went to a pizza place I read about on the internet for the "happy menu" which is just a menu for drugs. I went for the shrooms which is honestly one of the main reasons I've wanted to go to VV. We chilled at the bar until the shrooms kicked in and my friend was laughing her ass off at me tripping balls. My shroom experience was a journey in itself.
I felt guilty my injured friend had to take care of me tripping and going crazy. I think it was selfish of me but she assured me it was okay. We walked around to check out the wild night life of VV.
Sakura Bar had a ton of Koreans and lady boys. I was tripping balls and didn't know what was what but according to my friend, minus the lady boys it was basically like a Korean club. She wondered why they would leave their country to do the same exact shit they do at home. Then we went to a place called Viva Pub which is a backpacker spot. In my stupor I could see there were a ton of pretty European chicks. Seemed like an easy place to get laid. My friend and I were the only non-white people in the place.
My friend was tired and hurting so we went back to the hostel. I tried to sleep but I was still tripping balls while in bed. Meanwhile the one other Korean guy came into the room and started snoring up a storm which woke everybody else. We decided then to stay in a private room in the next city.
In the morning I just chilled with my friend and helped her clean and dress her wounds until noon for the tubing activity. Tubing is where you get on a tube and flow down the river while stopping at bars along the way. I read it used to be huge part of VV in the past but due to accidents and drunk people dying, it's been scaled back a ton. It still sounded fun so I went while Julie stayed at the hostel since she couldn't do anything. The leg was now infected and being the river would not help.
I went with other people at the hostel including these two Dutch guys in my room. I was disappointed it wasn’t the crazy party I was expecting but it was still a chill and relaxing time. The scenery down the river was quite beautiful. We stopped at only 2 bars. We had to pay for beers but they also gave away free stuff. At the last stop the guy put out this Laotian vodka which tasted like lemon and was really good. Me and 3 other guys took shots and got wasted. Nobody else seemed to want it. It was a great moment for me make new friends. One German dude had a great sense of cynical humor and was cracking me up the whole time.
At night the other guys went to drink some more (some crazy stories the next day) but i was done with partying. I just wanted to chill and smoke opium. We went to the same place where they had shrooms and I smoked a joint of opium while my friend had pizza. The pizza was surprisingly good. I took a few hits of the joint and as far as I could tell, opium is very similar to weed, but "heavier."
My friend decided that her injury was too severe and that she had to go to Vientiane to catch a flight back home the next day to get it treated. Our original plan was to go to Luang Prabang together and then fly to Korea together so it sucked. I really appreciate Julie as a friend and I felt horrible for her injury. I really wanted to share this experience with her. I was also bummed out that I had to travel alone, but it was also a good opportunity for me to try to make connections with new people.
Since we both had to get ready for long bus rides, we called it a day. I asked this guy if he wanted to have the rest of the joint and he couldn't believe I was just giving it to him. Dude looked already high anyway. The opium helped me sleep which I really needed.
The next day I said bye to Julie and hopped on the bus to LP. It sucked to be alone but turns out that one of the Dutch guys in the room was going to Luang Prabang the day after so we decided to hang out when he got there. I tried to talk to some of the people in the Van but people weren't very talkative. the ride to LP from VV is even longer and bumpier so it was not a fun experience.
It made me really glad that I was flying back to Vientiane on the last day.
When I got to Luang Prabang, right away I could see it was different from other places in Laos. It's a lot more organized and aesthetically pleasing to look at it. It's a small, quiet, and beautiful town. It's a place where the locals have actual lives of their own unlike Vang Vieng where everything is geared towards foreign tourists.
I walked to my hostel which was across the smaller river (not the Mekong) from the town center so I had to cross this privately owned bamboo bridge. It was kind of cool but also annoying that I had to pay 5000 kip every time to cross it, and I had to cross it if I wanted to get anywhere. I wanted to get a private room at a hostel so that I could meet people yet have my own private space with no snorers around, but my hostel wasn't really a hostel; it was more like a hotel. There was no common area and there were barely any other guests. It was quiet and clean, but too quiet for my liking. I was so happy when I saw one other guest and happily greeted her but she didn't seem to want to talk.
I checked out the night market and the food there. The food section of the market is overwhelmingly awesome. There was so much food I didn't know what to get first. It's just arrays of sausages, grilled fish, pork, chicken, pigeon
, dumplings, and the occasional frog. I ended up at this stall where you can put as much as food as you want into your bowl for like 2 bucks. It happened to be a vegetarian stall but it was still very good. They give you a table designated for each stall so I sat with this old Canadian couple and later a Polish girl joined us. Everybody was talkative and friendly so it was a nice time.
