The title more or less sums it up but I'll elaborate anyway.
So after about 3 bus changes,9 near death experiences, a spot of border crossing and a quick stop off in Laos' capital city Vientiane we make it to Vang Vieng.
Before we even step off the bus we can see the views of the stunning limestone karst mountains that Vang Vieng is famous for. We walk down to the riverside and get ourselves a room for the night in Le Jardin Organique. I can't say we ever really find out why this is an appropriate name for the place but we have a nice clean room with air conditioning. The only real issue is our roomates- insects everywhere.yuck!
Vang Vieng
The other things Vang Vieng is famous for we experience over the next five days that we spend there.
It's a really pretty location but it's a very touristy (albeit backpacker tourism)spot, and is full of young and beautiful single people who want to party-and I'm not too sure how I really feel about places like this- is it all free spirits and free love a la the 60s or is it just like a load of post leaving cert students getting trashed and making tits of themselves in Ayia Napa?... Or maybe I'm just bitter because I wasn't in with the hip crowd here!!
Leaving cert tits on Holiday:
As you walk down the streets of Vang Vieng you have a pretty good chance of seeing any episode of friends you want if you wait around long enough as there are about 5 or 6 restaurants that exclusively show Friends re-runs all day and another few that intersperse friends episodes with other shows! There is also a Family Guy place- where we spend at least 3 hours recovering one day!
Our first day of tubing we are obviously the typical newbies and after renting the tubes (inner tubes from tractor tyres) and floating down the river to the first bar, our tubes are stolen within about 10 mins! There goes the deposit! Anyway we enjoy some drinks and watch people jumping off the trapeze style swings into the river. Too scared and not confident enough of my upper body strength to give it a go, its just a spectator sport for me!
I don't know where they keep all the beautiful people the rest of the time but when they let them out, an awful lot of them seem to go to Laos on holidays- and bond with each other over how beautiful they are. Needless to say I didn't manage to forge too many lasting friendships there! I realise my blog title is quite appropriate as I feel like some kind of 'seldom seen in these parts' endangered great white hippo who's wandered into a herd of bronzed gazelles. People make us feel at ease like a Swedish girl who asks us "how come you're so white?"
To which I laugh and reply "we're Irish". Ellie asks her where she's from - Sweden. And trying for a little irony El asks her "How come you're not blonde?" She lifts up the front of her dark hair to show us her blonde roots! That joke didnt work then!
We console ourselves over the fact that we may never be friends with the cool kids by getting quite drunk on buckets at the bucket bar and other spots! One morning I realise I have left my green size 6 flip flops behind me at the bar and walked home in one mens grey flip flop size 11 and one mens black flip flop size 12. Ah the joys of drinking alcohol from a bucket!
Our next tubing excursion we decide to purchase our own inflatable rings that we have seen some people with. Walking into the shops trying to find one was like trying to find some kind of legendary monster that everyone is terrified of. I walk into one place and ask can we buy some tubes and the girl looks terrified and is like "no, no, not here, not here!": and backs nervously away from me, the next shop pretty much the same thing until we get to the last shop, where the woman doesn't say yes or no but nods and calls her husband to come over. She swears us to secrecy not to tell anyone where we got it from and points us to a black plastic bag under a shelf where I have to slyly take the two rings out and quickly shove them into my bag as she cradles her crying baby as if he knows the whole deal is trouble!
part II to follow
So after about 3 bus changes,9 near death experiences, a spot of border crossing and a quick stop off in Laos' capital city Vientiane we make it to Vang Vieng.
Before we even step off the bus we can see the views of the stunning limestone karst mountains that Vang Vieng is famous for. We walk down to the riverside and get ourselves a room for the night in Le Jardin Organique. I can't say we ever really find out why this is an appropriate name for the place but we have a nice clean room with air conditioning. The only real issue is our roomates- insects everywhere.yuck!
Vang Vieng
 |
| From Laos Van Vieng and VNTN |
The other things Vang Vieng is famous for we experience over the next five days that we spend there.
It's a really pretty location but it's a very touristy (albeit backpacker tourism)spot, and is full of young and beautiful single people who want to party-and I'm not too sure how I really feel about places like this- is it all free spirits and free love a la the 60s or is it just like a load of post leaving cert students getting trashed and making tits of themselves in Ayia Napa?... Or maybe I'm just bitter because I wasn't in with the hip crowd here!!
Leaving cert tits on Holiday:
 |
| From Laos Van Vieng and VNTN |
 |
| From Laos Van Vieng and VNTN |
As you walk down the streets of Vang Vieng you have a pretty good chance of seeing any episode of friends you want if you wait around long enough as there are about 5 or 6 restaurants that exclusively show Friends re-runs all day and another few that intersperse friends episodes with other shows! There is also a Family Guy place- where we spend at least 3 hours recovering one day!
Our first day of tubing we are obviously the typical newbies and after renting the tubes (inner tubes from tractor tyres) and floating down the river to the first bar, our tubes are stolen within about 10 mins! There goes the deposit! Anyway we enjoy some drinks and watch people jumping off the trapeze style swings into the river. Too scared and not confident enough of my upper body strength to give it a go, its just a spectator sport for me!
 |
| From Laos Van Vieng and VNTN |
I don't know where they keep all the beautiful people the rest of the time but when they let them out, an awful lot of them seem to go to Laos on holidays- and bond with each other over how beautiful they are. Needless to say I didn't manage to forge too many lasting friendships there! I realise my blog title is quite appropriate as I feel like some kind of 'seldom seen in these parts' endangered great white hippo who's wandered into a herd of bronzed gazelles. People make us feel at ease like a Swedish girl who asks us "how come you're so white?"
To which I laugh and reply "we're Irish". Ellie asks her where she's from - Sweden. And trying for a little irony El asks her "How come you're not blonde?" She lifts up the front of her dark hair to show us her blonde roots! That joke didnt work then!
We console ourselves over the fact that we may never be friends with the cool kids by getting quite drunk on buckets at the bucket bar and other spots! One morning I realise I have left my green size 6 flip flops behind me at the bar and walked home in one mens grey flip flop size 11 and one mens black flip flop size 12. Ah the joys of drinking alcohol from a bucket!
 |
| From Laos Van Vieng and VNTN |
Our next tubing excursion we decide to purchase our own inflatable rings that we have seen some people with. Walking into the shops trying to find one was like trying to find some kind of legendary monster that everyone is terrified of. I walk into one place and ask can we buy some tubes and the girl looks terrified and is like "no, no, not here, not here!": and backs nervously away from me, the next shop pretty much the same thing until we get to the last shop, where the woman doesn't say yes or no but nods and calls her husband to come over. She swears us to secrecy not to tell anyone where we got it from and points us to a black plastic bag under a shelf where I have to slyly take the two rings out and quickly shove them into my bag as she cradles her crying baby as if he knows the whole deal is trouble!
part II to follow
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