Julia's Travels: Vang Vieng

After a teary-eyed goodbye with Billy at the airport in Luang Prabang, I started my 5 months of solo travel in SE Asia. I've been a little nervous/excited about the prospect of traveling alone, so saying goodbye to my brother was more than just bidding farewell to one of my best friends and travel companion, it was also the start of a new chapter for me

From Luang Prabang, I headed south to Vang Vieng. I'd been warned by the guidebook and other travelers that Vang Vieng had a decidedly "touristy" feel. To some extent, they were right, the main street was pretty much a backpacker-ghetto, but I'm a believer that you can find some gems in even the most touristy of places...and so I did.

On the bus ride from Luang Prabang, I met Clelia, Claire and Pierre from Paris. Together, we went tubing down the Nam Som river, trekked up the limestone karsts and biked around the countryside. Tubing was fantastic; probably one of the highlights of my trip so far. Whoever thought up the idea of tubing is a genius. So this is how it goes: you rent a tube, get a tuk tuk driver to drive you several kilometers upriver, jump in your tube and float back downriver. Some enterprising locals have set up makeshift restaurants and bars along the way so that you can stop for the occasional Beer Lao, and many of these places have put zip lines across the river and attached tire swings to trees. It was pure, summer-style fun...I felt like a kid again.

The trekking adventure was also great. I'd been avoiding treks because I hate leeches and they seem to go hand in hand with hiking in the tropics, but I decided throw caution to the wind and go for it in Vang Vieng. The trek was beautiful and a fantastic way to see the surrounding area. Everything was going splendidly until noon when the sky opened up and it started to POUR down rain (serious monsoon-style rain). Our guide was determined to show us a waterfall, so we slipped and slid our way through the mud up over the hills. The waterfall was great, but by the end of the trek, we all looked like muddy drowned rats (I was the only one who didn't take a spill). And no, there were no major encounters with the leeches. I had one on my shoe, but no bites.

Biking was a nice way to get off the beaten path. A 5 minute ride out of town was like teleporting to another world: no tourists, no tuk tuk drivers: no restaurants showing re-runs of Friends. We biked through lush, green rice paddies to a lagoon, where we climbed into a cave and swam in the river. A relaxing way to see the countryside.

And thus started the next chapter of my traveling adventure.

-Julia