The road to Vang Vieng

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Made the drive from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng today.  We joined a couple from the Netherlands and shared a private mini van to make the 160 km drive, taking about 3 ½ hours.  The new road takes much less time than the old road twists and turns through a steady stream of mountains.  Our driver Noi was very good, and therefore allowed us to enjoy the drive, as opposed to riding in fear of death.  The cloud cover made for spectacular viewing.  At just over the half way point we drove through some heavy rains, and in the process came across rocks and mud that had slide onto the road.  Very exciting.  The signs stating "Charp Curves, drive slowly" were not to be ignored.

We got into Vang Vieng around 1 pm, and it was hot, of course.  A walk around the town shows it to be one of the uglier towns on the planet, with the most incredible backdrop of mountains ever.  In the middle of town is an old abandoned airstrip that now hosts night markets.  Wonder if this is the Air America “the US government is not operating out of Laos” type of airstrip.  After organizing a kayaking trip for tomorrow, we have a delicious sandwich for dinner, with incredibly good mango smoothies.  As we prepare for bed, the party town nature of Vang Vieng shows its ugly head, with a young girl (19ish and maybe local) having what we believe is a drug induced fit, resulting in her screaming in the lobby and scaring the kids.  A big group of people surrounding her eventually resulted in her either falling asleep or deciding to be quiet.  The rest of the night was quiet.