The Canadian dude suggested that I check out Utopia, which is apparently best bar in LP. You can chill on mats on the floor by the river at night with a drink while looking at the stars. That's exactly what I did. It's a very popular hangout for tourists; I didn't see any locals there except for the staff. As you can expect, it was a bit more expensive. Still, it was great. I chatted a bit with these French girls next to me and got pretty tipsy while looking at the stars. Eventually I got bored so I asked people if there was anything else to do in terms of nightlife but apparently there wasn't so I just went back to my room.
I woke up the next morning to check out the morning market. Saw crazy shit like a cricket dish and rats on a skewer. I'm an adventurous eater but I didn't have the balls to try that. There was a lady selling some kind of live rodents in a basket. Saw some weird looking fish I've never seen before. I instead got sticky coconut rice in bamboo shoots. Very tasty.
Later in the morning I got picked up for the tour to the elephant village. It cost 60 bucks which is expensive by Lao standards but it's well worth it. There were tons of elephant tours but this one seemed the most professional and caring in regards to the animals. It was an awesome experience. I got to ride elephants, feed them, and wash them. I always revered elephants and it was cool to finally interact with one in person. I felt they were definitely more intelligent than your average dog. I actually felt sorry for the elephant I was riding because it seemed like they were thinking. Probably making judgments about me.
The two french girls from the night before happened to be there as well and this old Australian couple with us were also very nice. At the end they took us on a boat to Tad Sae Falls to swim and look at other elephants in the water. Pretty place. I jumped off from the waterfalls and landed on the water wrong and ended up with a huge welt on my thigh.
I got one of the French girls' contact so we could exchange photos but she didn't seem to be down when I asked her if she wanted to grab dinner with me and some others later lol. I met up with the Dutch guy from VV and a British guy who was staying at the same hostel as he. We got dinner at the night market. This time I got the grilled frog and some sausages. Frog was okay but the sausages were good. We then went back to Utopia for drinks.
I saw an interesting looking bar called Ikon so I suggested we check it out after. It's a small dive bar run by this really chill Hungarian lady. Interesting cocktails and full of western backpackers who are super easy to talk to. I ended up befriending a girl from Thailand, a guy from LA, and a girl from Norway. I would go there every night if I was in LP. We invited them to go to Kuangsi Falls with us the next day and the Thai girl was in but the Norwegian girl had a flight to catch and the Californian guy already been there.
The next morning I met the Dutch and British guys at their hostel and got some food while we waited for the Thai girl. I had one of the coolest experiences at this place where I saw a group of French artists painting on the wall of the hostel. They were painting a Laotian village with the permission of the manager while playing some really chill music. I talked to one of the girls working on the painting and she was really open and friendly. She told me they were in Laos to study their tribal societies and make art as some kind of project. Really interesting. Then one of the Laotian employees brought us some acorns and some weird fruit to eat. The music, the artistic process, the conversation with the french girl, and the fruit all came together to form a really interesting experience. I might have developed a crush on the french girl then and there. The skinny, hippy vibe she had going one along with the French accent really worked for me.
Our motorbikes were ready to be rented and the Thai girl arrived so it was time for us to go. I said bye to the artists and the girl asked if I was going to come back. She seemed disappointed that I was leaving. She might've been into me as well. You know when you just feel it. I told her I'll be back to return the bike, but I would never see her again. I should've gotten her instagram or something but oh well.
It was a long drive to the Falls. I was a bit nervous to drive around traffic but we got there with no issues. Kaungsi falls is beautiful. Far grander than Tad Sae but since it is the more popular spot, it was full of tourists. Us four newfound friends walked around, swam, took pictures and ate at one of the many restaurants right outside the park entrance. I had grilled fish with sticky rice and it was delicious. A amazing moment within an amazing day.
Then shit started to suck for me. On the way back one of the guys wanted to check out a coffee farm he saw but it was closed. While I tried to turn my bike around I accidentally revved the engine and shot forward, falling sideways. Luckily I fell on my bike and wasn't hurt minus a few scratches but the bike was scratched to hell. I was worried about how much I had to pay in damages when I return it.
We then decided to head to the city and catch a ferry with our bikes to the other side of the Mekong. There was cave I wanted to check out. There is a slope to the ferry we had to go down on and on it I made a turn to sharp which made the bike fall over and I flew off my bike. I landed on my wrist which hurt a lot. I was wondering if the whole day was going to be me just falling off my bike but I decided to soldier on.
