Vang Vieng - Laos

So first day in and I get food poisoning of some sort (from Luang Prabang) - classic. So I end up bedwridden for our first day. 

 

Second day in, I feel okayish so we move to Banana Bungalows which is across the river and way more central. Banana Bungalows is dead cheap - 40,000LKP for private bungalow but shared bathroom or 80,000LKP for a private bungalow. We chose to go shared bathroom and are paying £1.20 each per night. This place is more conmunal than Molina Bungalows and has a lil fire pit and hammocks draped everywhere. 

After a slight disagreement, we decide to go kayaking down the Nam Song. We paid 100,000LKP for 6km which included a guide. You're given a waterproof bag which is okay for kayaking (but we found out isn't so waterproof when we went tubing).  Kayaking was fun; the views are amazing and the river is so peaceful. It was really nice just floating along and taking it all in. At one point, the current sped up and we did end up facing backwards and nearly crashing into a over hung tree but it was all part of the experience. We kayaked past tubers and the riverside bars which seemed mad; everyone was fucked and looked like they were having the time of their lives. Some other kayakers joined us and we attempted starting a waterfight until the kayaked nearly toppled over. After an hour and a half we reached our end point absolutely soaked. 

The sun had started to go down so we got changed and grabbed some food at the Sun View bar. This bar is so nice - it has hammocks overlooking the river (and the amazing sunset) and when the sun goes, they light up a big bonfire. It's really chilled but hard to find since it's on this island surrounded by the river. Once we left, we ended up chatting to our neighbours over green tea. Travellers in Vang Vieng are much friendlier than other places we've been to, and the majority of them aren't British so it's interesting to chat with people from such vast backgrounds.