Vang Vieng is a strange backpacker ghetto that reminded me of a mashup of the Wild West in Asia and the saddest parts of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The town seemed fairly stark and remote, but somehow it was a hotspot for people in search of psychedelic answers to life's mysteries.
The trip to Vang Vieng from Luang Prabang took about 6 hours by bus. The ride was comfortable, but the bus played horrible Loatian love songs for the entire time. The bus had TV's that played music videos for the songs. Every time I looked up at the screen, some sad looking guy was either on the phone or looking mournfully into a phone. Apparently a lot of romance happens over the phone in Loas.
The country was pretty to drive through and it made me anxious to get a scooter and do some exploring.
I found a hotel room and this big sign was in my room. Not only did the sign say not to eat the mushrooms, but the guy who checked me into the hotel also told me not to eat the mushrooms. I'm guessing this hotel had quite a few long nights with tripping guests. Vang Vieng felt like the kind of place where you might just get dumped in the river if your mushroom dose was indeed fatal.
I was able to rent a scooter in Vang Vieng, but I couldn't find an option for a long-term rental with a return on the other side of the country. So I only had the scooter for a day and explored a little bit.
When I was renting the scooter some other people were also renting scooters. I believe they were Chinese tourists. A guy got on his scooter, hit the gas, and immediately went out of control and crashed into the tables of the cafe across the street. Luckily no one was hurt. I don't remember if the rental guy let him keep renting the scooter or if he took the bike back.
I went out for a few hours and enjoyed the countryside.
It was nice to see the country, but I wanted to go for some distance. The thought that I would have to return on the same day lessened the fun for me. I had gotten the idea of longer distance scooter trips into my head and now my heart was set on it. This day trip was just a tease.
I returned to town and checked out the other side of it. It looked super nice. I'm pretty sure I would have had a better impression of the city if I had stayed here instead of on one of its main roads.
The sharp, jagged mountains were awesome to see. I would spend a lot of time around this type of land, but this was the first area where I was really surrounded by it.
The sign on the bridge says "Tubing Stop". One of the main tourist activities in Vang Vieng is tubing down the river. Someone drives your group upstream and you slowly make your way down the river in an innertube. It sounds fun, but I sunburn easily and I didn't want to do it on my own.
I ended up staying in Vang Vieng for a couple of nights. It was an OK place and they had western food. My room was comfortable too.
Another popular tourist activity in Vang Vieng is drugs. Lots of the restaurants have "Happy" and "Magic" on their menus. You can get any shake or pizza "Happy" or "Magic". Happy means they put weed in it, and magic means they put mushrooms in it.
While I was having a happy pizza, a group of tourists came in and sat at another table. One guy ordered a magic shake. Before they left, the guy couldn't even walk he was tripping so hard. I tried to help his friends get him on his way. They told me that he had to get to the bus station for a long bus ride somewhere. It sounded like a nightmare to be tripping so hard on a bus full of strangers. Hopefully he delayed his bus ride or there's no telling where he ended up.
Something Vang Vieng is known for is having a lot of bars and restaurants that all play reruns of Friends on the TVs. I don't know how this became a thing, but it's weird. I've never been a fan of that TV show, but I can understand how it might appeal to some people.
Over all, Vang Vieng just seemed kind of sad to me. Maybe I was the one who was sad. I don't know. But when I left I was glad I had seen it and I was glad I was leaving. It's probably a ton of fun if you're with friends, but it felt like a town run by a cartel.
I boarded a bus to my next destination which was Vientine, the capital city of Laos. I didn't know it then, but I would return a few month later. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for that post!