When we got to the other side, we had to go through these narrow roads alongside the river to the caves. There was a gang of 8-11 year old kids who demanded money from us. The Thai girl asked why and the leader boy (looked around 11-12) told her that he would take her and fuck her. It seemed risky to leave our bikes parked with them so we decided to drive to the cave but that turned out to be a bad idea because the roads were super narrow and fucked up. We decided to turn back and once again, I accidentally revved the engine again and almost drove off the ridge into the river. I stopped at the last moment and turned off the engine. At this point I was looking forward to returning the bike and go back to walking around lol.
We decided to go back to the city and return the bike. On the way to the ferry I lost my balance and hit my foot on a piece of wood and banged it up. Not my day. We drove back to guesthouse to return the bikes. Luckily the rental guy wasn't there and another guy gave us back our passports and let us go without even checking the bikes for damages. I guess they're not very thorough in Laos. I half-hoped to see the French girl but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
It was my last night in Laos so we decided to get smashed. We ate dinner at a lovely place by the river. Everything tasted great. I had this duck curry which was good. Expensive by Lao standards but I remembered it's only like 6 bucks. We went to Utopia until closing time and then found some people outside to go to the bowling alley with since the bowling alley closes later than everything else. We went with this group of cute Kiwi chicks and a crazy Irish guy. Everybody got smashed and threw around bowling balls which was an experience. Due to my wrist injury I couldn't play much but it was fun talking to people. I met this cool couple from Brazil who invited me to party in San Paulo if I'm ever there. There was also an archery range which seemed like a bad idea with drunk people around but nobody bothered with it.
I was hungover as shit the next morning but I got up to eat at the morning market. I had grilled pig tongue and pork belly with the sticky rice in the bamboo shoot. Tongue was okay but a bit too tough. The pork belly was freaking delicious. After chilling a bit I then went to the airport but I got there two hours before my flight which was way too early. It took me less than 10 minutes to check in and go through security. The security is very lax and the airport is small. Should've explored the town before.I almost missed the flight because I was listening to music and didn't hear the announcement when they changed the gate and pulled the departure time 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. WTF. They rushed me in because I was the last person on the plane.
The flight to Vientiane was very short. It felt like we landed almost as soon as we got in the air. My flight to Korea was at midnight so I had a bunch of time to explore the city. But there wasn't much to explore. I wanted to check out some museums and learn about Laotian history but all their stuff was closed despite it being around 3pm on a weekday. I walked around the city which was difficult to do in the hot weather and while hauling my luggage around. The sidewalks almost always have a bunch of cars or motorbikes parked on them so I had to walk on the street pretty much.
I walked to Patuxay, saw some government buildings, a couple temples, and the presidential palace. There wasn't much to do or see honestly. I went to the river but the river view from Vientiane is not as picturesque as in Laung Prabang. I got ravaged by mosquitos. It was interesting to see people working out to kpop and edm and stuff though. I was tired and had nothing else to do until the night market opened so I got a massage (not the kind you're thinking). It was 100,000 kip for an hour of this dude cracking my body and it was good. He cracked me in ways I didn't know were possible.
The night market was huge but disappointing compared to LP. LP's night market is full of Laos specific souvenirs and neat handcrafted items. I wanted to buy some for friends and family but I figured Vientiane would have it so I didn't bother in LP. But the market in Vientiene was mostly full of knock off clothing and phone accessories. It was mostly geared towards the locals and the vendors would mark prices up for foreigners.
I then walked to the Ban Anou food market which was small compared to the food market in LP but they still had a lot of interesting stuff. I got a bowl of rice with 3 entrees along with a side of fried pork belly. A nice local couple who spoke English interpreted what I wanted to the lady and she gave me an extra serving of tofu. I guess she felt bad for the confused foreigner. She laughed when I pointed to the blood pudding I guess because most foreigners don't go for that kind of stuff. The food was good and the fried pork belly was awesome. All of it cost about 2 bucks which I will miss.
After the food, I really didn't have much else to do. I chilled by the river but it got boring pretty quick not to mention the mosquitoes were very aggressive. I went to the airport about 4 hours before my flight where I could at least use the wifi to listen to music or watch youtube videos. The tuk tuk driver charged me 30,000 kip but homeboy almost "forgot" to give me my change when I gave him a 50,000 bill.
After a lot of waiting, I was surrounded by Koreans again and flew back to Korea where it is now -10 degrees Celsius.
